Merlin’s Isle: The Tale This Land Still Keeps will receive its first public screening Sunday, Nov. 1, in Nashville. The free event begins at 7 p.m. at the Soli Deo Gloria Center at Christ Presbyterian Academy.
The 30-minute documentary follows British poet and priest Malcolm Guite and illustrator Stephen Crotts across the landscapes that inspired Merlin’s Isle: An Arthuriad, their four-volume retelling of Arthurian legend.
‘Merlin’s Isle’ Travels Through Arthur’s Britain
Filmmaker Patrick Shen directed the documentary. Rabbit Room founder Pete Peterson served as executive producer, while Andrew Brumme produced the project for Rabbit Room Press.
The film travels across Britain with Guite and Crotts as they visit ancient landmarks and rugged settings connected to the Arthurian tradition. Instead of treating those places as decorative backdrops, the documentary considers how landscape, memory and faith shaped Guite’s unfolding poem.
Guite hopes the project can restore a sense of depth and wonder for readers growing up in what he describes as a material and transactional culture.
“I want to give them depth, height, the sacred, the enchanted,” Guite said.
The screening will be followed by a discussion with Peterson, Crotts and additional guests.
The Film Arrives Between Two ‘Merlin’s Isle’ Books
The event lands between the first two installments in Guite’s planned four-volume cycle. Galahad and the Grail opened the series in April and later won the 2026 Parnassus Prize.
Rabbit Room Press now reports that the book has sold more than 70,000 copies. Its sequel, The Coming of Arthur, arrives Nov. 9 and has already set a Rabbit Room Press preorder record.
Advance copies of The Coming of Arthur will be available for purchase at the screening. The second volume returns to Arthur’s youth and considers how courage, courtesy and service shape him for leadership.
The documentary has previously been available through limited subscriber access. However, the Nashville gathering marks its first screening open to the general public.
Reserve free tickets for the Nashville premiere of Merlin’s Isle: The Tale This Land Still Keeps.