Ric Burns (Eric Burns, born 1955) is an American documentary

filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...

and

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

. He has written, directed and produced historical documentaries since the 1990s, beginning with his collaboration on the celebrated

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

series '' The Civil War'' (1990), which he produced with his older brother

Ken Burns Kenneth Lauren Burns (born July 29, 1953) is an American filmmaker known for his documentary film, documentary films and television series, many of which chronicle United States, American History of the United States, history and Culture of the ...

and wrote with

Geoffrey Ward Geoffrey Champion Ward (born 1940) is an American editor, author, historian and writer of scripts for American history documentaries for public television. He is the author or co-author of 19 books, including 10 companion books to the documentar ...

Biography

Born in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, Burns moved to

Ann Arbor Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna (name), Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah (given name), Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie (given name), ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, at an early age and later attended

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

and

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

, breaking from his graduate work to join his brother on the production of the ''Civil War'' series. Since founding Steeplechase Films in 1989, he has directed several programs for

WGBH WGBH may refer to: * WGBH Educational Foundation, based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States ** WGBH (FM), a public radio station at Boston, Massachusetts on 89.7 MHz owned by the WGBH Educational Foundation ** WGBH-TV WGBH-TV (channel 2), ...

Boston's ''

American Experience ''American Experience'' is a television program airing on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States. The program airs documentaries, many of which have won awards, about important or interesting events and people in American his ...

'', including ''Coney Island'' (1991). Burns also wrote and directed ''The Donner Party'' (1992). In 1995, Burns wrote, directed, and co-produced ''The Way West''. In April 2002, he completed a documentary about ''

Ansel Adams Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist known for his black-and-white images of the American West. He helped found Group f/64, an association of photographers advoca ...

'', a co-production of Steeplechase Films and

Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an environmental organization with chapters in all 50 United States, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by Scottish-American preservationist John Muir, who be ...

Productions for ''American Experience''. Since 2018, he has served as a trustee of the

National Humanities Center The National Humanities Center (NHC) is an independent institute for advanced study in the humanities. The NHC operates as a privately incorporated nonprofit and is not part of any university or federal agency. The center was planned under the auspi ...

in Research Triangle Park, NC.

''New York: A Documentary Film''

Burns is probably best known for his series '' New York: A Documentary Film'', which premiered nationally on PBS. The eight-part, seventeen-and-a-half-hour film chronicles the city's rise from a tiny

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

trading post through its continuing preeminence as an economic and cultural capital of the world. The first five episodes of ''New York'' were broadcast in November 1999; the sixth and seventh episodes in the fall of 2001; and the eighth episode in September 2003. There will be a ninth episode, chronicling New York since the events of September 11, 2001."New York: Episode 9 (Coming Soon)"
Retrieved 8 March 2018.

More recent films

''The Pilgrims'' (2015) has drawn renewed interest since Netflix featured it in late 2020 and PBS rebroadcast it on November 19, 2020, as a part of the American Experience series. Mixing documentary with live acting, the film explores the history, politics, and personalities of the Pilgrims, from their exile in Holland through their subsequent voyage to, and lives in, the New World. While it touches on the universally accepted narrative—the romanticized, whitewashed, and fictionalized version—it reveals many details that would likely be unfamiliar, even shocking, to general audiences. Burns's recently completed projects include '' The Chinese Exclusion Act'' (2018), a deeply American story of immigration and national identity, civil rights, and human justice—about how we define who can be an American and what being an American means. The film examines the economic, cultural, social, legal, racial, and political dimensions of the law; the forces and events that gave rise to it; and the effect it has had, and continues to have, on American culture and identity. '' Oliver Sacks: His Own Life'' (2019) explores the riveting and profoundly moving life and work of this unique figure—an old-fashioned polymath and natural historian of the 19th century sort—who redefined our 21st century understanding of the brain and mind. The film is based in part on footage shot in the months before he died. With spellbinding candor, power, and humanity, it includes more than 80 hours with Sacks, his partner, Billy Hayes, and some of his closest friends, colleagues, and family members, as he grappled with the meaning of his life and his impending death.

Selected filmography

*''

Coney Island Coney Island is a peninsular neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, Manhattan Beach to its east, L ...

'' (1991) *'' The Donner Party'' (1992) on the

Donner Party The Donner Party, sometimes called the Donner–Reed Party, was a group of American pioneers who migrated to California in a wagon train from the Midwest. Delayed by a multitude of mishaps, they spent the winter of 1846–1847 snowbound in th ...

*''

The Way West ''The Way West'' is a 1949 western novel by A. B. Guthrie, Jr. The book won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1950 and became the basis for a film starring Kirk Douglas, Robert Mitchum, and Richard Widmark. The novel is one in the sequence o ...

'' (1995) *'' New York: A Documentary Film'' (1999; expanded 2003) *'' Ansel Adams: A Documentary Film'' (2002) *
Columbia: A Celebration
(2003) *'' Eugene O'Neill: A Documentary Film'' (2006) *'' Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film'' (2006) *''

We Shall Remain ''We Shall Remain'' (2009) is a five-part, 7.5-hour documentary series about the history of Native Americans in the United States, from the 17th century into the 20th century. It was a collaborative effort with several different directors, writ ...

'' (2009), on Native Americans *'' Into the Deep: America, Whaling & the World'' (2010) *''

Nantucket Nantucket () is an island about south from Cape Cod. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the Town and County of Nantucket, a combined county/town government that is part of the U.S. state of Massachuse ...

'' (2011) *''

Death and the Civil War ''Death and the Civil War'' is a 2012 documentary film by Ric Burns. It was aired as an episode of American Experience ''American Experience'' is a television program airing on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States. The pro ...

'' (2012) *''Enquiring Minds: The Untold Story of the Man Behind the National Enquirer'' (2014)
''American Ballet Theatre: A History''
(2015)
''Debt of Honor: Disabled Veterans in American History''
(2015)
Pilgrims''
(2015) *'' VA: The Human Cost of War'' (2017) *'' The Chinese Exclusion Act'' (2018) *'' Oliver Sacks: His Own Life'' (2019) *Driving While Black: Race, Space and Mobility in America (2020)

Bibliography

*The companion book to the ''Civil War'' series (with Geoffrey C. Ward and

) *''New York: An Illustrated History'' (with James Sanders and Lisa Ades)

Selected list of awards and nominations

* 31st News & Documentary Emmy Awards (2010) - Outstanding Nonfiction Series (nominated) "Nominees for the 31st Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards"
. Retrieved 9 March 2011. for Into the Deep: America, Whaling & The World * 27th News & Documentary Emmy Awards (2006) - Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming (won) "Nominees for the 27th Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards"
. Retrieved 9 March 2011. for '' Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film'' * 27th News & Documentary Emmy Awards (2006) - Outstanding Nonfiction Series (nominated) for ''Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film'' under the

American Masters ''American Masters'' is a PBS television series which produces biographies on enduring writers, musicians, visual and performing artists, dramatists, filmmakers, and those who have left an indelible impression on the cultural landscape of the ...

series. *27th News & Documentary Emmy Awards (2006) - Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Craft: Writing (won) for Eugene O'Neill *

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

(2006) - (won) "GEORGE FOSTER PEABODY AWARD WINNERS"
. Retrieved 9 March 2011. for ''Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film''

References

External links

Steeplechase Films''New York: A Documentary Film''''The Donner Party''''Ansel Adams: A Documentary Film''
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burns, Ric American documentary filmmakers Writers from Baltimore Columbia College (New York) alumni Living people 1955 births Alumni of the University of Cambridge Writers from New York City Writers from Ann Arbor, Michigan