# Sugarcane (film)

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

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 100% of 65 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.9/10. The website's consensus reads: "Accumulating immense emotional power as it methodically uncovers a grave injustice, Sugarcane is one of the most compelling and important documentaries of the year." 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 | Nominated |
| Sundance Film Festival | January 28, 2024 | U.S. Documentary – Directing Award | Julian Brave NoiseCat & Emily Kassie | Won |
| Sarasota Film Festival | April 14, 2024 | Best Documentary Feature | Sugarcane | Won |
| San Francisco International Film Festival | April 28, 2024 | Best Documentary Feature | Sugarcane | Won |
| Seattle International Film Festival | May 19, 2024 | Best Feature Film | Sugarcane | Nominated |
| Seattle International Film Festival | May 19, 2024 | Grand Jury Prize – Special Mention | Sugarcane | Won |
| Critics' Choice Documentary Awards | November 10, 2024 | Best Documentary Feature | Sugarcane | Nominated |
| Critics' Choice Documentary Awards | November 10, 2024 | Best True Crime Documentary | Sugarcane | Won |
| Critics' Choice Documentary Awards | November 10, 2024 | Best Political Documentary | Sugarcane | Won |
| Critics' Choice Documentary Awards | November 10, 2024 | Best Historical Documentary | Sugarcane | Nominated |
| Critics' Choice Documentary Awards | November 10, 2024 | Best Director | Julian Brave NoiseCat & Emily Kassie | Nominated |
| Critics' Choice Documentary Awards | November 10, 2024 | Best New Documentary Filmmaker(s) | Julian Brave NoiseCat & Emily Kassie | Nominated |
| Critics' Choice Documentary Awards | November 10, 2024 | Best Cinematography | Christopher LaMarca & Emily Kassie | Nominated |
| Critics' Choice Documentary Awards | November 10, 2024 | Best Editing | Nathan Punwar & Maya Daisy Hawke | Nominated |
| Gotham Awards | December 2, 2024 | Best Documentary Feature | Julian Brave NoiseCat, Emily Kassie, Kellen Quinn | Nominated |
| National Board of Review | December 4, 2024 | Best Documentary Film | Sugarcane | Won |
| International Documentary Association Awards | December 5, 2024 | Best Feature Documentary | Julian Brave NoiseCat, Emily Kassie, Kellen Quinn | Nominated |
| International Documentary Association Awards | December 5, 2024 | Best Director | Julian Brave NoiseCat, Emily Kassie | Nominated |
| International Documentary Association Awards | December 5, 2024 | Best Cinematography | Christopher LaMarca, Emily Kassie | Nominated |
| International Documentary Association Awards | December 5, 2024 | Best Editing | Nathan Punwar, Maya Daisy Hawke | Nominated |
| International Documentary Association Awards | December 5, 2024 | Best Original Music Score | Mali Obomsawin | Nominated |
| San Diego Film Critics Society | December 9, 2024 | Best Documentary Film | Sugarcane | Nominated |
| Chicago Film Critics Association | December 12, 2024 | Best Documentary Film | Sugarcane | Nominated |
| St. Louis Film Critics Association | December 15, 2024 | Best Documentary Feature | Sugarcane | Nominated |
| San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle | December 15, 2024 | Best Documentary Feature | Sugarcane | Won |
| Seattle Film Critics Society | December 16, 2024 | Best Documentary Film | Sugarcane | Nominated |
| Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association | December 18, 2024 | Best Documentary Film | Sugarcane | Won |
| Alliance of Women Film Journalists | January 7, 2025 | Best Documentary Film | Sugarcane | Nominated |
| 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 | Nominated |
| Cinema Eye Honors | January 9, 2024 | Outstanding Direction | Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie | Nominated |
| Cinema Eye Honors | January 9, 2024 | Outstanding Production | Emily Kassie and Kellen Quinn | Nominated |
| Cinema Eye Honors | January 9, 2024 | Outstanding Cinematography | Emily Kassie and Christopher LaMarca | Won |
| Cinema Eye Honors | January 9, 2024 | Outstanding Original Score | Mali Obomsawin | Nominated |
| Cinema Eye Honors | January 9, 2024 | Audience Choice Prize | Sugarcane | Nominated |
| Satellite Awards | January 26, 2025 | Best Motion Picture – Documentary | Sugarcane | Nominated |
| Directors Guild of America Awards | February 8, 2025 | Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentaries | Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie | Nominated |
| Independent Spirit Awards | February 22, 2025 | Truer Than Fiction Award | Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie | Nominated |
| Academy Awards | March 2, 2025 | Best Documentary Feature Film | Sugarcane | Nominated |