Ken Burns's Picks for Flicks

The astoundingly prolific filmmaker Ken Burns has been making documentaries for nearly 40 years. These are historical documentaries, often relying on archival footage and photos, but they tend to hit at particularly ripe moments. Case in point: Defying the Nazis: The Sharps’ War, which tells the story of an American couple who spent two years helping refugees escape Europe on the eve of World War II. The documentary was codirected by Artemis A.W. Joukowsky III, the Sharps’ grandson, and it premieres tonight on PBS. 

We took the opportunity to turn the lens on the filmmaker for once. Besides curating OZY’s Presidential Daily Brief on Sunday, Burns shared with us his favorite movies. Check them out in the gallery above.