Podcast Summary

Overview

Episode Title: Look & See: A Portrait of Wendell Berry | Filmmaker Q&A
Podcast: New Books Network
Host: Ben Lazman (Library of America)
Guests: Laura Dunn (Director), Mary Berry (Berry Center Executive Director), Jeff (Producer/editor, briefly), Audience Q&A
Date: March 7, 2026

The episode centers around a live Q&A with filmmaker Laura Dunn and Mary Berry, daughter of Wendell Berry and executive director of the Berry Center, following a virtual screening of the documentary Look & See: A Portrait of Wendell Berry. The conversation explores the film’s genesis, the challenges and beauties of rural life as depicted in Berry’s work, filmmaking under constraints, and the enduring relevance of agrarian values and culture. Audience questions deepen the conversation around Berry’s faith, the connections between rural and urban life, and the future of American farming.

Main Topics & Discussion Points

1. Genesis of the Film: Inspiration and Process

• Laura Dunn shares that her longstanding reverence for Wendell Berry’s writing began in her teenage years. Making Look & See was a way to amplify Berry’s voice and introduce his work to a wider audience. (03:04)
  • She describes a pivotal moment inspired by one of Berry’s Sabbath Poems, leading her to reach out and ultimately title her first film, The Unforeseen, after it.
  • Despite Berry’s reluctance—especially his aversion to being filmed—his wife Tanya’s encouragement was key. Tanya saw the potential value and invited Laura to pursue the project further. (06:38)
  • “Without her, it wouldn't have been possible. I think Mary probably feels the same about a lot of things…without her, nothing would be possible.” —Laura (06:30)

2. Wendell Berry’s Absence On-Screen: Philosophy and Artistic Constraint

• Berry refused to be filmed, believing “the screen is not a good thing” and that it “deadens the imagination and contributes to the decline of literacy.” (06:40)
  • This constraint became integral to the documentary’s creative approach. Instead of a typical visual portrait, the film became a “portrait of the world as Wendell sees it, a portrait of his mind’s eye” using his words, his voice, his land, and community. (08:00)
  • “He said that he's nothing but for the place he's in and the people he's around. He doesn't want to be made an idol of.” —Laura (07:38)

3. Berry Family Reflections: Living and Working by Principle

• Mary Berry articulates the Berry family’s values: rejecting conveniences like television and junk food (as children, she and her brother envied these "delights"), and living by deliberate choices. (11:26)
  • “They have just simply lived out their values. And I think when people...get kind of upset about Daddy's unwillingness to buy a computer or his unwillingness to watch television...they've lived according to those principles.” (12:50)
• Mary discusses the significance of being taken seriously by documentarians who stay engaged over time, unlike “most filmmakers [who] are...like mountaintop removal," extracting a story and leaving. (09:05, 28:11)

4. Filming in Kentucky: Crafting an Intimate Portrait

• Production occurred over several years and seasons, with a tiny crew and often several children in tow. The landscape itself is treated as a “full-blown character...as it is in Wendell’s work.” (14:14)
  • One vivid memory: hoping for Kentucky snow, with Laura filming while her baby was being cared for in the house by Mary. (15:20)
  • “You are the product, not the film.” —Wendell Berry to Laura, emphasizing the transformative nature of making the film. (17:10)
• The passage of time brings poignancy; many animals and people featured in the film have since passed away, making it a “collection” of what’s gone. (18:42)

5. Documentary Storytelling: Organic Process and Editing

• Laura describes editing not as following a linear script but as “get(ting) lost in the material,” letting themes and stories emerge.
  • She took inspiration from Berry’s essay collections: “They're thematic. You’ll have a chapter and it will be ‘Margins’, and then...another chapter...I thought, that’s an honest way to structure this, that mirrors his work.” (21:21)

6. Challenges and Joys: Earning Trust, Juggling Family

• The hardest part: earning the Berry family’s trust and balancing motherhood with filmmaking. (28:11)
  • “Filmmaking itself is kind of easy compared to parenting. And doing both at the same time is really hard.” —Laura (29:00)
  • “...the trust of the Berry family was not easy to come by, and for good reason.” (30:00)

7. Faith in Wendell Berry’s Life and Work

• Audience members query Berry’s integration of faith into his worldview.
  • “My father is Christian…Their faith is integrated into everything they do.” —Mary (32:09)
  • Berry is “an uncomfortable churchgoer,” attending services and reading the Bible, but deeply uncomfortable with didactic preaching. (32:14)
  • His faith is woven through his work rather than overtly articulated: “There's pieces of his poetry that...say the word God, but there's a lot of times where you feel the presence of God in his words without a kind of literal sermon.” —Laura (35:06)
  • Mary clarifies Berry’s nuanced critique of modern Christianity’s separation from Earth and the importance of stewardship rooted in place. (37:19)

8. Urban-Rural Disconnect & Agrarian Relevance

• Questions from the audience probe whether the film can bridge the gap between urban/suburban America and the realities of rural life.
  • “Let’s just start with eating...there’s a quotation...‘Eating is an agricultural act.’...We live from that land. And we are just seem...to be determined to make living from that land more and more difficult.” —Mary (41:14)
  • “Why should this matter to people who live in cities? Why wouldn’t it?” —Mary (41:14)
• Laura notes “a lot of people that…think of themselves as very eco conscious and buy the organic food and…have a lot of disdain for rural culture,” and stresses the importance of empathy and connection across geographies. (44:52, 45:53)
• “You need [rural people] to keep you alive.” —Jeff (46:30)

9. Use of Art: Wood Engravings and Symbolism

• The documentary features original wood engravings by Wesley Bates, whose artwork is integral to many Berry publications. Choosing these images was a way to “respect the entire continuum that these published works have.” (46:23)
  • “We wanted to be analog and not digital.” —Jeff (48:47)
  • The film’s ending was reworked at Tanya Berry’s suggestion, using woodcut illustrations to add hope. (48:00)

10. Hope & Future for Young People in Agriculture

• Mary describes the work of the Berry Center’s Farm and Forest Institute in teaching essential farming and agrarian humanities.
  • She stresses the acute challenges post-COVID, particularly land prices and the need for a “middle” between industrial-scale and boutique agriculture. (50:24)
  • “More farmers in this country now are over 75 than under 35. This should matter to everyone.” —Mary (41:14)
• Laura echoes Berry’s advice: just do the work in front of you and reconnect what has been broken, whether that’s in farming or everyday life. (55:12)
  • “You take two things and put them back together—not all things, two things.” —Berry, via Laura (55:32)

11. Distribution and New Work

• The film and a new series of short films, Look & See Further, are available directly from Laura and Jeff’s production company (twobirdsfilm.com). The shorts expand on outtakes and feature more stories, especially about Tanya Berry and the agricultural history of the region. (57:53)
  • “In the spirit of the agrarian ethos of let nothing go to waste…let’s just take the scraps…the so called—which really may end up being the best part—and see what we can make with it.” —Laura (58:20)

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• “This whole favorite business. I don’t like this favorite business.” —Wendell Berry, recalled by Laura Dunn, on refusing to name favorite verses or writers (03:15)
• “He believes that the screen is not a good thing. He believes that it deadens the imagination and contributes to the decline of literacy.” —Laura Dunn on Berry’s media skepticism (06:40)
• “I feel often that the work I’m doing at the center is way out on the margins. Because it is. But it is from the margins that we can critique what’s going on. It’s from the margins that you can tell the truth.” —Mary Berry (09:25)
• “You are the product, not the film.” —Wendell Berry to Laura Dunn (17:10)
• “They have just simply lived out their values. And I think when people…get upset about Daddy’s unwillingness to buy a computer or his unwillingness to watch television…they’ve lived according to those principles.” —Mary Berry (12:50)
• “Working with your body and your mind is what we’re created for. What are people for? My father has asked.” —Mary Berry (43:55)

Key Timestamps for Important Segments

• 03:04 – Laura introduces Berry’s influence, genesis of film
• 06:38–08:39 – Why Berry is not on camera, ideology behind constraint, approach to documentary
• 11:26–13:43 – Mary reflects on Berry family upbringing and living by principle
• 14:14–18:28 – Laura details filming: logistics, seasons, balance of family and work
• 21:21–24:43 – Laura on shaping the documentary, finding structure by following Berry’s literary style
• 28:11–31:13 – Earning the Berry family’s trust, hardships and joys of integrating family life and filmmaking
• 32:09–41:14 – Faith in Berry’s worldview, how it shows up implicitly, and urban-rural connections
• 46:23–49:12 – Jeff on Wesley Bates’ wood engravings and their symbolic and aesthetic roles in the film
• 50:20–57:24 – Hope for next generation, teaching agrarian skills, advice for young people
• 57:53–60:21 – How to watch Look & See and related short films, preserving and sharing unused footage

Memorable Moments

• Laura’s description of family-filmmaking chaos: “There were often babies…I had a baby strapped to me…and at some point Mary said, ‘Do you want me to take the baby?’ And she took our little baby into a warm place so that I could keep filming in the snow…” (15:20)
• Mary’s emotional response to the film as a living document: “The film has become kind of a collection of people and animals and so on that are no longer with us. So…it’s gotten really kind of poignant to see the movie.” (18:42)
• Tanya Berry’s role as a catalyst and quiet hero behind both the Berry Center and the film (06:38, 48:00)

Takeaways

• Look & See is as much about values—agrarianism, stewardship, humility, and the integrity of living closely with the land and each other—as it is about Wendell Berry himself.
• The filmmaking mirrored Berry’s ethos: attentive to place, relationships, constraint, and careful use of resources (from creative editing to using all the “scraps” of filmed material).
• The conversation surfaces the urgent need for renewed rural-urban empathy, the importance of supporting young and mid-sized farmers, and the power of small-scale, attentive work to enact real change.

Further Resources

• Film & Shorts: twobirdsfilm.com
• Berry Center: berrycenter.org
• Library of America’s Wendell Berry Editions: loa.org
• Wood Engraver Wesley Bates: wesleybates.com

This summary should engage both newcomers and seasoned Berry readers, capturing the episode's depth, warmth, and commitment to purposeful living.