Native Voices Film Series: Screening of “Sugarcane” with Director Julian Brave NoiseCat

“Immersive and incredibly beautiful, shot like poetry and scored by Mali Obomsawin. The result is both stunning and sobering.” —NY Times

Join an exclusive in person screening of the powerful Oscar-nominated documentary “Sugarcane,” followed by a discussion and Q&A with California Institute for Community, Art & Nature Executive Director Claire Greensfelder, in conversation with special guest, film director Julian Brave NoiseCat.

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. Set amidst a ground-breaking investigation into abuse and death at an Indian residential school, the film empowers participants to break cycles of intergenerational trauma by bearing witness to painful, long-ignored truths – and the love that endures within their families despite the revelation of genocide.

Sugarcane premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, where NoiseCat and Kassie won the Directing Award in the U.S. Documentary Competition.

Julian Brave NoiseCat is a writer, filmmaker, champion powwow dancer, and student of Salish art and history. He is the first Indigenous North American filmmaker ever nominated for an Academy Award. NoiseCat’s 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. (But it’s really a reverse Western buddy stoner roadtrip tragicomedy.)

Don’t miss the chance to meet and hear from our special guest, Julian Brave NoiseCat.

Following the Q&A, Julian will be available to sign copies of his acclaimed new memoir “We Survived the Night” (Random House, 2025).

Books will be available for purchase on site.

We hope to see you there!

Praise for “Sugarcane”

“Sugarcane” is soul-shaking. It’s profoundly evocative, with spoken memories and moments of inability to muster the words gut-punching with equal measure. The landscape of the communities’ culture as a backdrop – stunning, sprawling topography and a score of diegetic traditional soundscapes – counters the revelation of tragedies with the reminder of the colorful, resilient culture that persists.” —RogerEbert.com

About “We Survived the Night”

WINNER OF THE TADEUSZ BRADECKI PRIZE • A stunning narrative from one of the most powerful young writers at work today, and the director of the Oscar®-nominated documentary, Sugarcane, We Survived the Night interweaves oral history with hard-hitting journalism and a deeply personal father-son journey into a searing portrait of Indigenous survival, love, and resurgence.

“Julian Brave NoiseCat seamlessly connects true tales of identity and betrayal, love and abandonment, clarity and confusion. We Survived the Night is a whirling, radiant gift to the reader.” —Louise Erdrich, author of The Night Watchman

Watch the trailer for “Sugarcane” here.

Interested in the full series? View all screenings here.