by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
Standing behind a huge display of World War II artifacts, Ken Burns, the director and co-producer of the PBS documentary, “The War,” shared some of his six-year experience that led to the making of the 14-hour film with the Downtown Rotary Club of Jacksonville at its meeting Monday.
Burns began by saying he will always have a connection to Jacksonville and especially the Arthur Vining Davis Foundation. When Burns was editing his breakthrough documentary series about the Civil War almost 20 years ago, he said funding from the foundation helped him complete the project.
Burns also said after his experience making his film about the Civil War, he vowed never to take on another project dealing with the subject of war again, but he eventually changed his mind.
“We must excavate the things in history that have made the United States what it is,” said Burns.
He said he decided to make his latest film about World War II for two reasons.
“Statistically, one thousand World War II veterans are dying each day in this country,” he said. “We are losing the direct connection with their oral history. The concept of historical amnesia was to me, too irresponsible to countenance.”
Burns also cited a statistic he uncovered about the products of America’s education system that disturbed him.
“So many high school seniors think we fought with the Germans against the Russians in World War II. That tells me we’re losing our historical compass,” he said.
After he completed “The War,” Burns was invited to screen it at the Cannes Film Festival. After working on the project for six-and-a-half years, Burns said he was concerned it might be too disturbing but was surprised at the reaction of a group of about 40 people who watched all 14 hours straight through with almost no interruptions.
“It was a true international audience and their reaction was that it wasn’t an American story — it was a human story.”
Burns said his latest work was a “labor of love and the most satisfying project I have ever worked on.”
When asked about his next project, Burns said he recently renewed his contract with the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) through 2022 and is currently developing a project that will tell the story of America’s National Park system through the stories of the individuals who made it what it is today.
“I’m happy to tell you it will have a much lower body count (than “The War),” he said.
Burns also said that even though a 15-year extension to his agreement to make historical documentaries for PBS might seem like a long time, “If I were given 1,000 years I would not run out of topics related to American history.”
Before Burns arrived, Rotary Club of Jacksonville President Jack Diamond said it was quite a coup to get the award-winning filmmaker to speak at the group’s meeting the day before his standing-room-only appearance at the University of North Florida today. In fact, Burns was picked up at the airport and whisked directly to the Omni Hotel to deliver his address to the Rotary Club.
“Some of our club members have known Ken Burns for years. He’s one of the top people in the field of documentary films, particularly those dealing with subjects that have made America the country it is. Whenever we have the opportunity to have a speaker like this we jump at the chance,” said Diamond.