GB Hajim was raised in Cos Cob, Connecticut. He attended the University of California at San Diego where he eventually taught classes in Ethnographic Filmmaking, Polynesian Art, and African Film. While doing field studies in the Kingdom of Tonga and Western Samoa, he shot two documentaries faitoka and kava tonga. The latter received much financial support from various entities including the Russell Foundation and CIEE Scholarship Fund. In 1989, he received his BA in Visual Arts with a focus on animation, video and filmmaking. Before he graduated, he interned at the San Diego Supercomputing Center, testing and helping develop the first ALIAS/Wavefront 3D animation system.

After some practical experience in Mexico and Canada, GB enrolled in the M.A. Filmmaking program at California State University in Humboldt. At graduate school, he focused on directing narrative and experimental films. His thesis film about impending fatherhood ...first days on earth... won the Rosebud Award for Best Experimental Film at the California State Film and Video festival.