Edward Berger and Philippe Falardeau in Conversation
Moderated by: Guy Lodge (Variety)
Livestream to be accessed via labiennale.org
Philippe Falardeau, (born February 1, 1968 in Hull, Quebec) is one of Canada’s most successful and acclaimed contemporary filmmakers. His international breakout film Monsieur Lazhar (2011) earned an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film at the 84th Academy Awards. His early film C’est pas moi, je le jure! (It’s not me, I Swear, 2008) won two awards in the Generation section of the 2009 Berlinale edition. In 2020, he was back in Berlin with his latest feature, My Salinger Year (2020), starring Margaret Qualley and Sigourney Weaver, which opened the 70th Berlin International Film Festival. Chuck (2017), featuring Liev Schreiber, had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival. In 2015 he wrote and directed My Internship in Canada, selected by the Toronto Film Festival for its Canada’s Top Ten screening series. In 2014 he directed The Good Lie (2014), starring Reese Witherspoon. His earlier works include a number of award-winning films such as La Moitié gauche du frigo (2000), Congorama (Directors Fortnight, Cannes, 2006). In 2022, he wrote and directed a four-part documentary series about the worst train tragedy in the history of Canada; Lac-Mégantic, This Is Not an Accident. It premiered at Canneseries in 2023 and won the Audience Award at Hot Docs in Toronto.
Edward Berger (Director, Producer and Co-Writer)
The German filmmaker EDWARD BERGER has long since made a dazzling name for himself internationally. Most recently, he caused a stir outside of Germany with the production of series The Terror with Jared Harris, Patrick Melrose with Benedict Cumberbatch and Your Honor with Bryan Cranston and Michael Stuhlbarg in the main roles. Patrick Melrose was nominated for an Emmy in five categories, including Best Limited Series and Best Director, as well as for a Golden Globe for Best Actor. In 2019, the series won four BAFTAs, with Berger awarded a BAFTA for the Best Limited Series. In 2019, he was represented at the Berlinale
with his most recent feature movie All My Loving with Lars Eidinger, where the movie had itsworld premiere in the Panorama section.
Berger was born in 1970 in Wolfsburg, Germany. He completed his studies in directing at the NYU in New York in 1994. He then gained initial professional experience with the American independent production company Good Machine, including on the movies of Ang Lee and Todd Haynes. In 1997, he took on his debut screenplay Gomez: Heads or Tails. This was followed shortly after by his first theatrical motion picture, which was the acclaimed rom-com Female2 Seeks Happy End (2000) starring Ben Becker and Isabella Parkinson. After that, Berger first worked primarily for TV, creating multiple episodes of Tatort, Schimanski and
KDD. In 2012, his TV movie A Good Summer was awarded the Grimme Award. His movie Jack (2014) was invited to the Berlinale and nominated in three categories for the German Film Award in 2015 (Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best movie).
