The documentary focuses on the Kennedy Park futsal courts, where pickup games are played almost every day. Contributed / Photo by Santiago Tijerina
A passion for soccer, a connection to Maine immigrants and a project in documentary studies forcefully aligned for Portland resident Santiago Tijerina last fall when he directed the documentary short film “Courts of Belonging.” Showcased at the Maine Outdoor Film Festival Selects Tour in Scarborough on Sept. 5, the film has gained awards and grants and is on its way to becoming a full-length feature.
“Courts of Belonging” highlights the futsal court located in Kennedy Park and how its games build community for immigrant and refugee residents of neighborhood. Futsal, a version of soccer with a small ball on a paved surface with five players, first arose in South America has steadily gained popularity internationally and in Portland. Responding to this enthusiasm for the sport in East Bayside, the city of Portland opened a futsal court in summer of 2021.
The documentary emphasizes how the futsal games offer a sense of belonging to socially isolated immigrants and refugees residing in East Bayside, one of the most diverse neighborhoods in Maine. Players take the court in multilingual pickup games organized by Kennedy Park Pickup Soccer almost every day.
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The community organization Kennedy Park Pickup Soccer regularly hosts free multilingual futsal games in one of Maine’s most diverse neighborhoods. Contributed / Photo by Santiago Tijerina
“The story is about how the game really brings people together, how it instills confidence,” said Tijerina, “(in) people who have had their confidence taken away from them, and how it breaks barriers and brings people together.”
Tijerina participated in Kennedy Park futsal and was connected to the immigrant community of Portland prior to starting this project.
In the fall of 2023 after graduating from University of Maine Orono with a degree in International Affairs, Tijerina moved to Portland and began working at the Greater Portland Immigrant Welcome Center, a nonprofit that assists new Mainers with language acquisition and economic and civic navigation.
In his free time, Tijerina became a core organizer for Kennedy Park Pickup Soccer, he said. The leadership of the grassroots group organizes regular free futsal games on the court, mentors school- and college-age players, and coordinates sponsorships from local businesses.
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Tijerina credits the volunteer group’s commitment to the club to their “obsession for the beautiful game” and to the Kennedy Park community.
“It’s all about leadership. It’s about mentorship. It’s about consistent organization of soccer games for the community,” said Tijerina.
“It’s about holding our values firm. Our values of inclusivity, of community before competition, of grassroots organizing and also securing help from sponsors,” he said.
Simultaneously that fall, Tijerina attended the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies, a 15-week certificate program of the Maine College of Art and Design. For the program’s short film project, he turned the camera to his now-familiar futsal court.
“(The Salt Institute) really gave me the chance to think about what story I wanted to tell and what story I wanted to contribute to documenting Maine and Maine people,” he said.
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Orono filmmaker Santiago Tijerina is the son of two Columbian immigrants, which motivated him to focus his camera on the immigrant communities of Portland. Contributed / Santiago Tijerina
Tijerina’s upbringing in Orono also deeply influenced his documentary, he said. A first-generation Mainer born to Columbian parents, Tijerina wanted his work to foster understanding for immigrants and refugees in Maine communities.
“Maine is not so diverse. I literally grew up in Orono, Maine, so I know what it feels like to be highlighted, really spotlighted, right?” he said. “I think that makes for stories like these to have more weight.
“That’s why I’m putting a lot of emphasis on bringing (‘Courts of Belonging’) around colleges and high schools across the state, so that people can really understand where a lot of their classmates are coming from, because you’re seeing a huge influx in refugee, asylum seekers, immigrants in Maine.”
In addition to screening at schools and in Scarborough, the film has been shown at Maine Outdoor Film Festival’s Portland Flagship Festival in July, a Greater Portland Immigrant Welcome Center open house, the Preble Street Teen Center, and the Portland Public Teen Library. The latter two locations were selected with the goal of connecting film attendees to the action they saw on screen.
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“A lot of the folks that go to those two places are asylum seekers and refugees. We’re trying to get them familiar with the court,” said Tijerina. “A lot of them ended up showing up at the court to play soccer and making friends and practice their English.”
The film received a warm reception across its showings. The MOFF Portland Flagship Festival’s jury awarded Tijerina the Emerging Maine Filmmaker Award. MOFF Director Nick Callanan said that the group is excited to see what Tijerina would do next.
“I mean, he just made some amazing creative decisions with cinematography and his editing choices, and it’s just got such a hopeful message,” said Callanan. “He’s got a bright future ahead of him. It’s awesome to see him just really coming (into) his own as a storyteller,” he said.
With support from a Maine Humanities Council grant and his Welcome Center workplace, Tijerina has been working to turn the short into a feature.
He plans to focus the full-length documentary on the lives of the young immigrants and refugees on the court and their journeys to Portland, as well as the long history of the Kennedy Park and East Bayside neighborhoods as a hub for immigrants in Maine. He aims to have the “Courts of Belonging” feature to be in festivals next summer and premiering in Portland then.
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“How difficult it is for a young teenager to travel by boat from Africa to Latin America and walk all the way from Latin America to North America,” said Tijerina. “These stories are just incredible, incredibly moving.
“I really want to give a voice to them, and it just works out that I’m at the (Greater Portland) Immigrant Welcome Center and there’s just a lot of folks who’ve been really interested in supporting the project and taking it further with me,” he said.
AUGUSTA, Maine (WABI) – An emotional day from Fairfield to Augusta, but felt throughout Maine and beyond, as state officials, community members and loved ones honored the lives of two Department of Transportation workers who tragically died in the field.
Maine DOT Commissioner Dale Doughty described the accident as “the nightmare that commissioners worry about.”
While working on Interstate 95 in January, Maine DOT workers James “Jimmy” Brown, 60, and Dwayne Campbell, 51, died after a driver failed to brake at a stop sign and crashed into a tractor-trailer traveling on the highway.
To honor the men’s commitment to public service and their legacy as fathers, outdoorsmen and Mainers, a procession including DOT officials, family members and more traveled to the Augusta Civic Center Saturday for a memorial service.
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Among those in attendance was Gov. Janet Mills, who remarked on who Brown and Campbell were and their dedication to their profession.
“Jimmy, as you know, worked for the Maine Department of Transportation for 12 years. Dwayne for more than 23 years,” Mills described. “We could count on Jimmy and Dwayne just as we could count on the 1,600 Maine dot workers who keep our roads and bridges safe every day.”
Brown was known for his humor and love of fishing, cars and his children.
Campbell got his start in the DOT by following in his father’s footsteps. Mills said at the service that Campbell loved his daughters and time spent outdoors.
For Commissioner Doughty, losses like this hit hard because of the closely bonded “family business” that DOT is.
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That family expands past state lines, as departments of transportation from New Hampshire and Vermont were present to show their support.
New Hampshire DOT State Maintenance Engineer Alan Hanscom said he called Maine DOT just hours after hearing of the accident to see what his crews could do to help.
“My employees are impacted or subject to the same dangers that Maine and every other state is,” Hanscom said of the importance of his attendance. “I have an employee that was killed in a motor vehicle crash some years ago, so it kind of hits home.”
Saturday’s event served not only as a commemoration but also as a call to action. Despite DOT’s training, Doughty says it is rendered useless if motorists put right-of-way employees in danger through reckless or distracted driving.
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Hanscom expanded: “People don’t realize that this is our office. You’re driving through our office space. We’d like you to give us some consideration and slow down and be mindful of where we are. Give us a little respect.”
Doughty mentioned that these dangers extend beyond DOT workers to everyone who does roadside work. Because of this, he says, agencies must join forces to develop solutions.
“I really think it’s time, and we have a meeting coming up in April, where we pull all agencies and all companies that work in the right-of-way, contractors, utilities, everyone to start to talk about that message,” Doughty said.
On the podium, Doughty told audiences: “Please help us carry forward their memory, not only with tears, but with action.”
On Thursday, the Joint Standing Committee on Transportation authorized the Maine Turnpike Authority to conduct a pilot program for speed enforcement in work zones. The legislation is now headed to the House and Senate.
Despite retaliation from their employer, nurses affirm their commitment to their patients and their union
Over two years since Northern Maine Medical Center (NMMC) first formed their union and began bargaining in good faith for a first contract, nurses remain committed to the patients they serve, and to making their hospital the best place it can be for everyone. Union nurses at NMMC signed the letter they released today, which says in part:
“Over the past two years, you have no doubt heard about the conflict that has grown between the hospital and us.
We want you to know that we never asked for this fight. The initiative to organize our union was to protect ourselves and our patients, not to punish any individuals or the hospital as a whole.”
The nurses’ letter goes on to say that their immediate goals as a union include: winning safe staffing for nurses and patients, promoting transparency and accountability at NMMC, retaining our local providers and staff, and making their hospital sustainable for the long term.
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Terry Caron, RN and member of the nurses’ bargaining team said: “Two years ago, we decided to have a voice for ourselves and our patients by forming our union. The NMMC administration could have met us halfway, but it did not. It has only fought us and tried to punish us for speaking up. But we are as committed to our goals as ever. We will never stop fighting for our patients.”
NMMC nurses were joined today by Maine Senate President Mattie Daughtry, gubernatorial candidate Troy Jackson, and U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner. They echoed the nurses’ call for NMMC CEO Jeff Zewe to stop his retaliation against the nurses and to finalize the union contract for which the nurses have been bargaining for most of the past two years.
Maine State Nurses Association is part of National Nurses Organizing Committee, representing 4,000 nurses and other caregivers from Portland to Fort Kent. NNOC is an affiliate of National Nurses United, the largest and fastest-growing labor union of registered nurses in the United States with nearly 225,000 members nationwide.
Max McClung scored 12 of his 33 points in the fourth quarter, and the Windy City Bulls went on a 15-2 run in the fourth quarter to pull away for a 121-106 win over the Maine Celtics in an NBA G League game Friday night at the Portland Expo.
Kevin Knox II added 30 points, 21 in the second half.
Amari Williams led the Celtics with 26 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. Jalen Bridges made six 3-pointers and finished with 22 points, but the Celtics dropped to 2-8 in their last 10 games. Maine has lost four straight games at the Expo.
