Amy J. Berg is an American filmmaker. Her 2006 documentary '' Deliver Us from Evil'' (2006), about sex abuse cases in the Roman Catholic Church, was nominated for an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

and won Berg the

Writers Guild of America Award for Best Documentary Screenplay A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, play ...

Life and career

Born to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family, Berg grew up in the

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, California. Located to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it contains a large portion of the City of Los Angeles, as well as unincorporated ar ...

and lives in the

Venice Beach Venice is a neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles within the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California. Venice was founded by Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a seaside resort town. It was an independent city until 1926, when it was annexed by ...

neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Prior to '' Deliver Us From Evil'', Berg produced documentary segments for CNN Investigations and the KCBS news program "30 Minutes of Special Assignment". Her work at KCBS earned her

Emmy Awards The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

in 2003 and 2004. Before that, Berg researched and developed stories for Silver Creek Entertainment. Many aired on ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. T ...

'', '' 20/20'', and ''

Extra Extra or Xtra may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film * ''The Extra'' (1962 film), a Mexican film * ''The Extra'' (2005 film), an Australian film Literature * ''Extra'' (newspaper), a Brazilian newspaper * '' Extra!'', an American m ...

''. In addition, she has written numerous articles for the

National Organization for Women The National Organization for Women (NOW) is an American feminist organization. Founded in 1966, it is legally a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S. states and in Washington, D.C. It ...

, '' The Jewish Journal'' and a number of monthly and weekly periodicals in the United States and France. Berg has directed the 10-minute documentary film ''Polarized'' (2007) for

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic nom ...

's Live Earth Pledge. She also produced ''Bhutto'', a documentary feature about assassinated Pakistani Prime Minister

Benazir Bhutto Benazir Bhutto ( ur, بینظیر بُھٹو; sd, بينظير ڀُٽو; Urdu ; 21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 11th and 13th prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 t ...

that played at Sundance 2010. ''

West of Memphis ''West of Memphis'' is a 2012 New Zealand-American documentary film directed and co-written by Amy J. Berg, produced by Peter Jackson and Damien Echols, and released in the US by Sony Pictures Classics to critical acclaim. It received a nominat ...

'' (2012), produced by

Peter Jackson Sir Peter Robert Jackson (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best known as the director, writer and producer of the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003) and the ''Hobbit'' trilogy ( ...

and

Damien Echols Damien Wayne Echols (born Michael Wayne Hutchison; December 11, 1974) is an American writer, best known as one of the West Memphis Three, a group of teenagers convicted of a triple murder. Upon his release from death row in 2011 under an Alford p ...

, documents the story of the

West Memphis Three The West Memphis Three are three men convicted as teenagers in 1994 of the 1993 murders of three boys in West Memphis, Arkansas, United States. Damien Echols was sentenced to death, Jessie Misskelley Jr. to life imprisonment plus two 20-year ...

, who were convicted as teenagers of the 1993 murder of three boys in

West Memphis, Arkansas West Memphis is the largest city in Crittenden County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 26,245 at the 2010 census, ranking it as the state's 18th largest city, behind Bella Vista. It is part of the Memphis metropolitan area, and is ...

. The film has received critical acclaim and won numerous awards at film festivals, including the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,6 ...

, where the film premiered in January 2012, and the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

. In April 2014, ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' confirmed that Berg had spent the previous two years working on a documentary about

child sexual abuse Child sexual abuse (CSA), also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in sexual activities with a child (whet ...

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

entitled '' An Open Secret''. In 2014 Content Film boarded Berg's new documentary about

Janis Joplin Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970) was an American singer and musician. One of the most successful and widely known rock stars of her era, she was noted for her powerful mezzo-soprano vocals and "electric" stage presence. ...

and was looking to introduce the film to buyers at Cannes. The film, '' Janis: Little Girl Blue'', follows Joplin during her performing years at

Monterey Pop Festival The Monterey International Pop Festival was a three-day music festival held June 16 to 18, 1967, at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in Monterey, California. The festival is remembered for the first major American appearances by the Jimi Hendrix ...

in 1967,

Woodstock Festival Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock. Billed as "an Aquari ...

in 1969 and

Festival Express ''Festival Express'' is a 2003 documentary film about the 1970 train tour of the same name across Canada taken by some of North America's most popular rock bands, including the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, The Band, Buddy Guy, Flying Burrito Br ...

in 1970, and it also includes interviews with family, friends and rock star contemporaries. On November 24, 2014, Berg and Matthew Cooke launched an Indiegogo campaign to raise funds towards creating ''American Race'', a documentary addressing "the black male crisis" in the US. '' Prophet's Prey'', a documentary directed by Berg which explores the life of Warren Jeffs, premiered at the

2015 Sundance Film Festival The 2015 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 22 to February 1, 2015. ''What Happened, Miss Simone?'', a biographical documentary film about American singer Nina Simone, opened the festival. Comedy-drama film '' Grandma'', directed by P ...

. Berg adapted the film from Sam Brower's book ''Prophet's Prey: My Seven-Year Investigation Into Warren Jeffs and the Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints''. Berg, along with Glen Zipper, executive produced the 2018 documentary series ''

Dogs The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. ...

'' for

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a film ...

. She also directed some of the episodes. Berg is the founder of Disarming Films, a film and documentary production company. In 2019, Berg directed a documentary for HBO about Adnan Syed and the

killing of Hae Min Lee Hae Min Lee (; born October 15, 1980) was a Korean-American high school student who was last seen alive on January 13, 1999, in Baltimore County, Maryland. Her body was found four weeks later in Leakin Park; she had been killed by manual strangu ...

. ''Phoenix Rising'' about actor and musician

Evan Rachel Wood Evan Rachel Wood (born September 7, 1987) is an American actress and activist. She is the recipient of a Critics' Choice Television Award as well as three Primetime Emmy Award nominations and three Golden Globe Award nominations for her work i ...

's allegations of abuse against

Marilyn Manson Brian Hugh Warner (born January 5, 1969), known professionally as Marilyn Manson, is an American rock musician. He came to prominence as the lead singer of the band which shares his name, of which he remains the only constant member since it ...

premiered at the 2022

Filmography

* '' Deliver Us from Evil'' (2006) * ''

'' (2012) * '' An Open Secret'' (2014) * '' Every Secret Thing'' (2014) * '' Prophet's Prey'' (2015) * '' Janis: Little Girl Blue'' (2015) * '' The Case Against Adnan Syed'' (2019) * '' Phoenix Rising'' (2022)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Berg, Amy J. Jewish American screenwriters American documentary filmmakers Film directors from California Film producers from California Screenwriters from California Living people American women screenwriters 1970 births American women documentary filmmakers 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American women