Springfield Public Forum presents Ken Burns

Ken Burns has been making documentary films for more than 30 years. 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. The late historian Stephen Ambrose said of Ken's films, "More Americans get their history from Ken Burns than any other source." A December 2002 poll conducted by RealScreen Magazine listed The Civil War as second only to Robert Flaherty's Nanook of the North as the "most influential documentary of all time" and named Ken Burns and Robert Flaherty as the "most influential documentary makers" of all time.

Ken's latest film, The National Parks: America's Best Idea, will air on PBS in Fall, 2009. Acclaimed for its use of historical footage and current materials, The National Parks is the story of an idea as uniquely American as the Declaration of Independence and just as radical: that the most special places in the nation should be preserved, not for royalty or the rich, but for everyone. As such, it follows in the tradition of Burns's exploration of other American inventions, such as baseball and jazz.