Sugarcane
A stunning tribute to the resilience of Native people and their way of life, Sugarcane, the debut feature documentary from Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, is an epic cinematic portrait of a community during a moment of international reckoning. In 2021, evidence of unmarked graves was discovered on the grounds of an Indian residential school run by the Catholic Church in Canada. After years of silence, the forced separation, assimilation and abuse many children experienced at these segregated boarding schools was brought to light, sparking a national outcry against a system designed to destroy Indigenous communities. Set amidst a groundbreaking investigation, Sugarcane illuminates the beauty of a community breaking cycles of intergenerational trauma and finding the strength to persevere.
Emily Kassie is an Emmy and Peabody-nominated investigative journalist and filmmaker. She covers geopolitical conflict, humanitarian crises, and the stories of people caught in the crossfire for The New York Times, Netflix, PBS Frontline, and The Guardian, amongst others. Her recent directing credits include, Undocumented in the Pandemic (2020), Anatomy of Hate (2020), and The End of Oil Explained (2021). Her work has been honored with multiple Edward R. Murrow, Deadline, Overseas Press Club, World Press Photo, Peabody Future of Media, National Press Photographer, and National Magazine awards.
Julian Brave NoiseCat, a member of the Canim Lake Band Tsq’escen and a descendant of the Lil’Wat Nation of Mount Currie, is a writer and filmmaker currently based in the Pacific Northwest. A fellow of the Center for Racial Justice at University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy as well as New America and the Type Media Center, he is currently writing his first book, We Survived the Night. A columnist for Canada’s National Observer, his work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The New Yorker and has been recognized with numerous awards.
