On Friday April 4th from 5:30-9pm, Art of Biddeford presents at City Theater

the first Biddeford Mini Film Festival, a one-evening event sharing two feature-length and two

short documentary films focused on social themes and issues in Maine. The immigrant

experience, mental health, recovery, the LGBTQIA+ community, and the history and culture

(and the “in-betweenness”) of the communities bordering Canada are all empathetically and

beautifully portrayed in the featured films. Filmmakers Nyamuon “Moon” Nguany Machar (I

Come From Away: An Immigrant in Maine, Part One and Part Two), Katy Haas and Megan

Ruffe (La Frontière) and Marissa (Riss) Bickford (Recovery in ME: Queer Voices) all share the

story of what it is to be a Mainer.

I Come From Away: An Immigrant in Maine, Part I:

Nyamuon “Moon” Nguany Machar, a 30-year old African woman in Portland, Maine shares her

story of immigration through personal and familial histories and poetry. David Zwalita Mota tells

the story of his journey, fleeing the violence of the Democratic Republic of Congo along with his

young family. By weaving together the journeys of both Moon and David, documenting the city

of Portland’s response to an influx of asylum seekers, and the desire by Moon to help asylum

seekers secure pathways to mental health, I Come From Away: An Immigrant in Maine speaks

to the modern immigration experience.

I Come From Away, An Immigrant in Maine, Part 2:

Nyamuon “Moon” Nguany Machar focuses her lens on the extraordinary effort made by the city

of Sanford, Maine, to accommodate hundreds of asylum seekers who showed up unexpectedly

one day in the spring of 2023. Known as “the city which never dies” because of its resilience

after the decline of the once-thriving textile industry, the city of Sanford responded in force at

every level. City officials, community action workers, police and volunteers jumped into the fray.

Where to put the new arrivals? How to feed them? The immigrants showed up on a Friday in

front of Sanford City Hall, which was closed at the time. With no help from the federal or state

governments, Sanford was on its own. In this new film, Moon tracks this incredible story over

the course of several months as these new Mainers learn how to apply for work permits and

adapt to their first winter in Maine.

La Frontière:

La Frontière is a poetic documentary portrait of Northern Maine’s borderlands. Through

interviews, vérité moments and scenic landscapes, this 35-minute film takes viewer on an

exploration of the history and culture of the six-hundred and eleven mile-long border between

Maine and its norther neighbors Quebec and New Brunswick. The film screened at the 2022

Camden International Film Festival in Midcoast Maine, in the 2023 Rhode Island International

Film Festival in Providence, RI and Monadnock International Film Festival in Keene, NH, as well

as in festivals in Louisiana and France. It was first broadcast on Maine Public, and has also

been shown on Vermont Public and New Hampshire PBS. La Frontière is supported by grants

from the Points North Institute/TV5Monde and the Keith Campbell Family Foundation and is

fiscally sponsored by UnionDocs, Inc.

Recovery in Maine: Queer Voices:

The short documentary, titled RECOVERY IN MAINE: QUEER VOICES, explores the

intersection of LGBTQIA+ identities and recovery. Throughout the film, Mainers share their experiences navigating recovery services and spaces as queer people -- and navigating queer

communities and spaces as people in recovery. The film was produced by Points North Institute

in partnership with Governor Mills’ Office of Opioid Response. It was co-produced by the

Armadillo Collective, which was founded by Maine filmmaker Alexandra Morrow.

Biddeford Mini Film Festival: Social will be held at City Theater (205 Main Street, Biddeford,

ME) on Friday April 4, 2025 from 5:30-9pm. There will be a Q+A with available filmmakers,

moderated by Art of Biddeford after the screenings of I Come From Away: An Immigrant in

Maine, Part I, La Frontière and Recovery in Maine: Queer Voices. The evening will end with the

screening of I Come From Away: An Immigrant in Maine, Part 2.