- Tue January 20, 2026 at 8:00 pm
- Wed January 21, 2026 at 8:00 pm
An award-winning documentary filmmaker, Ken Burns’s innovative technique turns archival materials into powerful narratives that breathe life into history. His films offer unique insights into our nation’s complex past.
Burns has been making documentary films for almost fifty years and is considered one of the most influential filmmakers of all time. Since the Academy Award nominated Brooklyn Bridge in 1981, he has gone on to direct and produce some of the most acclaimed historical documentaries ever made, including The Civil War; Baseball; Jazz; The War; The National Parks: America’s Best Idea; Prohibition; The Roosevelts: An Intimate History; The Vietnam War; Country Music; The U.S. and the Holocaust; The American Buffalo; and Leonardo da Vinci.
His upcoming film is The American Revolution, and future projects include Emancipation to Exodus, and LBJ and the Great Society.
“The stories that I like to tell are always interesting, because the good guys have really serious flaws and the bad guys are compelling,” says Burns. “My interest is always in complicating things.”
Burns’s films are the most-watched documentaries on public television, and have been honored with dozens of major awards, including 17 Emmy Awards, two Grammy Awards and two Oscar nominations. Burns has been honored by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences with a Lifetime Achievement Award and has been inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame.
Burns graduated from Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1975 and went on to co-found Florentine Films. He has received more than 30 honorary degrees.