Ken Burns is returning to the battlefield for PBS.
PBS announced on Monday that Burns, whose previous projects include works on the Civil War, baseball, jazz and World War II, is currently working on a sprawling film series about the Vietnam War, which currently has the working title "Vietnam."
The film, which is expected to run 10 to 12 hours, will be broadcast in 2016. Burns will be working with his longtime partner, Lynn Novick, on the project.
According to PBS, the new project will focus on the American and Vietnamese lives that were affected by the conflict, as well as the American protest movement against the war.
The project will combine on-screen interviews, third-person narration, and archival footage and news footage. Producers will also travel to Vietnam to film the battlefields from the way and interview Vietnamese participants.
“Today, more than four decades after it ended, nearly everyone has an opinion about the Vietnam War, but few Americans truly know its history, and there is little consensus about what happened there, or why,” Burns said of the project. “Our series will shed light both on the history of the war, and on our inability to find common ground about it.”
“We feel it is of paramount importance to honor the service and sacrifice of the men and women who did what our country asked of them, and went to Vietnam," Novick added. "By providing an opportunity for veterans, their families, and those who opposed the war alike, to bear witness to their experiences, we believe that this series will help heal the deep divisions that have endured in America for decades over this enormously controversial and tragic war.”
