Impact
The SUGARCANE impact campaign will spark conversation and promote education around First Nation residential schools in Canada and Native American boarding schools in the United States, and the intergenerational harm this system of forced assimilation and genocide left in its wake.
We are bringing SUGARCANE to Indian Country, faith communities, educational spaces and beyond to support healing, correct the historical record, provoke dialogue and seek accountability from the church, government and individuals. Within Indigenous communities, SUGARCANE can help communities reckon with ongoing harm and empower survivors to speak, be heard and heal in ways that celebrate the wisdom, fortitude and beauty within Indigenous ways of knowing and living. Our core audiences for this work are Indigenous communities in North America and beyond, US and Canadian educators, faith communities and government workers and officials.
We are: Promoting healing within Indigenous communities through our Rez Tour.
Over the past two months, the SUGARCANE impact campaign mounted screenings of the film in collaboration with 30+ community partners in 11 locations with 1400+ attendees. The Fall Rez Tour, led by impact producer Amber Morning Star Byars, increased access to the film and filmmakers throughout Indian Country, in both urban and rural reservation communities across the continent with the intention of promoting healing among survivors of the residential school era and seeding community dialogue. This is a critical step in the distribution of the film, as Hollywood and the film industry in general has neglected to bring films that are about Indigenous communities to Indian Country to screen.
Each Rez Tour stop included a community meal, health support with in-person counselors, an opening and closing song/prayer and audience Q&A with Julian and Emily. There were boarding school survivors present at every screening.
We continue to receive weekly requests to bring Rez Tour to additional communities and are currently mapping a 14-stop Spring 2024 International Rez Tour.
The SUGARCANE impact campaign mounted screenings of the film in collaboration with 30+ community partners in 11 locations with 1400+ attendees.
We are: Catalyzing dialogues of reckoning across North America through our Community Screenings Tour.
We will officially launch our Community Screenings Tour in December, alongside the film’s digital release on Disney and Hulu+ with a special focus on Indigenous communities, faith spaces and government. Screening toolkits will include facilitation guides, background information, options for support resources, promotional materials and more, developed in collaboration with community partners.
Through word-of-mouth, we have already received 175 screening requests for the film and the film has had community screenings sponsored by St’uxwtews First Nation, the National Center for Truth and Reconciliation Fall Conference, Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, Nadleh Whut’en Indian Band, Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska Cultural Preservation Department, University of Toronto, Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design, Legislative Assembly of BC, community truth and reconciliation circle on a Canadian San Juan Island, the Public Service Alliance of Canada and many others.
We are: Helping to write this foundational story of North America into the history books through the development of educational materials for high school, college and professional development use.
SUGARCANE is a profound tool for educators to bring this history into the classroom and ensure that it is taught to our future generations. We will work with curriculum experts to produce educational materials and study guides to support the use of SUGARCANE as a teaching tool in both the United States and Canada at the high school and college level as well as for professional development purposes in workplace settings. In Canada, this film can help reframe Indigenous history as part of a new mandate for education across the country, which we plan to explore with education policy-makers as well as the Canadian school system. In the United States, we will take a localized approach, working with Indigenous-led organizations and an educational distributor to reach community groups as well as high school and college students.
We are: Advocating for accountability from church and government leaders by sharing SUGARCANE with leaders, advocates and the press.
With the support of National Geographic, directors Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie embarked on a press campaign to underscore the revelatory findings in the film pointing to a system of infanticide at St. Joseph’s Mission.
On September 24th, SUGARCANE screened on Capitol Hill sponsored by U.S. Senator Ed Markey and the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition. This screening, educated Senators on this issue ahead of consideration of the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act.
On October 25th, 2024, President Joe Biden formally apologized for the U.S. federal government’s role in the boarding schools system. Filmmakers Kassie and NoiseCat attended Biden’s speech at the Gila Indian Reservation and the Hollywood Reporter noted that “the film surely helped to shine a spotlight on all such institutions.”
