Film chronicles man’s walk
from Quebec to Biddeford

FARMINGTON — “The Home Road,” a documentary film about 19-year-old Israel Shevenell’s trek from Compton, Quebec, to Biddeford, Maine, in 1845 will be shown April 2 at the University of Maine at Farmington.

The 75-minute screening will be at 7 p.m. in Lincoln Auditorium at Roberts Learning Center and presented by First-Year Experience at UMF.

The event is free and open to the public and includes a post-screening discussion with Maine filmmaker Tonya Shevenell and her father, Ray Shevenell, who stars in the film. 

Israel Shevenell left his home in Canada and walked nearly 200 miles to Biddeford, where he found work as a brick maker and is recognized as the city’s first permanent French-Canadian settler and French voter.

In 2015, his 74-year-old great-great-grandson, Ray Shevenell, retraced the pioneering journey on foot.

Tonya Shevenell tells their stories in her first documentary film. Layered over the adventure are interviews, archive photos, narrations, stories and an original soundtrack by Maine filmmaker and composer Sumner McKane.

For more information about the film, go to thehomeroad.com or watch the official film trailer at https://youtu.be/Nc7egiZYaDw

For more info: [email protected].