Heading to the Oscars, the resounding impact of ‘Sugarcane’ proves both validating and ‘long overdue’

When Sugarcane premiered last year, director Julian Brave NoiseCat recalls being nervous to show the film to the world — especially to his family and home community.

But not only did the documentary receive praise at home — it exploded on the world stage. In its latest feat, Sugarcane is nominated for an Academy Award in the Documentary Feature Film category.

Noisecat, along with co-director Emily Kassie, are travelling to Hollywood for the 97th Oscars scheduled to take place on March 2. 

“I could have never dreamed that it would have gone as well as it has,” NoiseCat said in an interview with IndigiNews. 

“It’s really special to get to celebrate the beautiful people in our film with the world.”

They’re bringing along NoiseCat’s father Ed, Elder Charlene Belleau and Kúkwpi7 Willie Sellars, who are all featured in the documentary.

Sugarcane unravels the impacts surrounding the St. Joseph’s Mission in the Williams Lake First Nation community and beyond — following several interwoven stories and revealing groundbreaking information about infanticides and other abuses at the “school.”

The documentary held its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January of 2024 and has spread across the world in the last year. 

With the Academy Awards ceremony approaching, the response from the public on social media has been extremely positive — becoming a source of pride for many people in Secwepemcúl’ecw and beyond. 

‘I think it’s long overdue’

Adding another layer of achievement, NoiseCat is the first North American Indigenous person in history to be nominated as a director at the Academy Awards. NoiseCat, who is Secwépemc from Canim Lake Band Tsq’secen, made his directorial debut with Sugarcane.

“I hope that I’m not the only one for long,” he said.

“There are so many incredibly amazing filmmakers and storytellers out there. And, you know, I think it’s long overdue for our work to be recognized in that way.”

In the past year, Sugarcane has won many awards at its screenings at various film festivals, including Best Documentary Feature from the Sarasota Film Festival and the San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle.

Kassie called it “an incredible moment to celebrate Indigenous storytelling” with NoiseCat breaking through in such a powerful way.

“It’s such a massive tradition within Indigenous culture to tell stories,” she said. 

“I’ve gotten to bear witness to, you know, incredible storytellers across the last four years, including all of the ones in our film, like Rick Gilbert and Charlene and Ed and Julian.”

In one scene in Sugarcane, Belleau — a survivor of the St. Joseph’s Mission and investigator of the institution — shows NoiseCat around a barn adjacent to the “school.” After lighting a smudge, the two share an emotional moment.

“Our Elders are now looking to you, to listen to our stories,” Belleau tells him.

“You’re bearing witness to a time in history where our people are going to stand up and you’re going to make sure that people are held accountable for everything that they’ve done to us.”

Looking back at the documentary now, and seeing how far it’s come, Belleau said in an interview that she feels validated by the response. Her grandson was included in the documentary and she has high hopes that he, along with the broader audience, will learn from the past and the work that has already been done and ensure that future children stay safe.

“When he grows up, you know, it’ll be his responsibility to make sure that justice has been done and that this never happens to our children again,” she said.

Belleau hopes the Academy Awards are an opportunity for audiences to continue learning from the stories and acknowledge the past, while creating a path forward to heal. 

“My hope going into the Oscars, is that the people that run the Oscars are just able to open their eyes, open their ears, open their hearts to what our history has been,” she said.

Spending years filming in community

To create the film, NoiseCat and Kassie spent multiple years filming in and around Williams Lake First Nation. Kúkwpi7 Sellars said in an interview that the film crew truly immersed themselves in the lives and stories of the people. 

“They were in our community, filming for years. I mean, they became a part of our community, they became family,” he said.

“We trusted them in this journey.”

Throughout the film, the audience is let into intimate moments in the subjects’ lives not often seen — even following Sellars into his home and observing moments with his family. However, this personal access does not feel invasive, but natural, which is a testament to the time taken by the filmmakers to engrain themselves into the lives of those featured in the documentary.

NoiseCat recalled how their access within the community allowed for feelings and emotions to come across that made the film as impactful as it was. 

“I think it just shows that people, when they watch the film, whether they are connected to the story or not, they feel the heart and intention at the core of it,” he said.

“And I think they have really responded to that because it was made with a lot of love.”

NoiseCat himself is also not coming into the stories as an outsider — but also fearlessly shares his own family story in the film, including vulnerable moments between himself, his father and his Kyé7e.

Kassie commends the importance of NoiseCat’s experiences creating a deeper sense of relations throughout the film, as the relationships and complexities with family members throughout the documentary created a story that viewers of many backgrounds could relate to.

“One of the things that was really special about our collaboration is obviously Julian had such deep knowledge and perspective about this world and what made it so beautiful,” she said.

“It’s this beautiful knowledge passing between generations, and it’s like there’s this kind of humor as well that is so present in particularly this community, that feels very universal.”

NoiseCat noted how the documentary became an opportunity to create something that shows the personal perspectives of living a life full of culture and language. 

“I think that we are so, so grateful for the audiences and the way that they’ve responded and everybody around the film and the way that they’ve helped make this happen,” he said.

The film also shows the resilience and love that still are able to thrive in families who have lived through the atrocities experienced at the residential and boarding “schools” across countries. 

“Despite the awful power of the Indian residential schools, you know, they did not succeed in their mission to get rid of the Indians,” he said. 

“You know, we’re still here, and we still have our way of life, and we’re bringing it back.”

Sellars has been able to see the impacts of the film as well, noting how the story has allowed others to feel safe telling their own stories.

“We’re empowering our survivors to tell their story, but we’re also raising this awareness to make sure that they know that it’s safe to tell their story,” he said.

“It’s a conversation that nobody wants to have, but everybody has to have.”

Bringing the film across ‘North America’

During the past year, NoiseCat and Kassie have attended many screenings, including what they called their “rez tour” throughout 2024, which brought the film to many Indigenous nations across “Canada” and the “U.S.” 

By bringing the film across the continent, the directors have been able to see the dialogue grow. Kassie recalled seeing people who were able to connect with their family after watching the film — from parents being able to open up about their experiences, to adult children finally being able to forgive their parents.

“We’re seeing that echo throughout Indigenous communities, which has been so beautiful because one of the goals of the film was to help open dialogue around these very difficult, painful histories,” she said.

“And then I think, more universally, in communities outside Indigenous ones, people are finding ways, not only to reckon with the foundational story of North America, but how the film resonates in their own lives.

“So that has been profound as to see how the film has touched people in so many different ways.”

NoiseCat noted it’s an experience that Indigenous communities have gone through on both sides of the border.

“I would say that there’s a very strong sense that, you know, that border is, of course, not our border, that our communities and nations stretch across it, that the history is shared,” he said.

Kassie spoke about the importance of the film being available and viewed by everyone to learn the history that hasn’t always been taught. 

“I think that both the Canadian populace and the American populace outside of Indigenous communities, largely did not know or understand what happened,” she said.

Kúkwpi7 Sellars, Kassie and NoiseCat have expressed their wishes for the film to become part of the curriculum in schools. A link of resources for educators can be found on the Sugarcane film website.

“We’ve also been so lucky to take the film to the highest, you know, reaches of government,” Kassie said.

As the film made its way into Parliament in “Ottawa” and the White House in “Washington.”

“Obviously, the political winds are changing in both countries, but there was a real moment of confrontation with this history, and a real acknowledgement of what this was, and the film was a part of that,” she added.

“So for the film to be part of that movement has been an incredible honour for us.”

Healing through education

For Kassie, through the accolades the film is receiving, she has hopes of the documentary continuing to educate the public and that it lasts as an impactful story.

“I think that, you know, there were a few things that we really set out to do. One was to correct the record, and I think the film is on its way to do that,” Kassie said.

“I think also, as artists, we hope that it lasts. We hope that the film can stand the test of time, that it’s a film that people come back to because it moves them, because it’s a work of art, because it tells an epic story about a beautiful place and a beautiful people.” 

Both directors praised their team who helped create the documentary from beginning to end and helped showcase the stories of the WLFN community and beyond.

“It’s a really beautiful thing to be a part of and to have gotten to work with, you know, such an amazing film team in helping to make that happen,” NoiseCat said.

With the Elders who attended the residential “schools” getting older, the importance of their stories becomes more evident. To be able to tell the true stories, firsthand knowledge is critical.

“It really feels like a very, not only an incredible honour to get to do this, but also an incredibly important and urgent thing to be doing at this moment,” he said.

NoiseCat discussed the responsibility and honour he felt while telling this story — noting the intergenerational effort by Elders who work through their experiences and by the younger generations and those still to come who will work to tell the stories.

“Our work is always supposed to be intergenerational, because, of course, you know, the pain and the trauma of colonization is also intergenerational,” said NoiseCat.

Sellars explained how through the telling of stories the healing process begins and how he hopes it continues to empower people.

“We look at where the Sugarcane documentary, the journey that it has been on, it is so much bigger than all of us,” he said.

“It’s Indigenous Peoples, really across the world, that are now seeing the story and hopefully, you know, it is a part of the healing journey that we’re on as a people.”