truefilm

According to this story in the Washington Post:

Filmmaker Ken Burns reached an agreement yesterday with two advocacy organizations that have pressured him to amend his World War II documentary to include more material about Latinos’ contribution to the American war effort.

The agreement between Burns’s production company, Florentine Films, and the two Latino groups appears crafted to enable both sides to declare victory in the long-running war over “The War,” which is scheduled to air on PBS in September.

…

Burns yesterday called the new content “an additional layer of storytelling” that does not tamper with “my vision” for telling the story of the war. But he offered no new details about how it would be used.

…

Not everyone involved in the controversy was satisfied. Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez, a University of Texas professor who initiated the protests against Burns last year and who leads a grass-roots group called Defend the Honor, was skeptical.

“I’m not sure how [Burns’s] position has moved from what he said last month,” she said. “In the end, if it really means that Ken Burns is going to include the Latino perspective in a meaningful way, then, yes, it’s a wonderful thing. But until we get some clarification, we’ll withhold judgment.”

You can download a copy of the press release from the three groups (American GI Forum, the
Hispanic Association of Corporate Responsibility, and Florentine Films) as a PDF file here. In the style of press releases everywhere, the wording is a bit vague, but it appears resolution is closer. It will be interesting to see how the new stories are integrated into the “focus on four towns” structure of the film.