David Bernet was born in Rheineck, Switzerland, in 1966. He studied literature and philosophy in Vienna and Berlin. In 1995, he started working as a journalist for print media and radio programs before turning to documentary film production as an author, as director of production and as a researcher for films like Nikolaus Geyrhalter's acclaimed and award-winning "Unser täglich Brot" (2003-05).

After he had already made documentary shorts as early as in 2000, Bernet's feature film debut "Die Flüsterer – Eine Reise in die Welt der Dolmetscher" first aired on TV in 2005. Cooperating with Robert Ralston he then made the medium-length documentary "Jew by Choice" (2006) about German Christians wanting to convert to Judaism.

The documentary "Raising Resistance" (DE/CH 2011, in cooperation with Bettina Borgfeld) that depicts the struggle of farmers in developing countries where big corporations push the use of genetic engineering, won Best Picture at the film festival Visions du Réel in Nyon, Switzerland. At the festival Filmplus, the film won the Bild-Kunst-Preis for Best Editing. In 2012, Bernet started working on his next film: For "Democracy - Im Rausch der Daten" he accompanied five EU politicians in Brussels all from different positions on the political spectrum and all working on drafting a European data protection law. The film could only be released, however, on condition that the bill had already been passed. That is why, in November 2015, when all was wrapped, the film eventually opened in German theaters.