Florentine Films

Ken Burns is a documentary filmmaker, director, producer, and cinematographer. Florentine Films often works in cooperation with other organizations to produce films on various subjects.

From the description of Florentine Films records, 1981-1997. WorldCat record id: 35923009

Florentine Films was founded in 1976 by Ken Burns, Roger Sherman, Buddy Squires, and Larry Hott, who work independently under the Florentine Films name. Florentine Films often works in cooperation with other organizations to produce films on various subjects.

Ken Burns is a documentary filmmaker, director, producer, and cinematographer. He was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1953 and graduated from Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass., in 1975. In 1981, he produced and directed the Academy Award nominated Brooklyn Bridge . He then made several other award-winning films, including The Shakers: Hands to Work, Hearts to God ; The Statue of Liberty, also nominated for an Oscar; Huey Long, the story of the turbulent Southern dictator; The Congress: The History and Promise of Representative Government ; Thomas Hart Benton, a portrait of the regionalist artist; and Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio . Burns also produced and directed two films, William Segal and Vezelay, which explore the question of search and individual identity through the work and teachings of philosopher and painter William Segal.

Ken Burns was also the director, producer, co-writer, chief cinematographer, music director and executive producer of the television series The Civil War, which was the highest rated series in the history of American Public Television, attracting an audience of 40 million during its premiere in September 1990. He was the director, producer, co-writer, chief cinematographer, music director and executive producer of the Public Television series Baseball (1994), which was then the most watched series in PBS history, attracting more than 45 million viewers. In the fall of 1996, The West was released, followed by Lewis and Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery (1997); Frank Lloyd Wright, co-directed and produced with his longtime collaborator Lynn Novick (1998); Not For Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony (1999), co-produced with Paul Barnes; and Jazz (2001).

From the guide to the Florentine Films Archives, 1981-1997, (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.)