SUGARCANE
The stunning debut feature documentary from Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, SUGARCANE is a cinematic portrait of a community reconing with ground-breaking investigation into abuse and death at an Indian residential school.
SHOWTIMES
AUG 23 | FRI
5:00, 7:15 p.m.
AUG 24 | SAT
12:30, 2:45, 5:00, 7:15 p.m.
AUG 25 | SUN
12:30, 2:45, 5:00, 7:15 p.m.
AUG 26 | MON
5:00, 7:15 p.m.
AUG 27 | TUE
5:00, 7:15 p.m.
AUG 28 | WED
5:00, 7:15 p.m.
AUG 29 | THU
5:00, 7:15 p.m.
SYNOPSIS
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. Set amidst a ground-breaking investigation into abuse and death at an Indian residential school, the film empowers participants to break cycles of intergenerational trauma by bearing witness to painful, long-ignored truths – and the love that endures within their families despite the revelation of genocide.
In 2021, evidence of unmarked graves near an Indian residential school run by the Catholic Church in Canada sparked a national outcry about the forced separation, assimilation, and abuse many children experienced at this network of segregated boarding schools designed to slowly destroy the culture and social fabric of Indigenous communities. When Kassie- a journalist and filmmaker- asked her old friend and colleague, NoiseCat, to direct a film documenting the Williams Lake First Nation investigation of St Joseph’s Mission, she never imagined just how close this story was to his own family.
As the investigation continued, Emily and Julian traveled back to the rivers, forests and mountains of his homelands to hear the myriad stories of survivors. During production, Julian’s own story became an integral part of this beautiful multi-stranded portrait of a community. By offering space, time, and profound empathy the directors unearthed what was hidden. Kassie and NoiseCat encountered both the extraordinary pain these individuals had to suppress as a tool for survival and the unique beauty of a group of people finding the strength to persevere.
CONTENT ADVISORY: Indian residential school history and its impact are not in the past and the subject matter of SUGARCANE may be difficult for some viewers. For more information on the film’s impact campaign, please visit the SUGARCANE website. If you need support, call or text 988 or visit www.988lifeline.org to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
Director
Julian Brave NoiseCat, Emily Kassie
WITH
Julian Brave NoiseCat
Run Time
1 hour, 47 minutes
Released
August 9, 2024
Distributed by
National Geographic Documentary Films
HEARING AND VISUAL ASSISTANCE
Assisted Listening
Closed Captioning
Additional assistance options TBA
Country
Canada, United States
SUBTITLES
None
RATED R
for Some Language
REVIEWS
“This is the real deal. A reckoning. America’s Indigenous people exposing crimes against them, testifying and controlling the narrative. (…) This is documentary filmmaking at its best. A credit to the genre. Compelling, spiritual and enlightening.”
“SUGARCANE is something more meaningful than a mere history lesson. It’s a portrait of what remains when injustice occurs.”
“SUGARCANE’s sensitivity to the ongoing pain of its subjects is one of the film’s principal achievements. NoiseCat and Kassie offer an affecting portrait of a community that endures in spite of colonial genocide.”