Hosted by Art of Biddeford, the first annual Biddeford Mini Film Fest will take place at City Theater on April 4.
This event’s theme will focus on social issues in Maine, and will feature two feature-length and two short documentary films, Heart of Biddeford Assistant Director Abby Leibowitz told the Courier.
“We wanted documentaries with ties to social issues happening in Maine,” Leibowitz said.
“We thought it would be interesting,” she said.
The unique films represent topics like the immigrant experience, mental health, recovery, the LGBTQIA+ community, and the history and culture of the Maine communities bordering Canada.
“It’s important for people to understand other perspectives now more than ever,” Leibowitz said.
Focusing on the immigrant experience in Maine, two-part film “I Come From Away: An Immigrant in Maine” was created by filmmaker Nyamuon “Moon” Nguany Machar, an African woman living in Portland.
The documentary focuses on Machar’s story of immigration to Maine, as well as that of David Zwalita Mota. The first part of the documentary documents the city of Portland’s response to asylum seekers, while the second part focuses on the efforts of the city of Sanford to accommodate asylum seekers.
Another documentary featured in the festival, “La Frontière” is a poetic documentary portrait of Northern Maine’s borderlands along Canada.
And in “Recovery in Maine: Queer Voices,” filmmaker Riss Bickford explores the intersection between LGBTQIA+ identities and recovery.
Addiction and mental health recovery can be difficult for Mainers identifying as LGBTQIA+, Bickford told the Courier.
“I myself am a queer person in recovery,” Bickford said. “There was a holdup for me to receive recovery in the first place.”
Many recovery centers in Maine are “extremely gendered,” Bickford said. For Bickford, gendered recovery spaces often lacked understanding, and they were afraid they wouldn’t be accepted.
“That’s the most gentle end of that spectrum,” Bickford said. “On the scariest end of that spectrum, I feared hate and violence.”
While the film is centered around recovery in Maine, it also focuses on community. It also highlights the “incredible” work that is already happening around recovery for those identifying as LGBTQIA+, and things that Bickford said need to happen.
“We need to have queer sober living and queer centric, queer led spaces,” Bickford said.
But those in the LGBTQIA+ space aren’t the only ones who need to be highlighted, Bickford said. In the future, Bickford hopes to make documentaries focused on indigenous and other marginalized voices.
For now, Bickford hopes their film helps those struggling to understand that they can discuss their relationships with substances, gender, and identity.
“We are all in recovery from something,” Bickford said. “It sounds cheesy, but we’re all healing.”
The Biddeford Mini Film Fest is a free event starting at 5:30 p.m. on April 4, but donations are appreciated. The event takes place at the City Theater, 205 Main St. in Biddeford. All donations will be given directly to the filmmakers at the festival.
A question and answer session with the filmmakers will also take place at the end of the night.
“We hope people come out.” Leibowitz said.
