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.
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 served as Mission Public Affairs Officer aboard amphibious transport dock ship USS Cleveland. Public Affairs Officer Joint Transportation Reserve Unit (JTRU) at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, 2015-2018, Executive Officer/Acting Commanding Officer U.S. Naval Surface Force U.S. Pacific Fleet at Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam, Hawaii, 2018-2019, Public Affairs Officer Naval Information Warfare Systems Command NR NAVWAR HQ in San Diego, California and 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 Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) in 2020, during the height of the COVID pandemic. Daniel Bernardi retired from the Navy Reserve after 25 years of service.
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".
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.
In 2026, Bernardi provided cultural commentary on the media legacy and societal impact of the O.J. Simpson murder trial, noting that the case remains a cultural mechanism for examining issues of race, gender, and domestic violence in the United States.
Veteran Documentary Corps (2012–present) Inspired by his own experiences, in 2012, Bernardi launched the Veteran Documentary Corps (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.
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: Time for Change: Kathy Bruyere and Ultimate Sacrifices: Cpt. Jennifer Moreno screened at the opening night of the 2023 GI Film Festival San Diego. His 2023 film, Triumph Over Prejudice: The Montford Point Marines, opened the 2025 'Best of the Fest' GI Film Festival in Washington, D.C.
Bibliography
Authored works Off the Page: Screenwriting in the Era of Media Convergence (co-author). 2017. University of California Press.
Narrative Landmines: Rumors, Islamist Extremism, and the Struggle for Strategic Influence Rumors (co-authored). 2012. Rutgers University Press.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.
Star Trek and History: Race-ing Toward a White Future". 1998. Rutgers University Press. Bernardi, Daniel. 1998. Star Trek and History: Race-Ing Toward a White Future. Springer Science & Business.
Edited collections Race in American Film: Voices and Visions That Shaped a Nation, Volumes I, II and III. (co-editor). 2017. Greenwood Publishers.Bernardi, Daniel, and Michael Green. 2017. Race in American Film: Voices and Visions That Shaped a Nation. Greenwood. Hollywood's Chosen People: The Jewish Experience in American Cinema(co-edited). 2012. Wayne State University Press.Bernardi, Daniel, Murray Pomerance, and Hava Tirosh-Samuelson. 2013. Hollywood’s Chosen People: The Jewish Experience in American Cinema. Filming Difference: Actors, Directors, Producers and Writers on Gender, Race and Sexuality in Film. 2009. University of Texas Press.Bernardi, Daniel. 2009. Filming Difference: Actors, Directors, Producers, and Writers on Gender, Race, and Sexuality in Film. University of Texas Press. The Persistence of Whiteness. 2007. Routledge.Bernardi, Daniel.2008. The Persistence of Whiteness: Race and Contemporary Hollywood Cinema. Taylor & Francis. Classic Hollywood/Classic Whiteness. 2001. University of Minnesota Press.Bernardi, Daniel.2001. Classic Hollywood, Classic Whiteness. U of Minnesota Press. The Birth of Whiteness: Race and the Emergence of U.S. Cinema. 1996. Rutgers University Press.Bernardi, Daniel. 1996. The Birth of Whiteness: Race and the Emergence of U.S. Cinema. Rutgers University Press.
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'.
Filmography
Director Film YearFormatDistributionTim Kochis: Purple Heart2013ShortAmazon, ProQuest, Kanopy, InfoBase, AlexanderStreetMichael Blackwell: Combat Camera2014ShortAmazon, ProQuest, Kanopy, InfoBase, AlexanderStreet, PBS PlusRalph Rush: Concentration Camp Liberator2015ShortAmazon, ProQuest, Kanopy, InfoBase, AlexanderStreetJack Ensch: Hanoi Hilton POW2016ShortAmazon, ProQuest, InfoBase, AlexanderStreetThe American War2018FeatureProQuest, Kanopy, InfoBase, AlexanderStreetNoble Sissle Jr.: Am I Still Going to Vietnam?2018ShortAmazon, ProQuest, InfoBase, AlexanderStreetNoble Sissle's Syncopated Ragtime2018ShortAmazon, ProQuest, Kanopy, InfoBase, AlexanderStreetThe War to End All Wars… and its American Veterans2019FeatureProQuest, Kanopy, InfoBase, Video Elephant, AlexanderStreetThe Forgotten War2020FeatureAmazon, ProQuest, Kanopy, InfoBase, Video Elephant, AlexanderStreetIonosphere: Dr. Eliana Nossa2020ShortProQuest, InfoBase, AlexanderStreet, Near Earth Asteroids: Dr. Anne Virkki2020ShortProQuest, InfoBase, AlexanderStreetBuck Southworth: U.S. Air Force Flight Crew2021ShortAmazon, ProQuest, InfoBase, Video Elephant, AlexanderStreetNavigator: Lt. Col. Ken Murray2022ShortProQuest, AlexanderStreetSolar Weather: Dr. Alessandra Pacini2022ShortProQuest, InfoBase, AlexanderStreetTime for Change: Kathy Bruyere2022ShortAmazon, ProQuest, AlexanderStreetUltimate Sacrifices: CPT. Jennifer Moreno2022FeatureAmazon, ProQuest, InfoBase, AlexanderStreetThe Architect: A Montford Point Marine2023ShortAmazon, ProQuest, AlexanderStreetConte: Transitioning Politics2023ShortAmazon, ProQuest, AlexanderStreetThe Jock: A Montford Point Marine2023ShortAmazon, ProQuest, AlexanderStreetTriumph Over Prejudice: The Montford Point Marines2023FeatureInfoBaseYou Don't Know Jack: A Montford Point Marine2023ShortAmazon, ProQuest, AlexanderStreetHope: In the Aftermath of War2025ShortProQuest, InfoBaseResilience: The Kim LeBel Story2025ShortProQuest, InfoBase
Producer