Edward Berger says cinemas and streaming can both win

Edward Berger says film-makers do not have to choose between cinemas and streaming.

The director spoke on Monday at MIA Market in Rome, in a Fireside Chat — an on-stage interview — listed in the market's 2026 daily schedule. He used the session to discuss where his films land and how his career reached this point, The Hollywood Reporter reported.

There is no right or wrong, he said. Each film will find its place. All outlets are additive, with cinema releases and streaming services working alongside each other rather than in opposition.

Berger said the film industry needed Netflix to wake up. He called the streamer, which delivers films and series direct to subscribers, a real disruptor. The tables have turned in part, he added, as Netflix now takes inspiration from the film industry amid a rebound in box office for major Hollywood studios and streamers.

Failure taught him most. Those four words were his summary of his early career.

He said he got back on track with screenwriter Nele Mueller-Stoefen on Jack, a 2014 low-budget film about two lost and neglected brothers in Berlin. After Jack was seen, Film4, BBC Films and people in Hollywood recognised his potential. That attention opened the way to Conclave.

Conclave, his Vatican-set drama about the secret election of a pope, was mostly shot in Rome at Cinecittà Studios. MIA Market had framed the conversation around how to preserve creative independence while making large-scale films for a global audience, according to its 2026 daily schedule.

Berger is working on both sides of the cinema-streaming line. His Ballad of a Small Player was released by Netflix and stars Colin Farrell as a gambler working the baccarat tables of Macau. He wrote and directed Submerged, described as the first original scripted film shot in Apple Immersive Video for viewing on the Apple Vision Pro headset. He is also producing Helo, a police helicopter action thriller directed by Andrés Baiz, in development at Netflix via his Nine Hours banner with Luke Rivett.

For fans, this means his next large-scale cinema project could be a return to zombies. Brad Pitt will return to star in Paramount's sequel to World War Z, with Berger attached to direct, Variety reported in September. Berger will also serve as executive producer, a senior credit that usually involves creative oversight rather than day-to-day production work.