GARDINER — Johnson Hall Performing Arts Center will present the film “The Home Road” at 6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 15, as part of the  Food, Film & Conversation series.

The center is at 280 Water St.

“The Home Road” is the first documentary project by the Portland-based film and marketing company Home Ice Productions and Tonya Shevenell. It is inspired by the coming-of-age story of her great-great-great grandfather, Israel Shevenell.

“I wish I could talk to the 19-year-old who 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,” Shevenell said.

“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, my 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,” the Shevenell said.

Layered over this adventure are narrations, interviews, archive photos and film, and stories, exploring the themes of migration, movement and “home.”

To view the trailer, visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc7egiZYaDw.

This program in partnership with the Gardiner Food Co-Op. Food can be ordered by calling the box office at 582-7144 and will be waiting upon arrival at the show. Table seating will be available.

Tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for youth and are available at Johnson Hall’s Box Office from noon to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Friday; by calling 582-7144; or by visiting www.johnsonhall.org.

Ray Shevenell