The son of a photographer from Navarre who, in his desire to emigrate to America, came to the Basque coast where he finally settled and formed a family whose offspring inherited his love of photography and cinema. Mauro Azkona's interest in new imaging techniques led him to exchange experiences with others interested in the nascent cinematograph. In 1924 he collaborated with Telesforo Gil del Espinar in the film Edurne, modista bilbaína. The following year, with the help of his brother Víctor, he founded Producciones Azcona, dedicated to making documentaries. They both adapted the photographic studio they had in the courtyard of their house in Baracaldo to shoot the interiors of their films. While Víctor was mainly dedicated to film printing, Mauro took care of the production. Thus numerous documentaries on inaugurations or advertising commissions were born. The big step was taken in 1928 when they produced El mayorazgo de Basterretxe, a feature film set in the Basque Country, which failed because its commercial distribution coincided with the first sound films. Producciones Azcona was unable to continue, since introducing sound in subsequent works meant a heavy outlay. Mauro then went to Paris with the idea of learning about sound films in the Joinville studios. From there he went to Berlin to finally return to Spain and settled in Madrid, where sound films were already being produced.