Florentine Films

On June 19, 1846 at the Elysian Fields in Hoboken, New Jersey, a team of well-dressed gentlemen, the Knickerbockers, play the first game of baseball. By 1985, the game is called the "national pastime" or "Our Game."

Tells the story of ordinary people in four quintessentially American towns - Waterbury, Connecticut; Mobile, Alabama; Sacramento, California; and Luverne, Minnesota - and examines the ways in which the Second World War touched the lives of every family on every street in every town in America.

On June 19, 1846 at the Elysian Fields in Hoboken, New Jersey, a team of well-dressed gentlemen, the Knickerbockers, play the first game of baseball. By 1985, the game is called the "national pastime" or "Our Game."

The Negro Leagues bring baseball to towns the major Leagues ignore. To delight the fans they develop an elaborate warm-up routine in pantomime; throwing and hitting an invisible ball. It's called "shadow ball."

Immigrants to America eagerly root for baseball, but baseball is trying to endure a decade that includes the meanest, vilest, angriest player ever to step onto a field and a scandal that almost destroys the game.

The 1920s begin with baseball trying to recover from the scandal of the 1919 World Series. America finds relief in George Herman "Babe" Ruth who is one of the best pitchers in baseball. In 1919 he hits 29 homers for the Red Sox, more than any player has ever hit in a single season.

On June 19, 1846 at the Elysian Fields in Hoboken, New Jersey, a team of well-dressed gentlemen, the Knickerbockers, play the first game of baseball. By 1985, the game is called the "national pastime" or "Our Game."

The 1960s is a turbulent time for baseball as one by one its "sacred" institutions fall. First with Bill Mazeroski bringing down the the mighty Yankees with one dramatic home run. In 1961 Roger Maris pursues Babe Ruth's "untouchable" record. In 1962 the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants are replaced by the New York Mets who compile the worst single season record of the century.

Examine the visionary work and turbulent life of one of the greatest and most influential American writers: Ernest Hemingway. Intimate and insightful, the series weaves together Hemingway's biography with excerpts from his work. The film penetrates the myth of Hemingway to reveal a deeply troubled and ultimately tragic figure.

The Vietnam War: A Film by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick Ken Burns and Lynn Novick's ten-part, 18-hour documentary series, The Vietnam War, tells the epic story of one of the most consequential, divisive, and controversial events in American history as it has never before been told on film. Visceral and immersive, the series explores the human dimensions of the war through revelatory testimony of nearly 80 witnesses from all sides -- Americans who fought...