Edward Berger

“Let me start with Do the Right Thing. Spike Lee, such a great film. Reminds me of New York, of how I studied here. 1989, I came in 1991, so the movie just came out and it was like a revelation of a film. So that one I'm going to take. It says director approved, so Lee approved it. It's wonderful.”

“This is a movie I absolutely adore, Downhill Racer. Michael Ritchie, 1969. This one I've seen it many times. It's the best movie—I mean, if you love skiing watch it, or if you love sports, if you love Robert Redford watch it. But also, sound. Sound is incredible. I remember watching this and thinking the sound is so good, it's so crisp, it's so precise. You have these downhill racing scenes and you hear the skis fluttering on the ice and you hear his breath. This is the best sound design ever.”

“Cold War, I'm sure you know it. I adore it because it's so emotional while being so restrained. When you watch it you think, 'This is like Doctor Zhivago, this must be like three and a half hours.' It is 88 minutes. It is really short but it has the emotional impact of a massive epic. So this is a masterpiece that would stay forever in the canon of movies.”

“Exterminating Angel, great film. People are stuck in one building in one room, they don't leave. And all I remember from this movie—I saw it a long time ago—so there's one character who keeps saying like, 'And suddenly I lost all my hair.' And so for some reason I remember that. And it's very funny, so I think that's a great movie.”

“So Roberto Rossellini, I think I have to take him. Look at this, there is Journey to Italy, Stromboli, Europa '51. Isabella was in my last film and I think to just to remember her and to honor her basically—I'll meet her later—I'll take this and remember her parents.”

“Oh and here, last one, Fanny and Alexander. Ingmar Bergman's masterpiece. I'll take this.”