Jonathan Berman (2004)
Assistant Professor of Communication
Email: jberman@csusm.edu
Phone: (760) 750-8085
Office: Craven 6127
Jonathan Berman is a filmmaker whose documentaries explore subculture and identity, reexamining, redefining, and challenging how underserved groups and alternative ideas are represented in mass media. He teaches production, distribution, and media studies.
Berman began his career as an assistant film editor. His first film, The Shvitz (1994) is an portrait of the patrons of the last American steambaths. This year (2006) it joins the DVD world as part of the prestigious Docurama collection. My Friend Paul (1999), his second documentary looks at the uneasy intersection of mental illness, friendship, and crime. It was produced with ITVS (PBS), and aired on public TV and the Sundance Channel.
Berman is a graduate of McGill University in Montréal (B.A.). He received a Master's degree from Bard College (M.F.A.), and has taught filmmaking at Sarah Lawrence College. Awards, grants, screenings and festivals include the National Endowment for the Arts, the NY State Council on the Arts, the Amsterdam Documentary Film Festival, the Slamdance, South By Southwest, Munich, and the Museum of Modern Art (NY).
Other work includes Maternity Ward for New York Times Television; a documentary on jazz, "Sabbath In Paradise," and the nature documentary Chant of Paradise. Story credits include the feature film On the Run.
His latest film Commune, (2005) explores a legendary 1960's commune who ultimately discover that utopia is a process, not a destination. The film premiered in Park City at the Slamdance Film Festival, has been broadcast in Australia, Israel, Belgium, and Spain. It is opening in select U.S. movie theaters in November 2006. Berman is a member of the Writers Guild of America West and the International Documentary Association.
Fall '09 Course Syllabi
MASS 302: Media Production and Context
MASS 306: Media Distribution: National and International
MASS 424: Media Genres
