Stefan Schaefer and his film crew for the Merwin documentary “Even Though the Whole World is Burning” recently departed the U.S. on a ten-day trip to France to capture a key part of the film’s story.
While there, they will film W.S. Merwin at the ancient farmhouse he purchased and restored in his twenties. It was here – following the advice of Ezra Pound – that Merwin became steeped in the Occitan language and the history of the medieval troubadours. We will conduct interviews about the translations he worked on, the poetry, the friends who visited him, and the rural life that had such an impact on his thinking and connection to nature. We will also visit ancient sites and locales that figure in Merwin’s work and biography.