Edward Berger (; 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).
All Quiet on the Western Front won Berger an Academy Award for Best International Film, was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and won three British Academy Film Awards. For Conclave, Berger received his first Golden Globe nomination for Best Director and a BAFTA for Outstanding British Film.
Early life and education Berger was born in 1970 in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, then West Germany. His mother was from Switzerland, and his father, who worked as a logistics manager at Volkswagen, was from Austria. He grew up in a middle-class family with three siblings.
Berger graduated from Theodor-Heuss-Gymnasium in Wolfsburg in the late 1980s. Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung, retrieved, 29 April 2015 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. bei der Agentur Die Agenten, retrieved, 20 January 2014
He moved to Berlin in 1997.
Berger has both Swiss and Austrian citizenship through his parents. Includes link to audio. He told Die Welt in 2023 that while he is not German by passport, he supports Germany in international football tournaments. "If Germany plays Switzerland, I'm for Germany", he told Variety. 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".
Career 1992–2017: Early work and German films
Berger has worked mostly in Germany and the United States. 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, and Edward Burns. In 1994 he headed the production department of the company. In 1996 he gave a guest lecture at Columbia University film school, and at Universität der Künste Berlin 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. 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.
In 2008, he worked as a screenwriter and director for four episodes of season 2 of television series KDD – Kriminaldauerdienst (KDD – Berlin Crime Squad). In 2012, his film was awarded the Grimme-Preis.
Berger co-wrote the script for his third feature film, Jack with regular collaborator (also his wife). The film premiered in competition at the 2014 Berlinale, 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. 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".
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. The series won an International Emmy in 2016.
2018–present: Mainstream acclaim and independent film success He also directed the limited series Patrick Melrose (2018), starring Benedict Cumberbatch, for which he won his first BAFTA Award, for Best Limited Series. His feature film All My Loving premiered on 9 February 2019, in the Panorama section of the 2019 Berlinale. The film was nominated in several categories for the preselection of the 2019 German Film Award.
Berger wrote, directed, and produced All Quiet on the Western Front, released in 2022. 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. At the Oscars, it won Best International Film. 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.
His 2024 film Conclave, a drama set in the Holy See based on a novel by Robert Harris, enjoyed great success, both critically and with audiences. 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".
In 2025 Berger made the feature Ballad of a Small Player starring Colin Farrell. The film was poorly received with a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 49 and a Meta Critic rating of 46. Alison Willmore’s New York Magazine review entitled “Maybe the Conclave Guy Is Actually Bad at Making Movies?” states “this new movie suggests that Berger isn’t capable of rising above his source material or, in this case, even meeting it... it all feels like discount Wes Anderson.” https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ballad_of_a_small_player https://www.metacritic.com/movie/ballad-of-a-small-player/critic-reviews/ https://www.vulture.com/article/maybe-the-conclave-guy-is-actually-bad-at-making-movies.html
Upcoming projects
Berger has been slated to direct the next film in the Bourne franchise. 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".
Berger 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. He is also set to direct a film about Evan Gershkovich, with David Weil set to pen the script. 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. He also produced Fatherland (2026), a biopic of Thomas Mann directed by Paweł Pawlikowski.
In February 2026, it was announced that Berger will direct, as will as co-produce, a biopic about Lance Armstrong, starring Austin Butler and written by Zach Baylin.
Personal life Berger is married to German actress and screenwriter Nele Mueller-Stöfen. She has starred in several of Berger's films, as well as collaborating on the script of Jack.
Filmography Film Year Title Director Writer Producer Refs. 2014 Jack 2019 All My Loving 2022 All Quiet on the Western Front 2024 Conclave 2025 Ballad of a Small Player TBA The Riders Filming
Producer Year Title Producer Refs. 2026 Fatherland
Television TV movie Year Title Director Writer 1992 Strait-Jacket 1993 Sidewalk Hotel 1994 Schrottplatz Träumereien 1995 Wanderbread 1998 Gomez – Kopf oder Zahl 2001 Female 2 Seeks Happy End 2007 Windland 2011 2012
TV series Year Title Director Writer Notes 2001–2002 Schimanski 2 episodes 2004 Bloch Episode "Schwestern" 2005–2006 Unter Verdacht Wrote 2 episodes / directed 1 episode 2006–2013 Tatort 2 episodes 2008 KDD – Kriminaldauerdienst Director of 3 episodes / Writer of 2 episodes 2010 Polizeiruf 110 Episode "Aquarius" 2015 Deutschland 83 5 episodes 2018 The Terror 3 episodes 2018 Patrick Melrose Miniseries 2019 Eden Creator; 6 episodes 2020 Your Honor 3 episodes
Awards and nominations Organizations Year Category Work Result Ref. Academy Awards 2023 Best Adapted ScreenplayAll Quiet on the Western Front Best International Feature Film BAFTA Awards 2023 Best Direction Best Adapted Screenplay Best Film Not in the English Language 2024 Best Direction Conclave Outstanding British Film Berlin International Film Festival 2014 Golden Bear Jack Capri Hollywood International Film Festival2024 Best Director Conclave Critics' Choice Movie Awards 2024 Best Director Directors Guild of America Awards 2024 Outstanding Director – Feature Film Primetime Emmy Awards 2018 Outstanding Director for a Limited Series or Movie Patrick Melrose Golden Globe Awards 2024 Best Director - Motion Picture Conclave Grimme Awards 2003 Outstanding Individual Achievement Schimanski 2012 Fiction A Good Summer 2013 Fiction Mutter muss weg 2016 Fiction - Series/Miniseries Deutschland 83
Individual recognitions 2000: Variety – Award "Ten European Directors To Watch", after Female 2 Seeks Happy End 2017: Variety – "Ten European Directors To Watch in 2017" 2015: Fellowship for Villa Aurora's artist-in-residence program, along with his wife 2024: A Tribute to... award at the Zurich Film Festival
See also List of Swiss Academy Award winners and nominees References
External links