FILMMAKER

F I L M M A K E R

Matt Aeberhard is one of the world’s leading wildlife filmmakers and an Emmy nominated and award-winning wildlife cinematographer / Director of Photography. Described in a recent BBC article as a “cool veteran” he has spent his professional time working in our planet’s most remote and wild places.  

Matt was mentored by the naturalist Hugo Van Lawick on the plains of Serenget filming wildlife feature films on 35mm film. The spectacular film footage at the end of the Emmy- winning film Jane are almost exclusively his work. These shots bear witness to a training that Hugo supported and promoted through his own uniquely artistic approach, the creative use of natural light. Hugo’s deep belief in the emotional complexity and individuality of animals shaped Matt’s intimate cinematic style but also continue to inform the choices he makes as a film maker.

Upon Hugo’s passing, Matt continued to live and work in East Africa, initially supporting Alan Root’s efforts in feature film, but culminating in the production of his own project for Disney Nature - The Crimson Wing. This lush portrayal of the secret life of the flamingos in a remote African lake was, in its day, the most nominated film of all time at the prestigious Jackson Hole Wildlife film festival. Now found on Disney+, the film ranks amongst the channel’s most successful wildlife films.
Matt currently works very closely with Huw Cordey and Silverback Films. He was involved in the much lauded Our Planet series (principally on the jungles episode) for Netflix, and was a key DP (wildlife cinematographer) on the acclaimed Dancing with the Birds special, also for Netflix (Corollas Parotia, Sicklebill and Cock-of-the-Rock sequences). His most recent work is to be found on the BBC’s Perfect Planet series.  

Along with projects in the pipeline for Silverback, Matt is pursuing his own film slate. Birds of America draws upon the artistic and ornithological legacy of John James Audubon (whom Matt would argue was the first wildlife filmmaker) to illuminate the bird life of America in the context of the memory of the past. He is also working on a return to Serengeti, and is developing a script on the dynamics of life and death on the African plains with his writer-wife Melanie Finn.  

He currently lives off-grid in Vermont, on a property set within a larger contiguous forested woodland. Here he shares the wild birds, moose, bear, and the air, with Mel and his two wild-hearted daughters.
Matthew Aeberhard Biography

Matt Aeberhard was mentored by the naturalist Hugo Van Lawick on the plains of the Serengeti filming wildlife features exclusively in 35mm film gauge. It is possible for Aeberhard to envisage the untrammeled wilderness of early post-colonial America, because he lived and worked in the thick of the migration of several million wildebeest for over a decade.  


But Aeberhard’s principle interest in the natural world is firmly rooted in the ornithological realm. He is a excellent birder, building from the early inspiration that he received from North America whilst on a sojourn from England during Junior High School years.  


It was his big screen experience and love of birds that led him, in 2008, to produce, direct and film the feature, The Crimson Wing for Disneynature. This lush, mystical portrayal of the secret life of flamingos in a remote African lake made it the most nominated film of all time at the prestigious Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival.  


In addition to contributing significantly to acclaimed wildlife series for the BBC’s Natural History Unit and most recently for a North American wildlife series for Discovery, Aeberhard works with Hollywood legend Michael Bay as a second-unit Director of Photography.  
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