Sarah Botstein has been producing award-winning documentaries at Florentine Films since 1997. Most recently, she produced The Vietnam War, directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, a 10-part, 18-hour epic about of one of the most divisive and consequential events in American history that premiered in 2017.
Currently she is producing (with Burns and Novick) a biography of Ernest Hemingway, slated for broadcast in 2020 and a film about America and Holocaust, scheduled for release in 2021.
Botstein is also producing College Behind Bars: the Bard Prison Initiative (w.t), a series directed by Lynn Novick that explores the personal and intellectual transformation of incarcerated men and women in a highly successful prison education program. Ken Burns is the film's executive producer. It will be released in 2019.
Previously, Botstein produced (along with Burns and Novick) Prohibition (2011), a three-part series about the rise, rule, and fall of the 18th Amendment, and The War (2007), a seven-part series about the American experience of the Second World War. The War and Prohibition each received numerous awards and were among the most-watched series on PBS. Botstein was an associate producer on Jazz (2001), the critically acclaimed ten-part series.
Botstein works on Ken Burns' digital / education initiatives, and produced and curated the content for the Ken Burns App and Ken Burns/Unum. These platforms employ cutting-edge technology and innovative design to highlight themes in American history and explore Florentine's body of work.
In 2008, she and Burns partnered with Herzog and Company to produce The Work To Come, a tribute to the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy. The film premiered at the Democratic National Convention.
Botstein has served as an advisor on many other Florentine productions, including: The Central Park Five, The Dust Bowl, The Tenth Inning, and The National Parks: America's Best Idea. Prior to joining the company, she worked for Serino Coyne Public Relations and Owen Comora Associates, where she represented sponsors of Public Television and helped promote: The West, Thomas Jefferson, Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery, and Frank Lloyd Wright.
Botstein is a graduate of Barnard College/Columbia University with a degree in American Studies.
