David Cebulla ( born in 1991 in

Jena Jena (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 in ...

) is a German filmmaker and director of nature documentaries.

Life

Early life

David Cebulla studied

biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

and

ecology Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere lev ...

at the

University of Jena The University of Jena, officially the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (, abbreviated FSU, shortened form ''Uni Jena''), is a public research university located in Jena, Thuringia, Germany. The university was established in 1558 and is cou ...

and conducted dendrochronological research on the climate adaptedness of individual tree species. From 2015 onwards, he worked on sets of various film productions, including for the

ZDF ZDF (), short for (; ), is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Launched on 1 April 1963, it is run as an independent nonprofit institution, and was founded by all federal states of Germany ( ...

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

and as assistant director for the series teaser of "Azur". From 2016 to April 2018, he was social media and artist manager for the wildlife and nature filmmaker Andreas Kieling. Since 2019, Cebulla has been a full-time filmmaker.

Work as nature filmmaker (2019–present)

Cebulla produces mainly documentaries about nature and wildlife. His films are released on video-on-demand, including

Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...

Vimeo on Demand Vimeo ( ) is an American video hosting, sharing, and services provider founded in 2004 and headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices and operates on a software as a service ...

, and Pantaray TV, as well as on DVD. He shows his films to audiences and holds presentations. In film production, Cebulla uses ecological methods to record wildlife and appears as a protagonist himself. His own productions are known for featuring only wildlife, but no animals from game enclosures. In 2016, he made the short film "Hidden Beauty – The Orchids of the Saale Valley," in which he searched for some of Germany's rarest orchid species. In 2020's "The Return of the Wildcat", Cebulla went in search of the European wildcat, documenting genetic evidence as well as rare footage of individuals living in the wild. In 2022, he released the film "Wild Forests," for which he spent a year observing life in forests without any forestry activity and documenting wildlife in its natural habitat. By his own account, he is currently working on the to date most extensive film project about the Common hamster. For "The Last Common Hamsters" he filmed wild common hamsters in Germany, rare black common hamsters, cemetery hamsters in Vienna, hamster breeding for reintroduction in France, small-scale farming in Poland, hamster hunting in Hungary, and common hamsters in the steppes of Kazakhstan.

Filmography (selection)

* ''Hidden Beauty – The Orchids of the Saale Valley'' (2017) – director and producer * ''The Return of the Wildcat'' (2020) – director and producer * ''Wild Forests'' (2022) – director and producer

Awards (selection)

General * 2018: Medal "People 2017" for special cultural achievements in Thuringia * 2019: Walter Dexel Scholarship from the City of Jena Hidden Beauty – The Orchids of the Saale Valley * 2018: International Film Competition Nature and Adventure Dortmund – nature film: winner * 2019: Virgin Spring Cinefest – Film on nature / environment / wildlife: winner (gold) * 2019: International Open Film Festival (IOFF) – Film on nature / environment / wildlife: best award The Return of the Wildcat * 2020: Virgin Spring Cinefest – Film on nature / environment / wildlife: winner (gold) * 2020: Nature Without Borders International Film Festival – Wildlife/ nature documentaries: excellence * 2022: Tulum World Environment Film Festival – Jury's Award Feature Films: Ocean and Wildlife Conservation: winner Wild Forests * 2023: Virgin Spring Cinefest – Film on nature / environment / wildlife: winner

References

External links

Literature of and about David Cebulla
in the

German National Library The German National Library (DNB; ) is the central archival library and national bibliographic centre for the Federal Republic of Germany. It is one of the largest libraries in the world. Its task is to collect, permanently archive, comprehens ...

*
David Cebulla's Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cebulla, David 1991 births Living people German documentary film directors People from Jena University of Jena alumni