Documentary film festival in Sudbury, Ont., doubles in size for 2023

Documentary films about efforts to save a bird of prey in India, Jackie Robinson's impact and one artist's fight to hold the Sackler family accountable for the opioid crisis in the U.S. are all part of the Junction North Film Festival in Sudbury, Ont.

Beth Mairs, the executive director of the Sudbury Indie Cinema, which will host the festival from Feb. 23 to 26, said the line-up of documentary films from around the world is around twice as big as it has been in the two previous years.

Many will be northern Ontario premieres, and two of the movies – All That Breathes and All the Beauty and the Bloodshed – are nominated for best documentary feature film at the Oscars.

All That Breathes follows three brothers in New Delhi, India, who have dedicated their lives to protecting a bird of prey called the black kite.

"It's such a fascinating documentary because on one hand you see the scenes of New Delhi which are kind of apocalyptic and then you have this beautiful sanctuary where these three men are working together to save this bird," Mairs said.

"Many people are saying it will be a travesty if this doesn't win best documentary feature at the Oscars."

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed follows artist and activist Nan Goldin and her fight against the Sackler family, which founded and owned the pharmaceutical company Purdue Pharma, which created OxyContin.

Mairs said a panel discussion will follow that movie screening.

"What we want to do is kind of use the film as a springboard to talk about the opioid poisoning crisis in Sudbury," she said.

The panel discussion will include people involved with Sudbury's supervised consumption site, who will talk about the opioid crisis in northern Ontario and efforts to help people in the region.