{"id":60264,"date":"2025-12-16T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=60264"},"modified":"2025-12-15T09:48:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T14:48:07","slug":"alumnas-documentary-premieres-at-court-square-theater-on-thursday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2025\/alumnas-documentary-premieres-at-court-square-theater-on-thursday\/","title":{"rendered":"Alumna\u2019s documentary premieres at Court Square Theater on Thursday"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Date<\/strong>: Thursday, Dec. 18<br \/><strong>Time<\/strong>: Screening starts at 7 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.<br \/><strong>Location<\/strong>: Court Square Theater, 41-F Court Square, Harrisonburg<br \/><strong>Cost<\/strong>: Tickets are pay-what-you-will<br \/><strong>Online<\/strong>: Reserve tickets at <a href=\"http:\/\/courtsquaretheater.org\/event\/hola-paisano\">courtsquaretheater.org\/event\/hola-paisano<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"663\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/12\/12130948\/Hola-Paisano-smaller-663x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-60266\" style=\"width:400px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/12\/12130948\/Hola-Paisano-smaller-663x1024.jpg 663w, https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/12\/12130948\/Hola-Paisano-smaller-194x300.jpg 194w, https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/12\/12130948\/Hola-Paisano-smaller-768x1187.jpg 768w, https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/12\/12130948\/Hola-Paisano-smaller-994x1536.jpg 994w, https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/12\/12130948\/Hola-Paisano-smaller.jpg 1294w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 663px) 100vw, 663px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>A short documentary about the owners of Harrisonburg\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.elpaisanobakery.com\/\">El Paisano Bakery<\/a>, co-directed by peacebuilding grad <strong>Mariana Martinez \u201921<\/strong>, will premiere next week at Court Square Theater.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 20-minute film, titled <em>\u00a1Hola, Paisano!<\/em>, follows the owners, Hugo Hern\u00e1ndez and Berenice Rodriguez, two immigrants from Mexico, as they build a life, family, and a business through baking. It traces their beginnings, introduces their family, and places their experiences within the broader context of today\u2019s national conversations about immigration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIn short, it\u2019s a slice of life,\u201d said Martinez. \u201cIt touches on themes of family, the immigrant experience, the American dream, and what it means to run a bakery in Downtown Harrisonburg. It feels like a niche environment to document in, but it truly is a channel where you can see the life of Hugo and Berenice, their story, and their life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Martinez is originally from Honduras and moved to Harrisonburg with her family when her father, <strong>Luis Martinez SEM \u201915<\/strong>, began attending Eastern Mennonite Seminary to earn a master of divinity. She graduated from Eastern Mennonite School and attended Hesston College for two years before transferring to EMU.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Along with <strong>Jess Daddio<\/strong>, co-director and director of photography for <em>\u00a1Hola, Paisano!<\/em>, and <strong>Sarah Golibart Gorman<\/strong>, producer, the filmmaking trio met for the first time and began hashing out the idea in March 2024. Gorman, a writer for Edible Blue Ridge who runs the popular <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/friendlycityfoodie\/?hl=en\">@friendlycityfoodie<\/a> Instagram account, had written a <a href=\"https:\/\/edibleblueridge.com\/tastes-of-home\/\">story<\/a> about Latino restaurants in Harrisonburg and had interviewed the owners of El Paisano.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cShe had a connection there, which helped create a rapport with them and allowed them to tell their story,\u201d Martinez said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u00a1Hola, Paisano!\u00a0<\/em> will screen with English and Spanish subtitles and will be shown at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 18, with doors opening at 6:30 p.m. Tickets to the screening are pay-what-you-will and can be reserved online at <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/courtsquaretheater.org\/event\/hola-paisano\">courtsquaretheater.org\/event\/hola-paisano<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A panel discussion with the documentary team and bakery owners will be held after the film, followed by cake to celebrate the bakery\u2019s seven years in business. Afterward, attendees can continue the celebration at Broad Porch Coffee\u2019s Latin Dance Night, which lasts until 11 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Date: Thursday, Dec. 18Time: Screening starts at 7 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.Location: Court Square Theater, 41-F Court Square, HarrisonburgCost: Tickets are pay-what-you-willOnline: Reserve tickets at courtsquaretheater.org\/event\/hola-paisano A short <a href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2025\/alumnas-documentary-premieres-at-court-square-theater-on-thursday\/\" target=\"_self\" class=\"more-link\">... read more <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">about Alumna\u2019s documentary premieres at Court Square Theater on Thursday<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":302,"featured_media":60265,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[266,7931,17562,14145,5730],"tags":[18737,5886,18738,6970,18741,5665,5666,18736,5690],"feature":[17427,17426,17241,17422],"class_list":["post-60264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-arts","category-digest","category-peacebuilding-and-development","category-undergraduate-programs","tag-court-square-theater","tag-documentary","tag-el-paisano-bakery","tag-harrisonburg","tag-hola-paisano","tag-immigrant","tag-immigration","tag-mariana-martinez","tag-peacebuilding","feature-emu-home-page-feature","feature-myemu-feature","feature-news-feature","feature-news-landing-page-main-feature"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Alumna\u2019s documentary premieres at Court Square Theater on Thursday - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2025\/alumnas-documentary-premieres-at-court-square-theater-on-thursday\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Alumna\u2019s documentary premieres at Court Square Theater on Thursday - EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Date: Thursday, Dec. 18Time: Screening starts at 7 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.Location: Court Square Theater, 41-F Court Square, HarrisonburgCost: Tickets are pay-what-you-willOnline: Reserve tickets at courtsquaretheater.org\/event\/hola-paisano A short\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2025\/alumnas-documentary-premieres-at-court-square-theater-on-thursday\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EasternMennonite\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-16T10:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/12\/12130824\/Image-Template-2025-12-10T111704.719-1200x768-1.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"669\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ryan Cornell\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@EMU_News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@EMU_News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ryan Cornell\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2025\/alumnas-documentary-premieres-at-court-square-theater-on-thursday\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2025\/alumnas-documentary-premieres-at-court-square-theater-on-thursday\/\",\"name\":\"Alumna\u2019s documentary premieres at Court Square Theater on Thursday - EMU News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2025\/alumnas-documentary-premieres-at-court-square-theater-on-thursday\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2025\/alumnas-documentary-premieres-at-court-square-theater-on-thursday\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/12\/12130824\/Image-Template-2025-12-10T111704.719-1200x768-1.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-16T10:00:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/4d24e9770fdab8276fbcf29504123fdf\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2025\/alumnas-documentary-premieres-at-court-square-theater-on-thursday\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2025\/alumnas-documentary-premieres-at-court-square-theater-on-thursday\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2025\/alumnas-documentary-premieres-at-court-square-theater-on-thursday\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/12\/12130824\/Image-Template-2025-12-10T111704.719-1200x768-1.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/12\/12130824\/Image-Template-2025-12-10T111704.719-1200x768-1.jpeg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":669},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2025\/alumnas-documentary-premieres-at-court-square-theater-on-thursday\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Alumna\u2019s documentary premieres at Court Square Theater on Thursday\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/\",\"name\":\"EMU News\",\"description\":\"News from the Eastern Mennonite University community.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/4d24e9770fdab8276fbcf29504123fdf\",\"name\":\"Ryan Cornell\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Alumna\u2019s documentary premieres at Court Square Theater on Thursday - EMU News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2025\/alumnas-documentary-premieres-at-court-square-theater-on-thursday\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Alumna\u2019s documentary premieres at Court Square Theater on Thursday - EMU News","og_description":"Date: Thursday, Dec. 18Time: Screening starts at 7 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.Location: Court Square Theater, 41-F Court Square, HarrisonburgCost: Tickets are pay-what-you-willOnline: Reserve tickets at courtsquaretheater.org\/event\/hola-paisano A short","og_url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2025\/alumnas-documentary-premieres-at-court-square-theater-on-thursday\/","og_site_name":"EMU News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EasternMennonite","article_published_time":"2025-12-16T10:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":669,"url":"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/12\/12130824\/Image-Template-2025-12-10T111704.719-1200x768-1.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ryan Cornell","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@EMU_News","twitter_site":"@EMU_News","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ryan Cornell","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2025\/alumnas-documentary-premieres-at-court-square-theater-on-thursday\/","url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2025\/alumnas-documentary-premieres-at-court-square-theater-on-thursday\/","name":"Alumna\u2019s documentary premieres at Court Square Theater on Thursday - EMU News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2025\/alumnas-documentary-premieres-at-court-square-theater-on-thursday\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2025\/alumnas-documentary-premieres-at-court-square-theater-on-thursday\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/12\/12130824\/Image-Template-2025-12-10T111704.719-1200x768-1.jpeg","datePublished":"2025-12-16T10:00:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/4d24e9770fdab8276fbcf29504123fdf"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2025\/alumnas-documentary-premieres-at-court-square-theater-on-thursday\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2025\/alumnas-documentary-premieres-at-court-square-theater-on-thursday\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2025\/alumnas-documentary-premieres-at-court-square-theater-on-thursday\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/12\/12130824\/Image-Template-2025-12-10T111704.719-1200x768-1.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/12\/12130824\/Image-Template-2025-12-10T111704.719-1200x768-1.jpeg","width":1200,"height":669},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2025\/alumnas-documentary-premieres-at-court-square-theater-on-thursday\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Alumna\u2019s documentary premieres at Court Square Theater on Thursday"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/","name":"EMU News","description":"News from the Eastern Mennonite University community.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/4d24e9770fdab8276fbcf29504123fdf","name":"Ryan Cornell"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/302"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60264"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60264\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60273,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60264\/revisions\/60273"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60264"},{"taxonomy":"feature","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/feature?post=60264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}