America’s most acclaimed documentary filmmakers, Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, have produced the most ambitious documentary of their careers — the 10-part, 18-hour documentary series, “The Vietnam War,” which tells the epic story of one of the most consequential, divisive, and controversial events in American history as it has never before been told on film.

Visceral and immersive, the series explores the human dimensions of the war through revelatory testimony of nearly 80 witnesses from all sides — Americans who fought in the war and others who opposed it, as well as combatants and civilians from North and South Vietnam.

Detroit Public Television, in partnership with the War Memorial, will be hosting a screening of highlights from the series at an hour-long preview on Wednesday starting at 7 p.m. at The War Memorial in Grosse Pointe.

The series will air on PBS stations nationwide, beginning on Sept. 17.

In conjunction with the screening, DPTV and the War Memorial will host a special tribute to the soldiers who served their country during this period. It will feature a panel discussion focusing on the experiences of soldiers who fought in the war, how the conflict changed their lives and the impact it had on the course of the nation. Editorial page editor Nolan Finley, who also co-hosts DPTV’s MiWeek, will serve as moderator.

Tickets to the event, which will run from 7-9 p.m., are free and can be reserved at: www.dptv.org/vietnam.

DPTV will air the first five episodes of “The Vietnam War” nightly from Sept. 17 through Sept. 21, and the final five episodes nightly from Sept. 24 through Sept. 28.

Each episode will premiere at 8 p.m. ET with a repeat broadcast immediately following. Check the DPTV schedule here.

Ten years in the making, the series includes rarely seen and digitally re-mastered archival footage from sources around the globe, photographs taken by some of the most celebrated photojournalists of the 20th century, historic television broadcasts, evocative home movies, and secret audio recordings from inside the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon administrations.