Oliver Berben

Oliver Berben, born at the tail end of summer in 1971, hails from Munich—a city with more beer gardens than you could count and a film scene that’s quietly punching above its weight. Seriously, if you’ve ever stumbled onto a German comedy or some wild satire, there’s a decent shot Berben’s name is somewhere in the credits. He’s the guy behind “Er Ist Wieder Da” (yeah, that one, with Hitler waking up in modern-day Germany—talk about a conversation starter), and he’s got his fingerprints all over the blackly comic “Carnage.” Not to mention “Bewegte Männer,” which, if you grew up in Germany in the early 2000s, probably made you laugh on a random Wednesday night. But Berben isn’t just some faceless producer churning out projects in the background. He’s got this knack for picking stories that grab your attention and never quite let go—somehow managing to balance outrageous premises with heart. Maybe it’s that Munich energy, maybe it’s just a sixth sense for what makes people tick. Off the set? He’s been hitched to Katrin Kraus since 2014, and, yeah, they’ve got a kid. The guy seems to keep his private life pretty low-key, which is kind of refreshing in an industry obsessed with oversharing. But, really, his work speaks loud enough—edgy, clever, sometimes a bit provocative, never boring. If you’re flipping through European cinema and spot his name, odds are you’re in for something a little out of the ordinary.