Ken Burns

Hailed as the most influential documentary filmmaker of our times, Ken Burns has produced and directed a series of acclaimed documentaries, employing archival photographs, newsreel footage and evocative music to bring American history to life for millions of television viewers. His eleven-hour series The Civil War held the nation spellbound in 1990. His 18-hour series, Baseball, employed the history of the national pastime, from the 1840's to the present, as a mirror of larger movements in American society. Broadcast over nine evenings in 1994, it was seen by more than 45 million viewers, the largest audience for any program in the history of public television. His 19-hour, 10-part film Jazz explores the culture, politics and dreams that gave birth to jazz music. His seven-part series The War, aired on PBS in 2007, tells the story of the Second World War through the personal accounts of nearly 40 men and women from four American towns. The series explores the most intimate human dimensions of the greatest cataclysm in history and demonstrates that in extraordinary times, there are no ordinary lives.