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Things to Consider
107 mins | 2024
Emily Kassie & Julian Brave NoiseCat

Sugarcane

An investigation into abused and missing children at an Indian residential school sparks a reckoning on the nearby Sugarcane Reserve. The film illuminates the beauty of a community breaking cycles of intergenerational trauma and finding strength to persevere.

Screenings
In-Theatre Only
FRIDAY, October 25, 1:15 PM
Palace Back
SATURDAY, October 26, 10:15 AM
Palace Back
Online:
This film is in-theatre only and not available on-demand.

Sponsored by:

Chicago Title

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Filmmaker Q&A:

(following each in-theatre screening)

Filmmaker attendance pending confirmation.

About

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.


Rated: R

FILMMAKER BIO

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Emily Kassie

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Julian Brave NoiseCat

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Director: Julian Brave NoiseCat

Julian Brave NoiseCat 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, Profile Books in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth, Albin Michel in France, and Aufbau Verlag in Germany.


Emily Kassie, Director, Producer, Cinematographer

Emily 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. In 2021, she smuggled into Taliban territory with PBS Newshour correspondent Jane Ferguson to report on their imminent siege of Kabul and targeted killing of female leaders.


Her work has been honored with multiple Edward R. Murrow, World Press Photo, and National Press Photographers awards. Her multimedia feature on the economic exploitation of the Syrian and West African refugee crises won the Overseas Press Club Award and made her the youngest person to win a National Magazine award. She previously oversaw visual journalism at Highline, Huffington Post’s investigative magazine, and at The Marshall Project. Kassie was named to Forbes 30 under 30 in 2020 and is a 2023 New America fellow. Her first documentary, I Married My Family’s Killer, following couples in post-genocide Rwanda, won a Student Academy Award in 2015.

CREDITS

Directed by

Emily Kassie

Julian Brave NoiseCat


executive producer

Tegan Acton


impact producer

Jade Begay


executive producer

Carolyn Bernstein


Impact Producer

Amber Morning   Star Byars


executive producer

JanaLee   Cherneski


executive producer

Douglas Choi


executive producer

David J. Cornfield


executive producer

Linda A. Cornfield


executive producer

Geralyn White Dreyfous


executive producer

David Fialkow


executive producer

Nina Sing Fialkow


executive producer

Meadow Fund


contributing producer

Marni E.J. Grossman


co-executive producer

Lauren Haber


producer

Emily Kassie


co-executive producer

Kelsey Koenig


co-producer

Christopher   LaMarca


executive producer

Grace Lay


executive producer

Adam Lewis


executive producer

Melony Lewis


executive producer

Maida Lynn


co-executive producer

Meryl Metni


executive producer

Sumalee Montano


executive producer

Sabrina Merage Naim


co-executive producer

Jennifer Pelling


executive producer

Emma Pompetti


producer

Kellen Quinn


executive producer

Jenny Raskin


executive producer

Robina   Riccitiello


executive producer

Bill Way


executive producer

Elliott Whitton


Music by

Mali Obomsawin


Editing by

Maya Hawke, Nathan Punwar


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