Encore Presentation of ‘Little Grill’ Documentary

a peek inside The Little Grill
A peek inside The Little Grill
photo by Benjamin Myers

“A Collective Look at The Little Grill,” a one-hour documentary produced by students enrolled in a documentary film class at EMU, will have a return showing at Court Square Theater, downtown Harrisonburg.

Showtimes are 7 and 9 p.m. Monday, July 12.

Students in a documentary production class taught by Jerry Holsopple and Jennifer Mace spent part of their spring semester creating a video detailing the life and times of the well-known restaurant on N. Main Street in Harrisonburg. The film had its premiere showings on Apr. 20, also at Court Square Theater.

The restaurant is widely-known for its distinctive “down home atmosphere” with food “made from scratch.” Live music is featured on weekends, and on Mondays the establishment offers a soup kitchen.

Benjamin Myers, a student in the class, said the group spent 10 days of shooting at the restaurant. He and his classmates interviewed patrons and workers and edited the raw footage into the one-hour documentary, designed with an “impromptu feel.”

Holsopple described the video as “a lighthearted exploration of the many aspects of the Little Grill experience from the organizational structure to the customers, from the Monday soup kitchen to weekend entertainment and more.”

In June, 2003, the restaurant became a worker-owned business