David Cebulla ([ˈdaːvɪt tseːbʊla] born in 1991 in Jena) is a German filmmaker and director of nature documentaries.
David Cebulla studied biology and ecology[1] at the University of Jena and conducted dendrochronological research on the climate adaptedness of individual tree species.[2] From 2015 onwards, he worked on sets of various film productions, including for the ZDF, Warner Bros.[3] and as assistant director for the series teaser of "Azur".[4] From 2016 to April 2018, he was social media and artist manager for the wildlife and nature filmmaker Andreas Kieling.[5] Since 2019, Cebulla has been a full-time filmmaker.
Cebulla produces mainly documentaries about nature and wildlife. His films are released on video-on-demand, including Prime Video, Vimeo on Demand, and Pantaray TV, as well as on DVD. He shows his films to audiences and holds presentations.[6][7][8] In film production, Cebulla uses ecological methods to record wildlife and appears as a protagonist himself.[5] His own productions are known for featuring only wildlife, but no animals from game enclosures.[9][10]
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.[11] 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.[10][12] 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.[13]
By his own account, he is currently working on the to date most extensive film project about the Common hamster.[9] For "The Last Common Hamsters" he filmed wild common hamsters in Germany, rare black common hamsters,[14] 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.[9][5]
General
Hidden Beauty – The Orchids of the Saale Valley
The Return of the Wildcat
Wild Forests