A Discussion of “New York: The Future of Cities” featuring Filmmaker Ric Burns

Marking the 400th birthday of the city of New York, Roosevelt House is pleased to present an in-person screening of highlights from Ric Burns’ new two-part documentary series about our more recent history: New York: The Future of Cities. With it, Burns continues his original award-winning, eight-part, 17-1/2-hour series, New York: A Documentary Film, which originally aired on PBS between 1999 and 2003. The screening was followed by a discussion featuring the filmmaker Ric Burns in conversation with veteran broadcast journalist Tony Guida. Welcoming remarks by Roosevelt House Director Harold Holzer. Scheduled to air on PBS in the fall, these two new episodes pick up where the original series left off, chronicling the eventful history of New York across the tumultuous first two decades of the 21st century. Starting with the aftermath of 9/11, as the city rebuilt and reimagined itself, New York: The Future of Cities delivers a dramatic and sweeping portrait of the city as it faces new and evolving challenges—including climate change, immigration, social justice and equity, and a world-changing pandemic. Produced by the same team that created the iconic original series, New York: The Future of Cities captures the evolution of New York as an exemplar of a “superstar city” in the “new urban age.” In doing so, the series brings to life the city’s remarkable emergence from decades of urban decline to assert its place at the center of a new, and now globalized, urban culture. Ric Burns is a documentary filmmaker who has been writing, directing, and producing historical documentaries for over 25 years, beginning with a collaboration with his brother, Ken Burns, on the PBS series The Civil War (1990). Since founding Steeplechase Films in 1989, he has directed Coney Island (1991); The Donner Party (1992); The Way West (1995); Ansel Adams (2002); Andy Warhol (2006); We Shall Remain: Tecumseh’s Vision (2009); Into the Deep: America, Whaling & the World (2010); Death and the Civil War (2012); American Ballet Theatre (2015); Debt of Honor (2015); The Pilgrims (2015); VA: The Human Cost of War (2017); The Chinese Exclusion Act (2018); Oliver Sacks: His Own Life (2019); and Driving While Black: Race, Space and Mobility in America (2020). His work has been recognized with six Emmy Awards, two George Foster Peabody Awards, and two Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Awards. Burns was educated at Columbia University and Cambridge University. He lives in New York City with his wife Bonnie Lafave and two sons. Tony Guida is a veteran broadcast journalist. His extensive career includes anchoring and reporting for WNBC TV and for WCBS TV, where he also served as Chief Political Correspondent. He also worked as anchor and correspondent for The Today Show and CNNfn, and as a correspondent for the CBS Evening News. For CUNY TV he hosted the half-hour interview series Tony Guida’s New York. Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College