EP 340 | Sugarcane: Stunning documentary into Indian Residential Schools in B.C. A tale of Native Resilience.
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In 2021, evidence of unmarked graves was found near an Indian residential school run by the Catholic Church in Kamloops. BC, 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 Emily- a journalist and filmmaker- asked her old friend and colleague, Julian , 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. Emily and Julian 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.
The film is nominated for an Academy Award. It has already won two Critics Choice Awards.
SUGARCANE Director Julian Brave NoiseCat. (Photo by Emily Kassie)
Julian Brave NoiseCat – Director
Julian is a writer, filmmaker and student of Salish art and history.
His first documentary, SUGARCANE, directed alongside Emily Kassie, follows an investigation into abuse and missing children at the Indian residential school NoiseCat’s family was sent to near Williams Lake, British Columbia. A proud member of the Canim Lake Band Tsq’escen and descendant of the Lil’wat Nation of Mount Currie, he is concurrently finishing his first book, We Survived the Night, which will be published by Alfred A. Knopf in North America.
SUGARCANE Director Emily Kassie. (Photo by James K. Lowe)
EMILY KASSIE
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Director, Producer, CinematographerEmily Kassie is an Emmy® and Peabody®-nominated investigative journalist and filmmaker. Kassie shoots, directs and reports stories on geopolitical conflict, humanitarian crises, corruption and the people caught in the crossfire. Her work for The New York Times, PBS Frontline, Netflix, and others ranges from drug and weapons trafficking in the Saharan desert, to immigrant detention in the United States. . Her first documentary, I Married My Family’s Killer, following couples in post-genocide Rwanda, won a Student Academy Award in 2015.
Indian residential school history and its impact are not in the past. For more information on the film’s impact campaign, please visit here.
If you need support, the following resources are available:
CANADA
The National Indian Residential School Crisis Line provides 24-hour crisis support
to former Indian Residential School students and their families toll-free at 1-866-925-4419.
to former Indian Residential School students and their families toll-free at 1-866-925-4419.
First Nations, Inuit and Métis seeking immediate emotional support
can contact the Hope for Wellness Help Line toll-free at 1-855-242-3310,
UNITED STATES
Call or text 988
