Biography

Daughter of esteemed documentary filmmaker Ken Burns.

Has two daughters: Olivia and Willa.

[on being the daughter of documentary filmmaker Ken Burns] I stayed away from working in films at first because I didn't want to get into the family business just because it was there. To have this story ['Central Park Five'] that I cared so passionately about was the right way for me.

I think I learned much of what I know about storytelling by osmosis. When I was very young my parents edited their films in our house, and even later, when the editing moved to another house, I used to spend days there screening films with the consultants and giving my comments.

[on her film, 'Central Park Five'] Part of our goal is simply to inform people what happened in this case. But we also want people to think about how it happened. It goes back to those issues we've been wrestling with in this country for centuries in terms of how we look at and see minorities, particularly African-Americans, because of the history of slavery. That means talking about false confessions, about the failure of all the institutions in the city to protect these kids, and particularly how the media failed to apply any journalistic skepticism to the story the police gave them. And of course, the underlying prejudice that made it all too easy for many to believe that they were guilty.