North Bay films featured at Cinefest Sudbury

North Bay in the Cinefest spotlight It was all about highlighting films shot in North Bay at Cinefest Sudbury on Thursday.

It was all about highlighting films shot in North Bay at Cinefest Sudbury on Thursday.

Dubbed the film festival’s inaugural ‘North Bay Day,’ the four films featured were all shot in the city.

Patrick O’Hearn, Cinefest’s executive director, said several submissions came from North Bay and the organization saw it as an opportunity to bring more people together.

“We saw that there was a great convergence of wonderful filmmaking coming out of North Bay,” O’Hearn said.

“You know, it was a program that we were able to develop very easily. These are really strong, high-quality films that are actually playing at other festivals.”

O’Hearn said North Bay is a vibrant film and television production community.

“They have a great downtown core that really embraces the community,” he said.

“They’ve really converted some great spaces into places people can stay when they’re in town for a number of weeks.”

Viewer Grant Van Dyk came to North Bay Day to see three films. His girlfriend worked in the hair department on the films in North Bay.

“To see everything where it’s like ‘oh I’ve seen that, I’ve seen that, I’ve driven by there.’ It’s really cool to see,” Van Dyk said.

Films ‘Seeds,’ ‘We Forgot To Break Up,’ ‘All The Lost Ones,’ and ‘Drive Back Home’ were filmed in North Bay.

All The Lost Ones tells the story of two sisters hiding out when a civil war breaks out in North America. Film director Mackenzie Donaldson, who has produced TV series like Orphan Black, said the film was shot in the Mattawa area two years ago.

“It was the first summer back after Covid,” she said.

“So, it was really busy in North Bay. We had a lot of crew that were pretty green, but they were so passionate and so amazing.”

For Donaldson, it was her first time directing a feature film. Originally, she said the film was going to be shot in Tobermory, but the topography made it difficult to shoot and eventually landed on North Bay.

Offered the right combination

“North Bay just offered the right combination of a property that we found that was 150 acres that we could shoot both the cottage scenes at, as well as a lot of the chasing in the woods,” she said.

“And it just felt like there was a lot of support for the project there. So that’s really why we chose it.”

O’Hearn said that Sudbury and North Bay often share resources for filming, including crews and equipment.

He said there are 20 to 30 film and TV productions shot in the northeast on average each year.

“We’re one of Canada’s most active production jurisdictions,” O’Hearn said.

“We’ve gained national notoriety for being able to produce really high-quality films that resonate with audiences across the country. You know, when I go to industry events, northern Ontario is one of the key focuses of what’s going on throughout the country.”

He said ideally, Cinefest would like to offer additional designated days for films shot in other northern cities and towns in the future.

“It would be great to have a Parry Sound Day at some point or Timmins,” he said.

“But it depends where our submissions come from.”

Cinefest continues through the weekend, wrapping up on Sunday.