Watch Saturday, Aug. 9 at 1:30 p.m., Sunday, Aug. 10 at 2 p.m., Sunday, Aug. 17 at 10 a.m., Saturday, Aug 23 at 6 p.m. and Sunday, Aug, 24 at 12:30 p.m. on KPBS TV (not available in the PBS app)
Join host Tom Hanks for a celebration of filmmaker Ken Burns, whose nearly four-decade career has resulted in some of the most acclaimed historical documentaries ever made.
Featuring interviews with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Doris Kearns Goodwin, George Lucas, Yo-Yo Ma, Wynton Marsalis, Meryl Streep, Sam Waterston and others, this heartfelt tribute explores the tremendous depth and breadth of Burns’s work and provides an exclusive look at THE VIETNAM WAR, the 10-part, 18-hour documentary film series directed by Burns and Lynn Novick that premiered on PBS September 2017.
"Ken Burns: America's Storyteller" is part of special programming premiering on PBS stations.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Ken Burns’s passion for telling America’s stories is evident in his choice of subjects, from American icons (Mark Twain, Frank Lloyd Wright, Jackie Robinson, The Roosevelts) to American pastimes (baseball, jazz and the National Parks), from American landmarks (the Brooklyn Bridge and the Statue of Liberty) to the country’s most momentous historical events (the Civil War, the Dust Bowl, Prohibition and World War II).
Since the Academy Award nominated "Brooklyn Bridge" in 1981, productions by Burns have won 15 Emmy Awards and two Oscar nominations, and Burns himself has been the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
Burns has been aptly described as “America’s storyteller.” Over the course of almost 40 years, he has carried on a deep and probing conversation with Americans about themselves and their country, its past and its future. Perhaps more than anyone else, he has elevated documentary filmmaking to an art form and made American history come alive.
The tribute also includes an extended interview with Burns, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the making of his films and providing fascinating insights into his thought process, philosophy and creative methods.
Filled with clips, photographs, outtakes and “making of” footage, "Ken Burns: America's Storyteller" will remind viewers once again of the originality and craft behind the “Ken Burns effect.”
Credits: Produced by Inky Dinky Worldwide, Inc. Executive Producer is Bob Marty.
