A new 10-part documentary series about the Vietnam war will air on the US television network PBS from mid September.

Filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Novick spent 10 years making the documentary,  interviewing a  variety of subjects including US Veterans, deserters and former North Vietnamese and Viet Cong fighters.

The documentary intends to make viewers draw their own conclusions about the controversial war that lasted a total of 19 years, from November 1, 1955, to April 30, 1975.

In a press conference, Novick said she would be honoured if anyone in the current US administration watched the documentary and thought about what it really meant to send a country to war.