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The American Revolution, a new six-part, 12-hour documentary series that explores the country’s founding and its eight-year War for Independence, will premiere on Sunday, November 16, and air for six consecutive nights through Friday, November 21st at 8:00-10:00 p.m. Et on PBS. The full series will be available to stream beginning Sunday, November 16 on the PBS site and App.

The much-anticipated series, which has been in production for eight years, was directed and produced by Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein and David Schmidt and written by long-time collaborator Geoffrey C. Ward. The filmmakers and PBS scheduled the broadcast for 2025, the 250th anniversary of the start of the war, which began in the spring of 1775, more than a year before the Declaration of Independence.

The American Revolution examines how America’s creation turned the world upside-down. Thirteen British colonies on the Atlantic Coast rose in rebellion, won their independence,...

Exclusive: A multi-part film about the Fleischer Brothers, creators of a pioneering animation studio that launched Betty Boop, Popeye The Sailor, and Superman cartoons, has won the richest prize in documentary.

Today, the Library of Congress, The Better Angels Society, Ken Burns, and the Crimson Lion/Lavine Family Foundation today announced Cartooning America as the winner of the sixth annual Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film. The $200,000 award will go to director Asaf Galay.

“Most people have never heard the names Max and Dave Fleischer, but their legacy on American animation is profound, having preceded – and also inspired – Walt and Roy Disney,” notes a release about the prize. “Unlike the polished characters produced by the Disney studio, the Fleischer characters came right off the streets of New York City: the subtly Jewish Betty Boop, the muttering, street-smart Popeye, and Superman, the first-ever superhero cartoon. The Fleischers were...

The Library of Congress, the Better Angels Society, Ken Burns and the Crimson Lion/Lavine Family Foundation have unveiled six finalists for the sixth annual Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film. The $200,000 cash award, established in 2019, recognizes late-stage documentaries that use original research and a compelling narrative to tell stories that bring American history to life through archival materials.

The six projects that were selected are: James Sorrels’s “Area 2,” John Benitz’s “Behind the Lines,” Julia Greenberg and Dianna Dilworth’s “Dory Previn: On My Way to Where,” Norah Shapiro’s “Magic & Monsters,” Asaf Galay’s “Out of the Inkwell: The Greatest Story Never Told,” and Marlene McCurtis’ “Wednesdays in Mississippi.”

This year close to 100 American history documentary features were submitted for consideration.

“It’s hard what we are doing,” Burns says of documentary filmmaking. “It’s really hard. In documentary, there are so many more really good filmmakers,...

Los Angeles, CA—Freestyle Digital Media, the digital film distribution division of Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group, has acquired North American VOD rights to the drama feature film Stargazer. Starting on April 30, 2024, the film will be available to rent/own on all digital HD internet, cable, and satellite platforms in North America and on DVD.

Stargazer tells the story of what happens when a naïve grad student, Grace Campbell, gets the chance to revive the reputation of a forgotten female astronomer, Cecilia Payne. Cecilia discovered the nature of the universe, but saw her genius stolen by men. For Grace, history threatens to repeat itself when she’s forced to partner up with Spike Randall, an aggressive journalist who just booked Grace an appearance on a new television talk show with Annette Gordon-Reed the very next day—but at what cost? A dancer named Diana eavesdrops through the library shelves...

The Better Angels Society, the Library of Congress, and the Crimson Lion/Lavine Family Foundation have unveiled six finalists for the fifth annual Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film. Notably, veteran filmmaker Sam Pollard received two of the six noms.

The award, established in 2019, recognizes late-stage documentaries that use original research and a compelling narrative to tell stories that bring American history to life through archival materials.

The six projects that were selected are: Barak Goodman’s “Buckley,” Nicole London’s “The Disappearance of Miss. Scott,” Sam Pollard’s “The Harvest,” Peter Yost and Michael Rohatyn’s “Drop Dead City – New York on the Brink in 1975,” Sam Pollard and Ben Shapiro’s “Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes,” and Jason Cohn’s “Modernism Inc.: The Eliot Noyes Design Story.”

This year 125 American history documentary features were submitted for consideration.

“We’ve seen time and again what...

The Better Angels Society, the Library of Congress and the Crimson Lion/Lavine Family Foundation have set two winners of the fourth annual Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film: director Jeff L. Lieberman’s Bella! and Philly on Fire, directed by Ross Hockrow and Tommy Walker. This is the first time that the selection process for the coveted documentary award has resulted in a tie.

Bella! tells the story of former United States Representative Bella Abzug, a feminist and civil rights advocate, who took on a Washington establishment resistant to change and sacrificed her own political ambitions for future generations of female leadership.

Philly on Fire chronicles the 1985 Philadelphia police bombing of a row house, which burned down an entire neighborhood — killing 11 people, including five children, destroying 61 homes and rendering 250 people homeless.

Established in 2019, the Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film recognizes late-stage documentaries...

Exclusive: Six finalists were announced today for the richest prize in documentary film—the 4th Annual Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film.

A grant of 200,000 will go to the winning film to support final production, distribution and marketing of the documentary. In addition, a runner-up will receive 50,000, and up to four finalists will earn a 25,000 grant. The Better Angels Society, the Library of Congress, and the Crimson Lion/Lavine Family Foundation established the award in 2019 to recognize “one late-stage documentary that uses original research and compelling narrative to tell stories that bring American history to life using archival materials.”

Among the finalists are Bella, a film about the late New York Congresswoman Bella Abzug; Philly on Fire, a film about the infamous Move bombing in 1985, in which Philadelphia police dropped two explosive devices onto a row of buildings occupied by a controversial African American group, killing 11 people including six children,...

Are you ready for a Hamilton encore? If the answer is yes, then you probably have already watched Hamilton more than once on Disney+. But never being satisfied with only having the streaming event of the summer, Disney has now also revealed there will be a new behind-the-scenes look at the musical with Lin-Manuel Miranda and other key members of the cast, plus a historian, discussing the musical’s legacy five years on.

The new “special conversation,” titled Hamilton: History Has Its Eyes On You, is hosted by Good Morning America’s Robin Roberts and features her interviewing Miranda, who in addition to playing Alexander Hamilton also wrote the music, lyrics, and books for the musical. She’ll also be speaking with director Thomas Kail and cast members Leslie Odom Jr. (Aaron Burr), Christopher Jackson (George Washington), Daveed Diggs (Marquis de Lafayette / Thomas Jefferson), Phillipa Soo (Eliza Schuyler Hamilton), and...

History Channel announced Saturday that its six-part miniseries on George Washington will debut on President’s Day weekend.

It will air over three nights beginning Sunday, Feb. 16, and continuing on Feb. 17 and 18. The miniseries is narrated by Jeff Daniels and is executive produced by author Doris Kearns Goodwin. Watch the video above.

“Washington” will feature a mix of dramatic retellings, with Nicholas Rowe playing Washington, as well as interviews with former President Bill Clinton, Colin Powell and historians Joseph J. Ellis, Annette Gordon-Reed, Jon Meacham, Alan Taylor and others.

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“Our audience thrives on gaining knowledge about legendary leaders who have made an impact to the fabric of our society and History continues to invest in premium content to tell these gripping stories,” Eli Lehrer, executive vice president and general manager, History, said.

History has set a Presidents’ Day Weekend rollout for Washington, a three-night docudrama executive-produced by renowned historian Doris Kearns Goodwin. The cabler also has announced premieres for docus about Auschwitz and the African American experience during the Revolutionary War.

Narrated by Jeff Daniels (The Newsroom), Washington will air in nightly two-hour installments on Sunday, Feb. 16, Monday, Feb. 17 and Tuesday, Feb. 18, all at 8/7c. The event will explore the arc of the first president’s journey and weave together dramatic live-action sequences, excerpts from Washington’s letters, and insights from a roster of experts, including President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Colin Powell,...