Historian Rick Atkinson joins filmmaker Ken Burns to examine the opposing figures at the center of the American Revolution: King George III and George Washington. Blending narrative history and documentary storytelling, they explore how imperial authority, colonial resistance, and contrasting leadership shaped the conflict’s course—and how the Revolution’s ideals and contradictions continue to echo today.

In partnership with The Atlantic, the festival will open with a special keynote evening honoring the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America. The evening will bring together The Atlantic’s editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, bestselling biographer Walter Isaacson, acclaimed filmmaker and storyteller Ken Burns, The Atlantic staff writer and bestselling author, Clint Smith and Annette Gordon-Reed, author and Pulitzer Prize-winning historian. Together, these distinguished voices will examine the evolution of the American experience — our ideals, our challenges and our shared pursuit of progress — while reflecting on the enduring power of storytelling, history and journalism to define who we are and where we are headed.