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Sugarcane
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Julian Brave NoiseCat Emily Kassie
Produced by	Emily Kassie Kellen Quinn
Cinematography	Christopher LaMarca Emily Kassie
Edited by	Nathan Punwar Maya Daisy Hawke
Music by	Mali Obomsawin
Production companies	Impact Partners Fit Via Vi Kassie Films Hedgehog Films
Distributed by	National Geographic Documentary Films (Worldwide) Variance Films (United States) Films We Like (Canada)
Release dates	January 20, 2024 (2024-01-20) (Sundance) August 9, 2024 (2024-08-09) (United States and Canada)
Running time	107 minutes[1]
Countries	United States Canada
Languages	English Secwepemctsín[1]
Box office	$134,257[2][3]

Sugarcane is a 2024documentary film, directed byJulian Brave NoiseCat andEmily Kassie and produced by Emily Kassie and Kellen Quinn. It follows an investigation into theCanadian Indian residential school system, igniting a reckoning in the lives of survivors and descendants.

It had its world premiere at theSundance Film Festival on January 20, 2024 where it won the Grand Jury award for Directing.^[4] 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, byNational Geographic Documentary Films throughVariance Films in the United States and Films We Like in Canada. It received critical acclaim and won the award forBest Documentary at theNational Board of Review.^[5] At the97th Academy Awards, it was nominated for theBest Documentary Feature Film award.

Sugarcane follows an investigation intoSaint Joseph's Indian Residential School, anIndian residential school located nearWilliams Lake, British Columbia, igniting a reckoning in the lives of survivors and descendants.^[6][7]

The film received grants from Catapult Film Fund and theInternational Documentary Association Enterprise Fund.^[8][9][10]Lily Gladstone boarded the project as an executive producer.^[11]

It had its world premiere at theSundance Film Festival on January 20, 2024.^[12] It also played at the 2024San Francisco International Film Festival, 2024Seattle International Film Festival,^[13] the 2024Sheffield International Documentary Festival,^[14] the 2024Sydney Film Festival,^[15] the 2024DOXA Documentary Film Festival,^[16] the 2024Nantucket Film Festival,^[17] the 2024 Boston Independent Film Festival,^[18] the 2024Sarasota Film Festival,^[19] the 2024Maryland Film Festival,^[20] the 2024Cleveland International Film Festival,^[21] and theFull Frame Documentary Film Festival.^[22]

In February 2024,National Geographic Documentary Films acquired distribution rights to the film.^[23] It was later announced that the film would be screened in exclusive engagements at theFilm Forum inManhattan andTIFF Lightbox inToronto starting August 9, 2024, followed by the Laemmle Royal inLos 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.^[24][25]

On thereview aggregator websiteRotten 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."^[26]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 90 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".^[27]

• Sugarcane atIMDb

• 2024 films
• 2024 documentary films
• American documentary films
• Canadian documentary films
• 2020s American films
• 2020s Canadian films
• Documentary films about First Nations
• Documentary films about missing people
• Indigenous peoples in Canada
• Documentaries about child abuse
• Catholic Church sexual abuse scandals
• Documentaries about racism
• Films critical of the Catholic Church
• Works about residential schools in Canada
• Impact Partners films

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• The Numbers ID not in Wikidata
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
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