qathet film society presents
3 Ears Indigenous Film Festival

Sugarcane

Sugarcane

Tuesday October 1 — 7 pm

Preceded by The Path to Reclamation

Directed By Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie
1 hr 47 min | Documentary
English, Secwepemctsín
Released 2024

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.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

This film was born of haunting truths and mythic forces. It was made through the combined perspectives of insiders and outsiders.

From the outset, we knew that SUGARCANE needed to convey how the past is present for the survivors of residential schools and their descendants. How the death toll from a century-long colonial effort by the Church and government continues to rise. So for nearly three years, we lived alongside our participants, feeling the rawness of their pain and bearing witness to the bravery in their resilience, while documenting a vibrant world in a moment of historic reckoning.