Acclaimed filmmaker Ken Burns recently delighted an NPS audience with a sneak preview of his upcoming series about national parks. Burns and co-producer Dayton Duncan shared background stories and 40 minutes of footage from the six episode, 12 hour miniseries, which is scheduled to air on PBS in September, 2009.
Secretary Kempthorne and Director Bomar joined about 150 NPS employees in the Department of the Interior building auditorium for the special showing. Burns had strong praise for everyone in the National Park Service and expressed gratitude for the extraordinary cooperation he received while making the film.
Burns shot more than 800 rolls of film in parks over the past five years. He reveled in the fact that in a national park he could shoot a location knowing it had barely changed in 150 years. He also noted that 85% of the series was filmed at scenic overlooks. He confessed that he often spent considerable time and energy scouting elsewhere, only to find that usually an overlook provided the “perfect shot.”
The National Parks: An American Story will, of course, include shots of spectacular scenery, but Burns said that “it is more than a travelogue.”
“The film will tell the much larger story of the evolution of the National Park Service and the individuals that made this uniquely American idea happen,” he said. “It is the essence of our democracy that we, together, own these magnificent places; that land could be set aside for everybody, not just the privileged, to enjoy for all time.”
Following the screening, Burns and Duncan met with NPS personnel and partners to discuss an educational outreach program based on the film.
