PBS Preps National Parks Documentary

LOS ANGELES, July 16: In
fall 2009, PBS will air the new Ken
Burns documentary series The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, which explores the history and evolution of renowned
destinations like Yosemite and Yellowstone.

The 12-hour, six-part
documentary series was filmed over six years in some of the U.S.’s most
beautiful national parks. Through archival photographs, first-person accounts
of historical characters, personal memories and analysis from more than 40
interviews, the program follows the start of national parks in the mid-19th
century and examines their development for the next 150 years.

Accompanying the series
will be a companion book, written by Dayton Duncan and published by Alfred A.
Knopf. PBS Home Video is producing a complete DVD box set that will feature
footage from the making of the series and interviews.

The National Parks:
America’s Best Idea is a
production of Florentine Films and WETA Washington, D.C. Burns is the director
and producer and Duncan is the writer and producer

“Just as many of the
lands that make up today’s national parks were the spiritual homes for the
indigenous tribes who lived there, they had a profound and often spiritual
impact on the settlers who first saw them and on the visionaries who fought
tirelessly to preserve them as the common property of the American people,”
said Burns. “They saw in them a visual, tangible representation of God’s
majesty. Our film celebrates the beauty of these parks and the vision and
foresight of the men and women who made sure that this land would be
preserved.”

“Making this film was one
of the greatest joys of my life,” Duncan said. “Each park is unique and has its
own fascinating historical story. But they are all connected by the
transformative idea that they belong to each of us, providing a shared place
that lives in the memory of every individual and every family that has visited
them over the years. And they are connected by the notion that individual
Americans, in the best possible example of democracy, worked to make sure that
future generations could enjoy them.”

—By Jackie Stewart