Emmy-winning documentary-maker Ken Burns will produce “Ken Burns Presents The Gene: An Intimate History,” a three-hour documentary set to premiere over three nights in spring 2020 on the Public Broadcasting Service, the network announced Monday.
The documentary is based on the 2016 book by Dr. Siddhartha Mukherje, “The Gene: An Intimate History.” Mukherje will collaborate with Burns in the making of the documentary, according to PBS.
Award-winning filmmaker Barak Goodman will produce the documentary, which will largely have the same production team as PBS’ 2015 Emmy Award-nominated documentary, “Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies,” an adaption of Mukherjee’s 2010 book.
In other announcements:
— Goodman will direct and produce a two-hour “American Experience” documentary on the famed 1969 Woodstock rock concert, set to premiere on PBS in 2019 in conjunction with its 50th anniversary.
— A four-hour documentary with the working title, “Reconstruction: America After the Civil War” on the nation’s emergence from the Civil War and slavery, and the thwarted vision for an interracial democracy, will air in spring 2019 on PBS.
The documentary will be produced and hosted by Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr.
The announcements were made in conjunction with the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour which is being held in Beverly Hills.