Daniel Bernardi

Last updated
Daniel Bernardi
Born (1964-06-16) June 16, 1964 (age 59)
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Alma mater University of Arizona, UCLA
SpouseHelen Na
Scientific career
Fields media studies, cultural studies,
narrative theory, documentary film, critical race theory
Institutions San Francisco State University, United States Navy Reserves, El Dorado Films

Daniel Leonard Bernardi (born June 16, 1964) is a professor of Cinema at San Francisco State University, founder and President of El Dorado Films and a retired Commander in the United States Navy Reserve. Bernardi earned a Bachelor of Arts in Radio-TV (1984) and a Masters of Arts in Media Arts (1988) from the University of Arizona. He went on to earn a PhD in Film and Television Studies from UCLA (1994), completed a University of California postdoctoral research fellowship in 1997, and earned a Master of Public Administration from SFSU in 2023.

Contents

Early Life

Bernardi was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico to Leonard Bernardi and Giga Bernardi (née Soto), June 16, 1964. Shortly thereafter, the Bernardis moved to their hometown of New York, then eventually relocated to Tucson, Arizona for Giga's asthma. His parents divorced when Bernardi was six years old, and his mother married Cordell R. Carter when Bernardi was thirteen. Following his graduation from high school in 1982, Bernardi joined the United States Navy.

Military Career

Bernardi’s initial stint in the military ended shortly after it began, but out of a desire to live up to the tradition of military service established by his father, who served in the United States Air Force, and stepfather, who served in the United States Marine Corps, he decided to enlist again. After receiving a congressional waiver, Bernardi joined the United States Navy Reserve as an intelligence specialist while engaged in his post-doctoral studies (1997). During his second stint in the Navy, Bernardi learned about commissioning opportunities within the service and chose to transition from the intelligence community as an enlisted Sailor to the public affairs restricted line as a commissioned officer. During his service, Bernardi participated in a tour of duty in Iraq (which precluded his ability to accept a Fulbright fellowship in 2009), where he trained Iraqi Special Operations Forces (ISOF) and Emergency Response Brigade (ERB) Soldiers on combat camera and media operations, managed US media embeds, including CNN, NBC, AP, US Army and US Navy journalists and photographers. Following his tour in Iraq, Bernardi was the mission public affairs officer for the 2011 iteration of Pacific Partnership, an annual humanitarian assistance initiative sponsored by the United States Pacific Fleet. Bernardi managed a team of military (U.S., Australian and New Zealand) and NGO (Project HOPE) photographers, videographers and writers assigned to document and report on the mission. During his final tour, Bernardi also served at JTF-GTMO in 2020, during the height of the COVID pandemic.

Education

Bernardi began his collegiate career studying acting at the University of Arizona and entered a feminist film theory course during his junior year. During his exploration of cinema-based semiotics and themes, he learned there was little to no exploration of race in cinema-related academics. The university offered Bernardi a grant to pursue his academic interest in racial explorations of cinema as a graduate student. Following his master’s program, Bernardi relocated to Los Angeles to pursue a career as an actor, worked with the Center Theater Group, found he missed film theory, and began working toward a doctorate.

Academic Career

Bernardi has taught film, television and new media at UC Riverside (1997–1998), UCLA (1999-2000), Arizona State University (1999-2011), and SFSU (2011–Present). He was awarded a Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship (1994), a UC President's Post-Doctoral Fellowship (1995–1997), and a Fulbright Fellowship (2009). Nonetheless, his deployment to Iraq prevented his acceptance of the Fulbright Fellowship. From 1998 to 2000, he worked for the Sci-Fi Channel as a consultant, writer and producer/host of the web feature Future Now (since deleted).

Since his years at UCLA, Daniel L. Bernardi has earned a reputation of notoriety among the more avid Star Trek fans due to his writings about the role of race in the films, especially through his 1998 book Star Trek and History: Race-ing Toward a White Future". [1]

Following his tour in Iraq and the South Pacific, Bernardi, working with a larger research team including H. L. (Bud) Goodall Jr., received a $1.6 million renewable grant from the Office of Naval Research to catalogue and study the impact rumors have on counterinsurgency operations. The aim of the project is for expeditionary forces to have access to these narratives and to work against them through the team's analysis.

Veteran Documentary Corps (2012 - present)

Inspired by his own experiences, in 2012, Bernardi launched the Veteran Documentary Corps [2] (VDC), a documentary project founded by donations and grants, the VA and National Cemetery Administration including. VDC produces and exhibits short documentaries on the struggles and successes of veterans from across the world. The Veteran Documentary Corps has produced and distributed more than fifty short documentaries on veterans dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the fall-out of the former "don't ask, don't tell" policy, and a range of other topics. Bernardi contributes to the project both as filmmaker and producer, and all the films are made by professional filmmakers including Jesse Moss, Andrés Gallegos, Silvia Turchin, Eliciana Nascimento, among others. [3]

The Veteran Documentary Corps was met with wide acclaim and was received positively from veterans and the general public alike. Following these successes, Bernardi created in 2018 El Dorado Films, the distributor of Veteran Documentary Corps (VDC) films. Similarly, El Dorado Films is a specialized filmmaking collective that works across the U.S. and around the world to craft compelling documentaries, shorts, and commercials, which offers also an online streaming platform.

Daniel Bernardi's documentaries have received a wide international reception on the international film festival circuit and won many prizes. In 2023 two of his latest documentaries on women in the military: [4] Time for Change: the Kathy Bruyere Story and Ultimate Sacrifices: Cpt. Jennifer Moreno screened at the opening night of the 2023 GI Film Festival San Diego [5]

Bibliography

Authored Works

Edited Collections


Bernardi's interest in the representation of race is still present and he actively writes for American newspapers on contemporary films, such as the upcoming biopic on Leonard Bernstein 'Maestro'. [16]

Filmography

Director
FilmYear
Tim Kochis: Purple Heart2013
Michael Blackwell: Combat Camera2014
Ralph Rush: Concentration Camp Liberator2015
Jack Ensch: Hanoi Hilton POW2016
The American War2018
Noble Sissle's Syncopated Ragtime2018
Noble Sissle Jr.2018
The War to End All Wars… and its American Veterans2019
The Forgotten War2020
Buck Southworth: U.S. Air Force Flight Crew2021
Ultimate Sacrifices: Capt. Jennifer Moreno 2022
Navigator: Ken Murray2022
Time for Change: Kathy Bruyere 2022

Producer

FilmDirectorYear
Nurse Helen FairchildEliciana Nascimento [17] 2018
Objector [18] Molly Stuart2019
Guy Hircefeld, a guy with a CameraAndrés Gallegos2019
The War to End All Wars… and its American VeteransDaniel L. Bernardi2020
The Forgotten WarDaniel L. Bernardi2020
Pam Roark: Iraq War NurseNatalya Sharapova2020
Who is Weary Willie? Constanza Hevia2021
From Mexico to Vietnam: A Chicano StoryAndrés Gallegos2022
Ultimate Sacrifices: Capt. Jennifer MorenoDaniel L. Bernardi2022
Do Ask, Do Tell: The Linda Campbell Story [19] Birdy Hung2023
RuizJesse Sutterley2023

Selected publications

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References

  1. ↑ Rado, Alicia Di (1995-03-15). "Trekking Through College : Classes Explore Modern Society Using the World of 'Star Trek'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2023-06-07.
  2. ↑ "Veteran Documentary Corps | College of Liberal & Creative Arts". lca.sfsu.edu. Retrieved 2023-08-09.
  3. ↑ "Filmmakers – El Dorado Films" . Retrieved 2023-08-09.
  4. ↑ "Documentaries recognize sacrifice, achievement of military women". KPBS Public Media. 2023-05-16. Retrieved 2023-08-09.
  5. ↑ Coddon, David L. (2023-05-12). "Director keeps stories of military women alive at GI Film Festival San Diego". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved 2023-08-09.
  6. ↑ "Off the Page: Screenwriting in the Era of Media Convergence Available Now for Courses". UC Press Blog. Retrieved 2023-08-09.
  7. ↑ Bernardi, Daniel Leonard, Pauline Hope Cheong, Chris Lundry, and Scott W. Ruston. Narrative Landmines: Rumors, Islamist Extremism, and the Struggle for Strategic Influence. Rutgers University Press, 2012. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt5hjdvd.
  8. ↑ "How a couple saved 'Star Trek' while living in Oakland". KALW. 2022-09-30. Retrieved 2023-08-09.
  9. ↑ Bernardi, Daniel. 1998. Star Trek and History: Race-Ing Toward a White Future. Springer Science & Business.
  10. ↑ Bernardi, Daniel, and Michael Green. 2017. Race in American Film: Voices and Visions That Shaped a Nation. Greenwood.
  11. ↑ Bernardi, Daniel, Murray Pomerance, and Hava Tirosh-Samuelson. 2013. Hollywood’s Chosen People: The Jewish Experience in American Cinema.
  12. ↑ Bernardi, Daniel. 2009. Filming Difference: Actors, Directors, Producers, and Writers on Gender, Race, and Sexuality in Film. University of Texas Press.
  13. ↑ Bernardi, Daniel.2008. The Persistence of Whiteness: Race and Contemporary Hollywood Cinema. Taylor & Francis.
  14. ↑ Bernardi, Daniel.2001. Classic Hollywood, Classic Whiteness. U of Minnesota Press.
  15. ↑ Bernardi, Daniel. 1996. The Birth of Whiteness: Race and the Emergence of U.S. Cinema. Rutgers University Press.
  16. ↑ "Opinion | Why it's too soon to accuse Bradley Cooper's "Maestro" of "Jewface"". MSNBC.com. 2023-08-21. Retrieved 2023-09-09.
  17. ↑ https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3216826/?ref_=tt_ov_dr
  18. ↑ Felperin, Leslie (2021-05-10). "Objector review – Israeli anti-occupation documentary wears its politics on its sleeve". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2023-08-09.
  19. ↑ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt29335697/?ref_=nm_flmg_t_3_prd
  20. ↑ Bernardi, D. (1996). The Birth of Whiteness: Race and the Emergence of U.S. Cinema. Rutgers University Press.
  21. ↑ Bernardi, D. (1998b). Star Trek and History: Race-ing Toward a White Future. Springer Science & Business.
  22. ↑ "Where's the Beef? – Flow". 2005-04-01. Retrieved 2023-08-09.
  23. ↑ "Narrative Landmines | Small Wars Journal". smallwarsjournal.com. Retrieved 2023-08-09.
  24. ↑ "Audiomack | Free Music Sharing and Discovery". audiomack.com. Retrieved 2023-08-09.
  25. ↑ "Trekdom - Star Trek Fanzine: Prof. Daniel Bernardi on Star Trek and Race". Trekdom - Star Trek Fanzine. 2007-06-25. Retrieved 2023-08-09.
  26. ↑ "Federal News Network | Breaking Federal News & Information | Helping feds meet their mission". Federal News Network. Retrieved 2023-08-09.
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