Sugarcane is a 2024 documentary film, directed by Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie and produced by Emily Kassie and Kellen Quinn. It follows an investigation into the Canadian Indian residential school system, igniting a reckoning in the lives of survivors and descendants.
It had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2024 where it won the Grand Jury award for Directing. It was theatrically released in limited engagements in the United States and Canada on August 9, 2024, before gradually expanding to other cities starting August 16, by National Geographic Documentary Films through Variance Films in the United States and Films We Like in Canada. It received critical acclaim and won the award for Best Documentary at the National Board of Review. At the 97th Academy Awards, it was nominated for the Best Documentary Feature Film award.
Premise Sugarcane follows an investigation into Saint Joseph's Indian Residential School, an Indian residential school located near Williams Lake, British Columbia, igniting a reckoning in the lives of survivors and descendants.
Production The film received grants from Catapult Film Fund and the International Documentary Association Enterprise Fund. Lily Gladstone boarded the project as an executive producer.
Release It had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2024. It also played at the 2024 San Francisco International Film Festival, 2024 Seattle International Film Festival, the 2024 Sheffield International Documentary Festival, the 2024 Sydney Film Festival, the 2024 DOXA Documentary Film Festival, the 2024 Nantucket Film Festival, the 2024 Boston Independent Film Festival, the 2024 Sarasota Film Festival, the 2024 Maryland Film Festival, the 2024 Cleveland International Film Festival, and the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival.
In February 2024, National Geographic Documentary Films acquired distribution rights to the film. It was later announced that the film would be screened in exclusive engagements at the Film Forum in Manhattan and TIFF Lightbox in Toronto starting August 9, 2024, followed by the Laemmle Royal in Los Angeles starting August 16; an expansion to other cities in the United States and Canada will gradually take place starting August 16. Variance Films and Films We Like serve as co-distributors in the United States and Canada respectively.
Reception Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 90 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
Accolades Award Date Category Recipient Result Sundance Film Festival January 28, 2024 Grand Jury Prize U.S. Documentary Sugarcane U.S. Documentary – Directing Award Julian Brave NoiseCat & Emily Kassie Sarasota Film Festival April 14, 2024 Best Documentary Feature Sugarcane San Francisco International Film Festival April 28, 2024 Best Documentary Feature Seattle International Film Festival May 19, 2024 Best Feature Film Grand Jury Prize – Special Mention Critics' Choice Documentary Awards November 10, 2024 Best Documentary Feature Best True Crime Documentary Best Political Documentary Best Historical Documentary Best Director Julian Brave NoiseCat & Emily Kassie Best New Documentary Filmmaker(s) Best Cinematography Christopher LaMarca & Emily Kassie Best Editing Nathan Punwar & Maya Daisy Hawke Gotham Awards December 2, 2024 Best Documentary Feature Julian Brave NoiseCat, Emily Kassie, Kellen Quinn National Board of Review December 4, 2024 Best Documentary Film Sugarcane International Documentary Association Awards December 5, 2024 Best Feature Documentary Julian Brave NoiseCat, Emily Kassie, Kellen Quinn Best Director Julian Brave NoiseCat, Emily Kassie Best Cinematography Christopher LaMarca, Emily Kassie Best Editing Nathan Punwar, Maya Daisy Hawke Best Original Music Score Mali Obomsawin San Diego Film Critics Society December 9, 2024 Best Documentary Film Sugarcane Chicago Film Critics Association December 12, 2024 Best Documentary Film St. Louis Film Critics Association December 15, 2024 Best Documentary Feature San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle December 15, 2024 Best Documentary Feature Seattle Film Critics Society December 16, 2024 Best Documentary Film Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association December 18, 2024 Best Documentary Film Alliance of Women Film Journalists January 7, 2025 Best Documentary Film Cinema Eye Honors January 9, 2024 Outstanding Non-Fiction Feature Julian Brave NoiseCat, Emily Kassie, Kellen Quinn, Christopher LaMarca, Nathan Punwar, Maya Daisy Hawke, Mali Obomsawin, Martin Czembor, Andrea Bella, Michael Feuser and Ed Archie Noisecat Outstanding Direction Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie Outstanding Production Emily Kassie and Kellen Quinn Outstanding Cinematography Emily Kassie and Christopher LaMarca Outstanding Original Score Mali Obomsawin Audience Choice Prize Sugarcane Satellite AwardsJanuary 26, 2025 Best Motion Picture – Documentary Directors Guild of America Awards February 8, 2025 Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentaries Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie Independent Spirit Awards February 22, 2025 Truer Than Fiction Award Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie Academy Awards March 2, 2025 Best Documentary Feature Film Sugarcane Golden Trailer Awards May 29, 2025 Best Documentary TV Spot (for a Feature Film) National Geographic / Silk Factory/Silk Factory GFX
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