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Paul Mayeda Berges is a Screenwriter, Director and Producer who has often collaborated with his partner, Gurinder Chadha. Together they have written six award-winning films that have been critical and international box office successes.
Berges studied film and theatre at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He began his career making documentaries about the Japanese American community and was the Director of the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival.
His first feature with Chadha, What’s Cooking?, was the Opening Night Film of the 2000 Sundance Film Festival and the first British script to be invited to the Sundance Institute’s Writer’s Lab. The film was voted joint audience award winner in the New York Film Critics’ 2000 season.
Bend It Like Beckham – the highest grossing British-financed, British-distributed film, ever in the UK box office (at time of release) – received a Golden Globe Nomination for Best Picture (Musical or Comedy), a BAFTA Nomination for Best British Film, a European Film Academy Nomination for Best Film, and a Writers Guild of America Nomination for Best Original Screenplay.
Other collaborations with Chadha include: Bride & Prejudice (the first film ever to open at Number One in the UK and India on the same day), Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging and It’s a Wonderful Afterlife. In 2005, Berges directed The Mistress of Spices, from a script he co-wrote with Chadha. The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival before releasing internationally.