The Library of Congress, the Better Angels Society, Ken Burns and the Crimson Lion/Lavine Family Foundation have unveiled six finalists for the sixth annual Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film. The $200,000 cash award, established in 2019, recognizes late-stage documentaries that use original research and a compelling narrative to tell stories that bring American history to life through archival materials.

The six projects that were selected are: James Sorrels’s “Area 2,” John Benitz’s “Behind the Lines,” Julia Greenberg and Dianna Dilworth’s “Dory Previn: On My Way to Where,” Norah Shapiro’s “Magic & Monsters,” Asaf Galay’s “Out of the Inkwell: The Greatest Story Never Told,” and Marlene McCurtis’ “Wednesdays in Mississippi.”

This year close to 100 American history documentary features were submitted for consideration.

“It’s hard what we are doing,” Burns says of documentary filmmaking. “It’s really hard. In documentary, there are so many more really good filmmakers,...