Image Credit: National Geographic / YouTube

By Dylana Kneeshaw

SUGARCANE DOCUMENTARY

Sugarcane Oscar nomination spurs swell of emotions amongst Williams Lake First Nation

Jan 23, 2025 | 5:00 PM

WILLIAMS LAKE, B.C. — A Canadian-made documentary film shot in the Williams Lake and Canim Lake area has been nominated for best documentary film at the 97th Academy Awards.

Sugarcane follows the experiences of filmmaker Julian Brave Noisecat and his father, as they learn details about their family and the history of the St. Joseph’s Mission near Williams Lake. The documentary also covers the ongoing investigation into abuse, missing children and unmarked graves at the former Indian Residential School.

Speaking to CFJC, Kúkpi7 Willie Sellars says he was on the phone with Noisecat and director Emily Kassie early Thursday (Jan. 23) morning after hearing of the Oscar nomination.

“We are so proud, the entire team, the community,” says Sellars. “We really are feeling the love and feeling the validation of this story’s significance and the healing journey really of this country and the impact that it could potentially have on changing the mould and people’s perspective of Indigenous peoples all over the world.”

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The stories and subject matter elicits heavy emotions for many of the area’s community members who are survivors, and inter-generational survivors of the Indian Residential School System. Sellars feels the Academy Award buzz has potential to bolster the public’s education about the experiences of Indigenous people.

“The most disturbing comment that I’ve gotten personally over the past year since we premiered the documentary at the Sundance Film Festival is how people just didn’t know,” explains Sellars. “You know, ‘I had no idea’, and that’s pretty disturbing because there was the St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School located six kilometres from where I’m sitting here today. And how do people not know about the history and legacy of those schools in this country? And the impact that it had on Indigenous people. The trauma that they created.”

From the Williams Lake First Nation’s perspective, Sellars says the film being shared on a worldwide platform reinforces their motivation to continue telling these stories and continue the healing journey.

“You know, it is emotional stuff. And it was overwhelming today, thinking about how we’re going to be at the Oscars and this film is on a global stage. We never would have though it would happen that way, but it has and here we are,” he adds.