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Edward Berger
Austrian and Swiss filmmaker (born 1970) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Edward Berger (German: [ˈedvart ˈbɛʁɡɐ]; born 1970) is a Swiss and Austrian director and screenwriter. He is known for his work in Germany, where he was born and grew up, such as the German films Jack (2014), All My Loving (2019), and All Quiet on the Western Front (2022), as well as his English-language debut Conclave (2024). He also directed several television series including Deutschland 83 (2015) and Patrick Melrose (2018).
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For All Quiet on the Western Front, Berger accepted an Academy Award for Best International Film, while it was also nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and won three British Academy Film Awards as well. For Conclave, Berger also received several accolades, including his first Golden Globe nomination for Best Director and a British Academy Film Award for Outstanding British Film.
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Early life and education
Edward Berger was born in 1970[1] in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, then West Germany.[2] His mother was from Switzerland, and his father, who worked as a logistics manager at Volkswagen, was from Austria.[3][4] He grew up in a middle-class family with three siblings.[2]
Berger graduated from Theodor-Heuss-Gymnasium in Wolfsburg in the late 1980s.[2][5] After graduating from the Gymnasium, he attended the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig from 1990 to 1991. He then transferred to the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, where he finished his studies in directing in 1994.[2][6]
He moved to Berlin in 1997.[7]
Berger has both Swiss[8] and Austrian citizenship through his parents.[9][10][11][12][13] He told Die Welt in 2023 that while he is not German by passport, he supports Germany in international football tournaments.[10] "If Germany plays Switzerland, I'm for Germany", he told Variety.[4] He told Die Zeit in 2023: "My father is Austrian, my mother Swiss, so there would be enough reason for me to be a little confused. What I always know is: I am European".[9]
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Career
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1992–2017: Early work and German films
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Berger has worked mostly in Germany and the United States.[14] He gathered his first work experience at the U.S. independent production company Good Machine, working, among others, on the films of Ang Lee, Todd Haynes,[7][15] and Edward Burns. In 1994 he headed the production department of the company.[12] In 1996 he gave a guest lecture at Columbia University film school,[12] and at Universität der Künste Berlin[7] and at the HFF Potsdam.
His first feature film, based on his own screenplay, was Gomez – Kopf oder Zahl ("Gomez – Heads or Tails"), in 1998.[12] In 2002, he directed a telemovie called Asylum, which was nominated for the International Emmy Award as well as the Grimme-Preis in Germany. In 2004, he wrote and directed a telemovie, Welcome to the Club.[16]
In 2008, he worked as a screenwriter and director for four episodes of season 2 of television series KDD – Kriminaldauerdienst (KDD – Berlin Crime Squad).[16] In 2012, his film A Good Summer was awarded the Grimme-Preis.[8]
Berger co-wrote the script for his third feature film, Jack with regular collaborator Nele Mueller-Stöfen[17] (also his wife[18]). The film premiered in competition at the 2014 Berlinale,[17][19] and was awarded the 2015 German Film Award in silver for the best feature film, after being nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay. It also won Best Director and Best Picture at the German Directors Guild Awards.[16] Berger said in 2023 that he has always looked for a challenge in filmmaking: "That started with Jack, where the camera was really only on the boy's face, because I didn't want to give the audience any choice but to identify with him".[15][4]
In August 2014, Berger directed the eight-part television series Deutschland 83, which premiered as a special entry in the 2015 Berlinale. It was sold internationally, including to Canal+ in France and Channel 4 in the UK, and became the first German television show ever to air in the US.[16] The series won an International Emmy in 2016.[8]
2018–present: Mainstream acclaim
He also directed the limited series Patrick Melrose (2018), starring Benedict Cumberbatch, for which he won his first BAFTA Award, for Best Limited Series.[citation needed]
Berger wrote, directed, and produced All Quiet on the Western Front, released in 2022.[15] The film received more Oscar nominations than any other German film before it (nine), after winning seven BAFTAs, surpassing the previous record of five set by Cinema Paradiso in 1988.[4] At the Oscars, it won Best International Film.[20] It was praised by critics internationally, but German reviewers and historians criticised it for its lack of closeness to the book and lack of historical accuracy.[21]
His 2024 film Conclave, a drama set in the Holy See based on a novel by Robert Harris,[14] enjoyed great success, both critically and with audiences.[3][22][23] He described the film compared with All Quiet on the Western Front, as "like [going] from a physical war to an intellectual war. It felt like one of those great political conspiracy thrillers from the 1970s".[14] His next film, due to be released in 2025, is The Ballad of a Small Player, with Colin Farrell and Tilda Swinton.[14]
Upcoming projects
Berger has been slated to direct the next film in the Bourne franchise (reportedly titled The Bourne Dilemma).[24][25] However, in October 2024 Berger was vague about his involvement in the film: "It's really not clear whether… I'm doing that film or not. I'm not doing it right now. And I really don't know what I will do in the future".[26]
Beger has signed to direct the science fiction thriller film The Barrier, starring Austin Butler and written by MacMillan Hedges, based on his own short story of the same name.[27] Berger is also set to direct a film about Evan Gershkovich, with David Weil set to pen the script. [28] Berger is also attached to direct The Riders, starring Brad Pitt and written by David Kajganich, based on the novel of the same name by Tim Winton. [29] Berger has also directed and produced music videos and artist film portraits.[12] He is set to produce an upcoming biopic of Thomas Mann directed by Paweł Pawlikowski, based on the novel The Magician by Colm Tóibín.[30][31][32]
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Personal life
Berger is married to German actress Nele Mueller-Stöfen.[33] Mueller-Stöfen, born in Berlin in 1967, has acted on stage and screen, and is also a screenwriter. She has starred in several of Berger's films, as well as collaborating on the script of Jack.[18]
Filmography
Film
Television
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Awards and nominations
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Individual recognition
- 2000: Variety – Award "Ten European Directors To Watch", after Female 2 Seeks Happy End[16][8]
- 2017: Variety – "Ten European Directors To Watch in 2017"[43]
- 2015: Fellowship for Villa Aurora's artist-in-residence program,[16] along with his wife Nele Mueller-Stöfen[18]
- 2024: A Tribute to... award at the Zurich Film Festival[8][44]
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References
External links
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