Born in 1985, Jean-Baptiste Durand grew up in Montpeyroux, a small village near Montpellier. After a difficult period at school, he nonetheless passed his literary baccalaureate exam with a specialization in art history. He then studied at the École supérieure des beaux-arts in Montpellier. He was initially interested in painting and drawing, but his work evolved toward cinema. His first short fiction film, "Love Without Sex," became his graduation project at the art school and is an autobiographical film about friendship, exploring the passionate relationships among three young people in a village. After graduating from art school, he worked for a time as a technician on film shoots — as a stagehand, set builder, assistant director, and even an actor.

In parallel, he shot music videos for rap music and continued to draw. In 2014, his first short film in a professional context, "He Came from Romania," was shown at several festivals. He then made "Even Invisible Things Hide" (2016), a creative documentary about the contemporary artist Abdelkader Benchamma, for whom he worked as an assistant for several years. His first feature film, "The Wandering Dog" (Chien de la casse), was selected for a script reading at the Premiers Plans festival in 2021. Presented in competition in 2023, the film won the Audience Award.