Give Me the Backstory: Get to Know Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, the Filmmakers Behind "Sugarcane"

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One of the most exciting aspects of the Sundance Film Festival is the opportunity it provides to witness the emerging talent in independent filmmaking. While the films showcased at the festival offer a deep insight into the minds of the creators, there’s always more to learn about these storytellers as individuals. This year, as part of our ongoing series, "Give Me the Backstory," we delve into the lives and inspirations of filmmakers Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, who co-directed the powerful documentary "Sugarcane."

In 2021, news about suspected children’s graves on the grounds of former Canadian Indian residential schools made headlines worldwide. This revelation deeply impacted documentary filmmaker Emily Kassie. “I felt a pull in my gut,” Kassie recalls. “I had reported on mass atrocities around the world but had never turned my lens on my own country.” With this newfound purpose, Kassie began researching First Nations communities that were working to gain access to other possible grave sites. During this process, she reached out to her old friend and colleague Julian Brave NoiseCat. “What I didn’t know is the search I secured access to following at St. Joseph’s Mission was the school where Julian’s family attended and where his father was born,” she explains.

The collaboration between Kassie and NoiseCat resulted in "Sugarcane," a documentary that confronts the intergenerational trauma inflicted by the residential school system—a system marked by abuse and the forced separation of Indigenous children from their families and cultures. "Sugarcane" premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival in the U.S. Documentary Competition, where Kassie and NoiseCat received the U.S. Documentary Directing Award.

“I’m not sure I would have ever made a movie if Emily hadn’t called me after news of a discovery of potential graves at the Kamloops Indian Residential School broke,” says writer, activist, and now filmmaker NoiseCat. “I’m so grateful she did because this film changed my life.”

Below, we gain more insight into the co-directors, including their motivations for making the film and why they believe it's essential for "Sugarcane" to be seen by audiences today.

What was the biggest inspiration behind the film?

Julian Brave NoiseCat: I’d long heard that my dad was born at St. Joseph’s Mission, the Indian residential school where my family was sent south of Williams Lake, British Columbia, Canada. But I didn’t know the story because my family didn’t talk about his birth or the schools. But then, ground-penetrating radar detected graves suspected to be missing children beneath the apple orchard at the Kamloops Indian Residential School. And people started remembering and talking.

Describe who you want "Sugarcane" to reach.

NoiseCat: We want "Sugarcane" to be seen far and wide—by residential school survivors and their descendants, and also by people who have never even heard of the Indian residential and boarding school system. Our film is a western grappling with universal questions about trauma, family, and community set in a specific time and place: the Sugarcane Indian Reserve during an investigation into abuse and missing children at the nearby St. Joseph’s Mission. It hits hard, like a bull at a rodeo, but it’s also, surprisingly, fun.

Kassie: Our film deals with universal themes of family, childhood, and trauma. It deals with colonial legacies and reconciling national and personal pain. It should be seen by everyone.

**Why does this story need to be told now?**

Kassie: Canada has begun to reckon with its brutal colonial history and the legacy of the 135 residential schools. However, the Indian boarding school system in the United States, which had more than 400 government-funded schools, has not had the same national or international attention. We want our film to help catalyze a national dialogue and extend the work that Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American cabinet secretary, has begun. Similar systems also existed in New Zealand, Australia, Scandinavia, Russia, and more. We hope many more stories are told.

How do you want people to feel after they see your film?

NoiseCat: This history is not past. It’s present. Indian residential and boarding schools had a death toll when they were open. They still do now, even after they’ve all closed. This history has been ignored far too long—by the churches and nations that perpetrated this cultural genocide, like Canada and the United States. But also by the families, like my own, who forgot and remained silent to survive.

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This article provides a look into the personal stories and motivations of Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, the filmmakers behind "Sugarcane." Their documentary shines a light on a painful chapter in history that continues to have deep repercussions today.