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 and won Berg the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Documentary Screenplay. Born to a Jewish family, Berg grew up in the San Fernando Valley and lives in the Venice Beach 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 in 2003 and 2004. Before that, Berg researched and developed stories for Silver Creek Entertainment. Many aired on Good Morning America, 20/20, and Extra. In addition, she has written numerous articles for the National Organisation for Women, 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 Polarised (2007) for Al Gore's Live Earth Pledge. She also produced Bhutto, a documentary feature about assassinated Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto that played at Sundance 2010. West of Memphis (2012), produced by Peter Jackson and Damien Echols, documents the story of the West Memphis Three, who were convicted as teenagers of the 1993 murder of three boys in West Memphis, Arkansas.The film has received critical acclaim and won numerous awards at film festivals, including the Sundance Film Festival, where the film premiered in January 2012, and the Toronto International Film Festival. In April 2014, Variety confirmed that Berg had spent the previous two years working on a documentary about child sexual abuse in Hollywood entitled An Open Secret. In 2014, Content Film boarded Berg's new documentary about Janis Joplin and was looking to introduce the film to buyers at Cannes. The film, Janis: Little Girl Blue, follows Joplin during her performing years at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, the Woodstock Festival in 1969, and the Festival Express 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 that explores the life of Warren Jeffs, premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. 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 for Netflix. 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. Phoenix Rising, about actor Evan Rachel Wood's allegations of abuse against Marilyn Manson, premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. Description above from the Wikipedia article Amy J. Berg, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Biography from TMDB.
- October 13, 1970 (56)
- Los Angeles, California, USA
- Director, producer and writer
- 14 on MovieCove · 21 credits in all
What are Amy Berg's films like?
Across their 14 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Morality and Self.
Genres
Their MovieCove films by primary genre. The badge is the typical Midcredits score of the genre's films, the median percentile; an up arrow marks a genre at or above their average across these genres.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 0 · Wry 0 · Earnest 9
Light 2 · Serious 0 · Dark 7
Grounded 8 · Stylized 1 · Heightened 0
A split, not a type: Gentle 2 · Charged 2 · Intense 5
Steady 6 · Shifting 3 · Whiplash 0
Straight-faced 8 · Some laughs 1 · Funny 0
Slow burn 7 · Even-paced 2 · Relentless 0
Casual 2 · Engaged 5 · Full focus 2
Easy watch 1 · Affecting 1 · Heavy 7
Resolved 7 · Open-ended 0 · Ambiguous 2
Moods and endings
- Happy1
- Bittersweet10
- Tragic1
- Ambiguous2
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Amy Berg's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 11 of their 14 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service, most on Tubi (4).
Subscription and free streaming for Amy Berg's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
21 credits, 14 with a MovieCove page; 2 appearances as themselves are hidden until asked for.
The Wilderness(2025)
Midcredits score: 36th percentile of all films
The Case Against Adnan Syed (Special Episode) (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2025)
Midcredits score: 97th percentile of all films
Jeff Buckley: Live at The Middle East (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2025)
Phoenix Rising(2022)
Midcredits score: 46th percentile of all shows
Keep This Between Us(2022)
Midcredits score: 22nd percentile of all shows
Midcredits score: 23rd percentile of all shows
Time Now(2021)
Midcredits score: 9th percentile of all films
Midcredits score: 32nd percentile of all shows
This Is Personal (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2019)
Dogs(2018)
Midcredits score: 83rd percentile of all shows
Midcredits score: 94th percentile of all films
Janis: Little Girl Blue(2015)
Midcredits score: 92nd percentile of all films
Prophet's Prey(2015)
Midcredits score: 88th percentile of all films
An Open Secret (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2014)
Every Secret Thing(2014)
Midcredits score: 38th percentile of all films
West of Memphis(2012)
Midcredits score: 97th percentile of all films
Bhutto (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2010)
Deliver Us from Evil(2006)
Midcredits score: 97th percentile of all filmsAmerican Race (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)
From Art to Avians (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)
Career shape
A full career of 18 titles, 16 of them dated from 2006 to 2025.
Biggest box office
It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley (2025)
Highest rated
It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley (2025)
Most popular right now
Every Secret Thing (2014)
Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored.
Awards
1 major award from 8 major nominations, 2007–2019.
- Primetime Emmy, nominated · Outstanding Writing for a Nonfiction Program
- Writers Guild Award, nominated · Best Documentary Screenplay
- Venice award, nominated
- BAFTA Award, nominated · Best Documentary Film
+1 other major body · 1 nomination
- Writers Guild Award, nominated · Best Documentary Screenplay
- Oscar, nominated · Best Documentary, Features
+2 other major bodies · 1 win and 1 nomination
- Directors Guild Award, nominated · Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary
- Writers Guild Award, won
Major bodies only: the Oscars, Primetime Emmys, Golden Globes, BAFTAs and Screen Actors Guild Awards are named; Cannes, Venice, the Berlinale, Sundance, the directors', writers' and producers' guilds, the Grammys, Critics Choice and the Independent Spirit Awards count as other major bodies. Festival and regional prizes are not counted. Source: IMDb.
How do Amy Berg's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 92nd percentile, the median of all 9; across their 9 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 88th percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up7
- 25th to 49th4
- Below 25th3
Shape of the crowd
4 of their 14 titles are Universally Loved.
- Universally Loved4
- Divisive1
- Cult Classic3
- Crowd Pleaser3
- Broadly Agreed1
- Mixed2
Reviewers score the atmosphere 73/100 and the pacing 45/100 in their films, across 9 reviewed titles. The element that speaks to their work as a director.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Who does Amy Berg work with?
People who share at least 2 of Amy Berg's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Regina K. Scully shares the most, 5.
Directors
- Spencer KingShared titles: The Wilderness (2025), Time Now (2021)See all 2 shared titles with Spencer King
- Kristi JacobsonShared titles: Keep This Between Us (2022), Dogs (2018)See all 2 shared titles with Kristi Jacobson
- Rudy ValdezShared titles: We Are: The Brooklyn Saints (2021), Dogs (2018)See all 2 shared titles with Rudy Valdez
Cinematographers and editors
- Jenna RosherShared titles: It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley (2025), Keep This Between Us (2022), Phoenix Rising (2022), Janis: Little Girl Blue (2015)See all 4 shared titles with Jenna Rosher
- Curren SheldonShared titles: It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley (2025), Keep This Between Us (2022), Phoenix Rising (2022)See all 3 shared titles with Curren Sheldon
- Billy McMillinShared titles: Janis: Little Girl Blue (2015), Every Secret Thing (2014), West of Memphis (2012)See all 3 shared titles with Billy McMillin
- Alex TakatsShared titles: It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley (2025), Dogs (2018)See all 2 shared titles with Alex Takats
Producers
- Regina K. ScullyShared titles: The Wilderness (2025), Phoenix Rising (2022), Franca: Chaos and Creation (2016), Janis: Little Girl Blue (2015), Prophet's Prey (2015)See all 5 shared titles with Regina K. Scully
- Geralyn White DreyfousShared titles: The Wilderness (2025), Phoenix Rising (2022), Franca: Chaos and Creation (2016), Prophet's Prey (2015)See all 4 shared titles with Geralyn White Dreyfous
- Grace SinShared titles: Phoenix Rising (2022), We Are: The Brooklyn Saints (2021), The Case Against Adnan Syed (2019), Dogs (2018)See all 4 shared titles with Grace Sin
- Katelyn HowesShared titles: Janis: Little Girl Blue (2015), Prophet's Prey (2015), Every Secret Thing (2014), West of Memphis (2012)See all 4 shared titles with Katelyn Howes
Mixed roles
- Andrew SiwoffShared titles: It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley (2025), Dogs (2018)See all 2 shared titles with Andrew Siwoff
- Francesco CarrozziniShared titles: Franca: Chaos and Creation (2016), Janis: Little Girl Blue (2015)See all 2 shared titles with Francesco Carrozzini
