Ken Burns

 Burns started his filmmaking career for the BBC, Italian television and other broadcasters. In 1977, after completing some documentary short films, he began work on adapting David McCullough's novel The Great Bridge, about the building of the Brooklyn Bridge. Burns established a distinctive style of documentary filmmaking which saw him "cut fast from one image to another in a fluid, sequential fashion [and] then upped the visuals with 'first-hand' narration that was derived from contemporary writings and read by the best screen and stage actors". In 1981, Burns made Brooklyn Bridge and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary. He also won the Academy Award for Best Documentary. Burns was again nominated for The Statue of Liberty (1985). Burns often collaborates with writer and historian Geoffrey C. Ward, especially on documentaries such as The Civil War, Jazz, Baseball, and the 10-part TV series The Vietnam War (aired September 2017).