The Better Angels Society is a 501(c)3 organization that was founded by supporters of US filmmaker Ken Burns in order to raise funds for his work from individuals of wealth and private family foundations.[2] It has grown into the preeminent organization dedicated to engaging Americans with their history through documentary film.
Katherine Malone-France was appointed President & CEO in 2023,[3] taking the reins from Amy Margerum Berg who served as the organization's president between 2016-2023.[4]
The Better Angel Society assists a diverse group of emerging and established filmmakers by providing funds to complete, broadcast, promote, and share their documentaries in ways that reach and inform as many people as possible through robust educational and civic outreach programs.
According to their website, they support:
Ken Burns and Florentine Films
Lynn Novick and Skiff Mountain Films
The Better Angels Stories initiative through public media partnerships with American Experience (GBH), American Masters (WNET), and WETA
American history documentaries through the annual Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film and the Better Angels Lavine Fellowship
Building the next generation of American history documentarians by providing students with the tools and opportunities to tell the stories of our shared history through The Next Generation Angels Awards
The organization's mission is "to educate, engage and provoke thoughtful discussion among people of every political persuasion and ideology. We work to ensure historically significant films are completed, broadcast, promoted, and shared in ways that reach and inform as many people as possible through robust educational and civic outreach. The Society is currently raising funds for Ken Burns’s films in production and planned over the next ten years."[5]
The Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film
In 2019, a partnership between The Better Angels Society, the Library of Congress, and the Crimson Lion Foundation announced the creation of the Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film, an award “to recognize exemplary accomplishment in historical documentaries,” and “to recognize a filmmaker whose documentary uses original research and compelling narrative to tell stories that touch on some aspect of American history.”[6] The grant is funded by Jeannie Lavine and her husband Jonathan Lavine, co-managing partner of Bain Capital[7] through a $15 million gift to The Better Angels Society.[8]
The winner receives a $200,000 finishing grant to help with the final production of the film.[9] All films that meet the criteria are reviewed by The Better Angels Society and passed to the Internal Review Committee, who further narrow the selections. A National Jury then selects the top six before the winner and runner-up are selected by the Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden in consultation with Burns.[10]
The first winner of the prize was “Flannery,” a film on Southern Gothic writer Flannery O’Connor by filmmakers Elizabeth Coffman and Mark Bosco.[11] Flannery's life later inspired a Hollywood adaptation directed by Ethan Hawke.[12] The runner-up was “Mae West: Dirty Blonde,” a film on actress Mae West that premiered as part of PBS American Masters on June 16, 2020.[13]
In 2023, the winning film, Drop Dead City: New York on the Brink in 1975 was featured in The New York Times. The runner-up, The Disappearance of Miss Scott, is set to premiere on PBS' American Experience at a future date.[14]
Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film Awards[15]
Gradually, Then Suddenly: The Bankruptcy of Detroit
Free Chol Soo Lee
Double Exposure (working title)
Exposing Muybridge
The Five Demands
Bonnie Blue: James Cotton's Life in the Blues
2022
Bella! Philly on Fire
Virgil Thomson: Creating The American Sound
Imagining the Indian: The Fight Against Native American
Raymond Lewis: L.A. Legend
Cannabis Buyers Club
2023
Drop Dead City: New York on the Brink in 1975
The Disappearance of Miss Scott
The Harvest: Integrating Mississippi's Schools
The Incomparable Mr. Buckley
Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes
Modernism Inc: The Eliot Noyes Design Story
Next Generation Angels Awards
Alongside the Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for film, The Better Angels Society launched the Next Generation Angels Awards as a youth component to the larger prize,[16] recognizing six individual documentary filmmakers in the junior and senior high school divisions, in partnership with National History Day.[17] The winner of the Senior division receive the Anne Harrington Award, named for a late longtime friend and colleague of Ken Burns.[18] All winners receive mentorship with Ken Burns and Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film finalists.
Educational outreach
In 2017, philanthropist David Rubenstein, through The Better Angels Society, pledged to support the launch of UNUM, a digital platform where users can access clips from across Burns's films, explore themes that run through American history, and relate them to issues of the present.[19] The Better Angels Society also helped support the development of the Ken Burns Classroom on PBS Learning Media, which launched in 2019.[20]
Georgetown University events
In 2019, The Better Angels Society launched a partnership with Georgetown University,[21] which began with events featuring Ken Burns and Lynn Novick previewing her film series “College Behind Bars.”[22] Georgetown and The Better Angels Society hosted another event in 2020 featuring Burns in a conversation around immigration.[23]
Trademark dispute
In 2019, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled in favor of The Better Angels Society on its trademark infringement claims against New York-based nonprofit Institute for American Values, which launched its own Better Angels initiative after the 2016 presidential election as a grassroots effort to “reunify Red and Blue America.” The organization is now called Braver Angels.[24] The case was noted for demonstrating that the need to defend trademark rights extends to charitable nonprofits, so that donors know which organization they are supporting.[25]
Films supported
Films which have been supported by the society include; [26]
