Sugarcane with Ghosts

A group of five individuals standing outdoors. They appear to be gathered for an event or announcement, as indicated by the presence of a microphone in front of one individual. The setting includes a building in the background and it seems to be a cloudy

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.

In 2021, evidence of unmarked graves was discovered on the grounds of an Indian residential school run by the Catholic Church in Canada. After years of silence, the forced separation, assimilation, and abuse many children experienced at these segregated boarding schools was brought to light, sparking a national outcry against a system designed to destroy Indigenous communities.

Set amidst a groundbreaking investigation, Sugarcane illuminates the beauty of a community breaking cycles of intergenerational trauma and finding the strength to persevere.

The film screens alongside Cornell Professor and filmmaker Jeffrey Palmer's powerful, fictional short Ghosts (2023), which follows three Kiowa boys' attempt to escape a government boarding school in 1891, Oklahoma.

Cosponsored by the American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program.

Sugarcane screens as part of our "Doc Spots" series. Courtesy of Variance Films and National Geographic Films.