Jonathan Berman
Jonathan Berman is an American film producer, director, screenwriter, and academic. He is best known for his documentary work as producer and film director of The Shvitz (1993), My Friend Paul (1999), Commune (2005), and Calling All Earthlings (2018). His non-fiction feature films explore subculture and identity, depicting how alternative people, groups and ideas are represented in media. Berman currently serves as a professor at California State University San Marcos. Biography Jonathan Berman was born in Brooklyn, NY and raised in Merrick, New York. His father, Herb Berman was a veteran of World War II and a community newspapers publisher in Brooklyn. Berman graduated from McGill University in Montreal with a B.A. degree and received an M.F.A. from Bard College. Beginnings Berman began his film career in 1986, when he joined as an assistant film editor and production assistant several entertainment, art and documentary projects in New York including Pee-wee's Playhouse (1987), Costa Rica: A Child in the Wind and The Toxic Avenger Part II (1989). Filmmaking career His directorial debut, The Shvitz (1993) was a 16mm black and white documentary depicting traditions revolving around the steambaths once popular in the Eastern European enclaves in New York. The project was