Research topic: Ken Burns

Ken Burns (Kenneth Lauren Burns), 1953-, American documentary filmmaker, b. Broooklyn, N.Y., grad. Hampshire College (1975). Acting as producer, director, and cinematographer, Burns typically explores themes from American history, blending period photographs, works of art, film, and music with narration, remarks by historians and other scholars, contemporaneous written materials read by noted actors, and authentic sound effects. His first full-length film, The Brooklyn Bridge (1980), was, like his subsequent works, shown on public television. Burns won particular acclaim for his nine-part... Read more