An award-winning documentary film, “Ghost Bird,” will have its Island premiere this Sunday at Vashon Theatre.

The film chronicles the unsolved mystery and disputed rediscovery of the ivory-billed woodpecker, a large and striking bird thought to be extinct for more than 50 years.

In 2005, after an amateur birder caught an image of a large bird on film, ornithologists announced that the woodpecker was still flying in the swamps of eastern Arkansas, leading conservationists to celebrate the species’ miraculous second-coming. The residents of Brinkley, Ark., also leapt at the chance to capitalize on fledgling eco-tourism sparked by the announcement, hoping for a resurrection of their town’s moribund economy.

Nonetheless, despite an ongoing and concerted effort to confirm the bird’s reappearance by some of the leading ornithologists in the country, there is still debate and intense skepticism as to whether the species survives.

“Ghost Bird,” which its producers are billing as “eco-noir,” explores the paradox of the scientific mystery, set against the backdrop of a town in rural America struggling for its own preservation against a depressed economy and dwindling natural resources.

The film also features an official soundtrack with music by The Pixies, The Black Keys, Under Byen, Hazmat Modine, Sonny Terry, The Black Heart Procession and an original score by Canadian avant-cellist, Zoë Keating.

“Ghost Bird” plays at 7 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 17, and 6 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, Oct. 18, 19 and 20, at Vashon Theatre. Tickets are $9 general admission and $8 for children and seniors.