Junction North International Documentary Film Festival

...WE HAVE OUR WINNERS!!!!!!! Congratulations to all the amazing filmmakers who made Junction North 2026 an incredibly special place!! Querney's Best of Fest LOVING KARMA Johnny Burke, Andrew Hinton Audience Choice Best International Feature LOVING KARMA Johnny Burke, Andrew Hinton Audience Choice Best Canadian Feature THE ART OF ADVENTURE Alison Reid Audience Choice Best Canadian Mid-Length WE ARE MADE FROM THE LAND Jordan Melograna Audience Choice Best Canadian Short A BEAUTIFUL RESISTANCE Lachlan Ross Audience Choice Best International Mid-Length MAMA MICRA Rebecca Blöcher Audience Choice Best International Short BAGDAD GRAPHIC D.K. Odessa Jury Prize International Feature LOVING KARMA Johnny Burke, Andrew Hinton Jury Prize Canadian Feature SHIFTING BASELINES Julien Elie Jury Prize Canadian Mid-length IN GOOD HANDS Naomi Okabe Jury Prize Canadian Short A BEAUTIFUL RESISTANCE Lachlan Ross Jury Prize International Mid-Length DAUGHTERS OF PUTIEN Wei Du Jury Prize International Short BAGDAD GRAPHIC D.K. Odessa

DAD GENES has its Canadian premiere at Junction North today!! Friday, April 10 at 2:30 PM, our Family, Found and Lost programme presents DAD GENES @dadgenesmovie by Craig Downing. This documentary follows the emotional journey of Aaron Long, a man with over 60 biological children, as he reconnects with several of them and forms an unconventional family that draws global attention. The second film in the programme is DAUGHTERS OF PUTIEN by Wei Du, following abandoned baby girls taken to Putien, Fujian, under China’s one child policy and raised as future brides. Decades later, they search for answers about their origins and treatment. Thank you to @ctvnewsnorthernontario for the coverage!

Day 2 begins with The Art of Adventure @theartofadventuredoc from Alison Reid, the director of The Woman Who Loves Giraffes! "An awe-inspiring road trip where the car becomes the canvas." (Hollywood North Magazine) 🕖 Friday, April 10 at 12 PM 🔗 Tickets: $12 | All-Access Pass $120 📍 Sudbury Indie Cinema · 162 Mackenzie St. Sudbury P3C 4X8 About the film: In 1957, wildlife artist Robert Bateman and biologist Bristol Foster embark on a global expedition in a Land Rover, sparking a story of environmental activism.

Tomorrow is the day!! 🎬 We’re so excited to welcome you to this year’s festival and share these intriguing, inspiring stories from around the world. Locally curated, internationally acclaimed, from top award winners to docs in competition, come and experience them at the 10th edition of Junction North! Visit the link in our bio for the full lineup, and grab your passes & tickets now!

Two days to go!! We can’t wait to welcome you to this year’s festival, featuring over 30 award-winning documentaries, including an Oscar winner and exciting emerging voices! Having grown into a Canadian Screen Awards qualifying festival, this year’s programme features 3 Canadian, 4 Continental, and 3 Global Premieres. A third of the lineup has never been shown on a Canadian screen before, and filmmakers from 4 films will be joining us for in-person Q&As! For more details on our lineup, visit the link in our bio. Grab your passes & tickets now, and we’ll see you on Thursday!

#JNFF 2026 𝑹𝒆𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑹𝒐𝒍𝒆𝒔 programme presents what happens when people refuse the roles written for them. These documentaries follow Canadians who step beyond expectations - whether in their working lives or on the dance stage - revealing how identity, creativity, and determination can reshape both art and everyday life. 🕖 Sunday, April 12 at 2:30 PM 💬 Followed by an in-person Q&A for Own Kind of Beautiful with director (Sarah Jones) and subject (Frank Hull) 🔗 Tickets: $12 | All-Access Pass $120 📍 Sudbury Indie Cinema · 162 Mackenzie St. Sudbury P3C 4X8 - Northern Ontario Premiere | In Good Hands by Naomi Okabe @naominoumi In Good Hands is a prismatic investigation of gender roles, care, and the meaning of good work. The film features six people who have challenged gender stereotypes to find meaningful work, including a carpenter-turned-beekeeper, a stay-at-home dad, a highland cattle breeder, a flower farmer, an auto body technician, and an early childhood educator. Following them through their work day, the film explores the tenuous balancing act between self-satisfaction through career, nurturing others, and contribution to the greater good. - North American Premiere | Own Kind of Beautiful by Sarah Jones The film centres the artistry and point of view of Frank, a dance artist who proudly lives with cerebral palsy and madness, embraces his Mi'kmaq heritage, and celebrates his gay identity. The film documents the creative and emotional process of remounting a dance piece that Frank and his best friend Marcie Ryan choreographed together 10 years ago.

#JNFF 2026 𝑶𝒏 𝑪𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑺𝒐𝒊𝒍 - 𝑰𝒎𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝑷𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 programme presents two intimate documentaries that explore the complexities of building a life far from home. From a young Hong Kong couple navigating isolation and loss after leaving their community behind, to Russian dissidents in Montreal grappling with political division, memory, and solidarity, these films reveal how global struggles and personal identities continue to unfold on Canadian soil. 🕖 Sunday, April 12 at 12:30 AM 💬Followed by in-person Q&A with Give and Take Director (Jimmy Lo) & Forgiveness Sunday Director (Lada Iskanderova) 🔗 Tickets: $12 | All-Access Pass $120 📍 Sudbury Indie Cinema · 162 Mackenzie St. Sudbury P3C 4X8 - North American Premiere | Give and Take by Jimmy Lo @giveandtakefilm Amid the post-2019 Hong Kong exodus, a schoolteacher and an artist embark on a three-year immigration journey to Canada, where they grapple with unforeseen psychological challenges, putting their decision, identity, and relationship to the test in a relentless search for a place to call home. - World Premiere | Forgiveness Sunday by Lada Iskanderova, Olga Babina On the day of the 2024 Russian presidential election, this documentary follows Russian anti-war activists in Canada as they cast their votes and gather to mourn Alexei Navalny, Putin’s main opponent, who was killed in prison just before the election.

6 incredible shorts at #JNFF 2026, bringing together powerful 𝑷𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒔 of resilience, transformation, and connection. Sunday, April 12 at 10:30 AM 🔗 Tickets: $12 | All-Access Pass $120 📍 Sudbury Indie Cinema · 162 Mackenzie St. Sudbury P3C 4X8 - Mama Micra by Rebecca Blöcher @fabianfred The filmmaker reflects on her mother’s unorthodox life, from living in palaces to under bridges. Fiercely independent, she spent 10 years living in her tiny car, and only when it broke down did they have a chance to reconnect. - A Beautiful Resistance by Lachlan Ross @lachlanrosslgr @lgrproductions Follow Canadian artist and activist Kyle Scheurmann as he canoes through endangered forests on Vancouver Island, using his art to reveal a largely unseen environmental crisis. - The Last Round by Remi Cribb @96_studios_ The film follows Clint, a 56-year-old boxer stepping into the ring for the final time. But this final bout is not really about sport, it’s about survival. - Tony D'Souza by Felipe Giaj-Levra Sudhir “Tony” D’Souza, a pediatrician in London, Ontario, turns to gardening to decompress from the weight of children’s mental health care, finding in his plants both comfort and purpose. - Echoes in Steel by Rob Viscardis @outsideinside.tv When his longtime scrapyard closes, artist Garrett Gilbart loses a key source of material and inspiration. Working with salvaged metal, he embraces an artistic evolution that mirrors the slow transformation of steel. - Timekeeper: Allan Symons and the Canadian Clock Museum by Jeff Winch Canada's first clocumentary about Canada's only clock museum. A bright gem of a collection with a quirky curator tucked away in a small town by the Ottawa River.

The long-anticipated continuation of the Emmy Award–winning documentary Tashi and the Monk, 𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑲𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒂 by Johnny Burke & Andrew Hinton, comes to the JNFF 2026 on Saturday, April 11 at 12:30 PM! 🔗 Tickets: $12 | All-Access Pass $120 📍 Sudbury Indie Cinema · 162 Mackenzie St. Sudbury P3C 4X8 Set in the remote Himalayan foothills of Arunachal Pradesh, India, this newly reversioned Director’s Cut returns to the original tale while expanding on the extraordinary 12-year journey of Tashi—a lively young girl once among the most troubled children at the Jhamtse Gatsal Children’s Community.

We’re headed north 🇨🇦 So happy to share that #DadGenes has been selected to screen at the Junction North International Documentary Film Festival! Our film will make its Canadian premiere on Friday April 10 at 2:30 PM at Sudbury Indie Cinema as part of the “Family, Found and Lost” program. If you’re across the border, come check it out! Thank you to the @junctionnorthff team for this honor – we can’t wait to share this story with Canadian audiences! #DadGenes #JunctionNorth #Indiefilm #CanadianPremiere

#JNFF 2026 Saturday starts with 𝑰𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝑳𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒔 programme at 10:30 AM. Across continents, Indigenous leaders stand at the frontlines of cultural survival and environmental protection. From Borneo to Brazil, Northern Manitoba, these docs follow community members defending their lands, reviving traditions, and confronting the lasting impacts of colonialism, displacement, and industrial expansion. Together, they offer powerful portraits of resilience, resistance, and the enduring connection between First Nations and the land. 🕖 Saturday, April 11 at 10:30 AM 🔗 Tickets: $12 | All-Access Pass $120 📍 Sudbury Indie Cinema · 162 Mackenzie St. Sudbury P3C 4X8 - MUKUNAN APRENDIZ DE PAJÉ Directed by Rodrigo Sena Sena Sena @oriaudiovisual @katudistribuidora Mukunã prepares to become the Shaman of the Potiguara Katu village in Rio Grande do Norte (Brazil), older than us, the power plants become the teacher teaching environmental care. - World Premiere: The Teacher Directed by Donal Boyd, Emma Romeijn @atlas1studio The Teacher follows Isam, a reforestation worker in Borneo, planting trees in a disappearing rainforest. Through his quiet acts and moments with his children, the film highlights hope, responsibility, and the legacy of nurturing a greener future. - Ontario Premiere: We Are Made From The Land Directed by Jordan Melograna @seal.riverwatershedinitiative A documentary that tells the story of four First Nations working to create the Seal River Watershed Indigenous Protected Area in northern Manitoba to care for caribou, heal from forced relocation, strengthen cultures, and sustain the land for all people.⁠

Our Friday Afternoon Programme 𝑭𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚, 𝑭𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑳𝒐𝒔𝒕 presents two deeply personal documentaries that explore the complex ties that shape who we are. From siblings meeting their biological father decades after an anonymous sperm donation to women in China searching for birth relatives after lives marked by abandonment and hardship, these films reveal the enduring pull - and profound complications - of family and belonging. 🕖 Friday, April 10 at 2:30 PM 🔗 Tickets: $12 | All-Access Pass $120 📍 Sudbury Indie Cinema · 162 Mackenzie St. Sudbury P3C 4X8 - Canadian Premiere: Dad Genes @dadgenesmovie Directed by Craig Downing A former sperm donor, Aaron’s carefree bachelor life takes an unexpected turn two decades later. After registering with a DNA ancestry site, he discovers he may have dozens of children, leading to an unprecedented family reunion. - North American Premiere: Daughters of Putien Directed by Wei Du Between the 1970s and the 1990s, under China's strict one-child policy, an unknown number of baby girls were abandoned by their parents who wanted to have a son. Tens of thousands of these unwanted girls were brought to Putien, Fujian, where they were raised by foster families. But their foster parents didn't do this out of the kindness of their hearts.