A peek inside The Little Grill
photo by Benjamin Myers
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 Little Grill," a well-known restaurant on Main Street in Harrisonburg.
On-site photographs of the restaurant and its patrons, taken by students while filming, were on display in the hallways outside the theater during the documentary’s two showings on Tuesday, April 20, at Court Square Theater, downtown Harrisonburg.
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 a week of shooting at the restaurant, which is a collective partially owned by all employees. Myers and classmates interviewed patrons and workers and edited the raw footage into the one-hour documentary, designed with an "impromptu feel."
The intense filming schedule and hard work paid off when the film was enthusiastically received. Plans for additional showings and possible film festival entries are in the works, said Holsopple.