Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini (born August 24, 1964 in New York City, New York, USA) are a team of documentarians who received critical acclaim and an Academy Award nomination for their feature film directorial debut, 2003's American Splendor

American Splendor (film)

American Splendor is a 2003 American biographical comedy-drama film about Harvey Pekar, the author of the American Splendor comic book series. The film is also in part an adaptation of the comics, which dramatize Pekar's life...

. In 2010, The Extra Man

The Extra Man (film)

The Extra Man is a 2010 comedy film based on a novel by Jonathan Ames. The film is directed and written by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini. It stars Kevin Kline, Paul Dano, Katie Holmes and John C...

premiered at the Sundance festival. The Emmy

Emmy Award

An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...

-nominated Cinema Verite, a 2011 HBO Drama film directed by Berman and Pulcini, premiered on April 23, 2011.

Berman graduated from Wesleyan University

Wesleyan University

Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut. According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Wesleyan is the only Baccalaureate College in the nation that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and...

 (Phi Beta Kappa

Phi Beta Kappa Society

The Phi Beta Kappa Society is an academic honor society. Its mission is to "celebrate and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences"; and induct "the most outstanding students of arts and sciences at America’s leading colleges and universities." Founded at The College of William and...

). Both filmmakers received master's degrees in film from Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

. The couple married in 1994.

Actor

Robert Pulcini

• American Splendor
  American Splendor (film)
  American Splendor is a 2003 American biographical comedy-drama film about Harvey Pekar, the author of the American Splendor comic book series. The film is also in part an adaptation of the comics, which dramatize Pekar's life...
  
  (2003) - "Bob The Director"

Filmography

• Off the Menu: The Last Days of Chasen's
  Off the Menu: The Last Days of Chasen's
  Off the Menu: The Last Days of Chasen's is a 1997 American documentary film directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini.- Background :...
  
  (1997)
• The Young and the Dead (2000)
• Hello, He Lied & Other Truths from the Hollywood Trenches (2002)
• American Splendor
  American Splendor (film)
  American Splendor is a 2003 American biographical comedy-drama film about Harvey Pekar, the author of the American Splendor comic book series. The film is also in part an adaptation of the comics, which dramatize Pekar's life...
  
  (2003)
• Wanderlust (2006)
• The Nanny Diaries
  The Nanny Diaries (film)
  The Nanny Diaries is a 2007 American comedy-drama film, based on the novel of the same name by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus. Written and directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, it stars Scarlett Johansson, Alicia Keys, Paul Giamatti, and Laura Linney; and was produced by Richard N...
  
  (2007)
• The Extra Man
  The Extra Man (film)
  The Extra Man is a 2010 comedy film based on a novel by Jonathan Ames. The film is directed and written by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini. It stars Kevin Kline, Paul Dano, Katie Holmes and John C...
  
  (2010)
• Cinema Verite (2011)

Awards and nominations

With their first feature American Splendor

American Splendor (film)

American Splendor is a 2003 American biographical comedy-drama film about Harvey Pekar, the author of the American Splendor comic book series. The film is also in part an adaptation of the comics, which dramatize Pekar's life...

, Berman and Pulcini earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay

Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay

The Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay is one of the Academy Awards, the most prominent film awards in the United States. It is awarded each year to the writer of a screenplay adapted from another source...

.

Awards won for American Splendor

• Boston Film Critics
  Boston Society of Film Critics Awards 2003
  The 24th Boston Society of Film Critics Awards, honoring the best in filmmaking in 2003, were given on 14 December 2003.-Winners:*Best Film:**Mystic River**Runner-up: Lost in Translation*Best Actor:**Bill Murray – Lost in Translation...
  
   (Best Screenplay)
• Central Ohio Film Critics (Best Adapted Screenplay)
• Chicago Film Critics
  Chicago Film Critics Association Awards 2003
  The 16th Chicago Film Critics Association Awards, honoring the best in film for 2003, were presented in 2004. The awards were originally going to be cancelled because the 2003 screener ban but when a judge ruled against it and the studios started to send out screeners again the awards were held...
  
   (Most Promising Performers)
• Chlotrudis Awards
  Chlotrudis Awards 2003
  The 9th Annual Chlotrudis Awards were presented March 15, 2003, by the Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film. Honoring the best of the past year's independent, documentary and international film, the awards ceremony took place at the venerable Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts...
  
   (Best Adapted Screenplay)
• Los Angeles Film Critics
  Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards 2003
  The 29th Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, given by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association on January 7, 2004, honored the best in film for 2003. The ceremony was originally called off because of the MPAA screener ban as members felt they could not see all the movies in time for their...
  
   (Best Screenplay)
• National Society of Film Critics
  National Society of Film Critics Awards 2003
  The 38th National Society of Film Critics Awards, given on 3 January 2004, honored the best filmmaking of 2003.-Best Picture::1. American Splendor2. Mystic River3. Lost in Translation-Best Director::...
  
   (Best Screenplay)
• New York Film Critics
  New York Film Critics Circle Awards 2003
  The 69th New York Film Critics Circle Awards, honoring the best in film for 2003, were given on 15 December 2003 by the New York Film Critics Circle.Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King won the award for Best Picture...
  
   (Best First Film)
• Online Film Critics
  Online Film Critics Society Awards 2003
  The 7th Online Film Critics Society Awards, honoring films made in 2003, were given on 5 January 2004. -Best Picture:The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King*City of God*Kill Bill: Vol...
  
   (Best Breakthrough Filmmakers)
• San Diego Film Critics
  San Diego Film Critics Society Awards 2003
  The 8th San Diego Film Critics Society Awards, given by the San Diego Film Critics Society on 18 December 2003, honored the best in film for 2003.-Winners:*Best Actor:**Chiwetel Ejiofor - Dirty Pretty Things*Best Actress:**Naomi Watts - 21 Grams...
  
   (Best Adapted Screenplay)
• Seattle Film Critics (Best Adapted Screenplay)
• Toronto Film Critics
  Toronto Film Critics Association Awards 2003
  The 7th Toronto Film Critics Association Awards, honoring the best in film for 2003, were held on 17 December 2003.-Winners:*Best Actor:**Bill Murray – Lost in Translation*Best Actress:**Samantha Morton – Morvern Callar...
  
   (Best First Feature)
• Writers Guild of America (WGA)
  Writers Guild of America Awards 2003
  The 56th Writers Guild of America Awards, given in 2004, honored the film and television best writers of 2003.-Best Adapted Screenplay: American Splendor - Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini*Cold Mountain - Anthony Minghella...
  
  (Best Adapted Screenplay)

External links

• "Interview: Robert Pulcini and Sheri Springer Berman, Directors of 'The Nanny Diaries'", Cinematical, Ryan Stewart, Aug 23rd 2007
• "Filmmakers Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini", NPR
• "Splendid misery: an interview with Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman." Cineaste, Gilbert, Anne; West, Dennis; West, Joan M., September 22, 2003
• "Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini, Paul Giamatti & Harvey Pekar; Raymond D. Strother; Eugenia Zuckerman", Charlie Rose, (August 19, 2003)