Born in Paris in 1982, Oliver Laxe is the son of Galician emigrants. When he is six years old, his family returns to Galicia, in the northwest of Spain. After completing his studies in Audiovisual Communication, he moves to Tangier, Morocco, where he self-produces and films Todos vós sodes capitáns, a film that earns him the FIPRESCI Prize at the Directors' Fortnight in Cannes in 2010. In 2016, he receives the Grand Prize of the Critics' Week in Cannes for Mimosas, shot in the Atlas Mountains.
After returning to Galicia, he films O que arde in the heart of the Os Ancares mountains - a film that wins the Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival in 2019. Fifteen years after his first premiere in Cannes, and having screened and won awards in all of its sections, Oliver achieves his first presence in Competition with Sirât, filmed in the Sahara Desert.