GARDINER — The film “The Home Road Show” will be screened at 6 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 15, at Johnson Hall Performing Arts Center, Water Street. The directors will present the film as part of the Food, Film & Conversation. Doors open at 5:30 p.m.

The film is the first documentary project by Portland based film and marketing company, Home Ice Productions, and Tonya Shevenell.

"The Home Road Show" will be shown at 6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 15, at Johnson Hall Performing Arts Center, Water Street, in Gardiner. The directors will present the film as part of the Food, Film & Conversation. Contributed photo

The film was inspired by the coming-of-age story of Shevenell’s great-great-great-grandfather Israel Shevenell. At age 19, Israel set out on foot April 1, 1845, headed southeast from his home in Compton, Quebec, crossed the border, trudged through lingering winter snow in New Hampshire’s White Mountains and deep mud in the Saco Valley, and arrived at his destination of Biddeford, Maine two weeks later. He earned $8 a week as a brickmaker in this booming coastal town. It was steady work and more money than he could make farming at home. He walked back to Quebec that fall and convinced his family to move to Biddeford with him. Israel became the city’s first permanent French-Canadian settler, contributed to its growth and changed the course of Shevenell family history. In 2015, Tonya’s father, Ray Shevenell, celebrated the 170th anniversary of this pioneering trek by retracing Israel’s journey, walking the nearly 200 miles from Compton, Quebec, to Biddeford, Maine.

This walk is the foundation for “The Home Road Show” documentary film. Layered over this adventure are narrations, interviews, archive photos and film, and stories.

This program is part of the Food, Film & Conversation series in partnership with the Gardiner Food Co-Op. Food can be ordered by calling our box-office at 582-7144. Food will waiting when you arrive for the show. Table seating with be available.

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