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. The film is opening Aug. 23 at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln's Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center.
Also opening is the remastered "Seven Samurai," the cinematic masterpiece from Akira Kurosawa.
Set amid a ground-breaking investigation into abuse and death at an Indian residential school, "Sugarcane" empowers participants to break cycles of intergenerational trauma by bearing witness to painful, long-ignored truths — and the love that endures within their families despite the revelation of genocide.
In 2021, evidence of unmarked graves near an Indian residential school run by the Catholic Church in Canada sparked a national outcry about the forced separation, assimilation and abuse many children experienced at this network of segregated boarding schools designed to slowly destroy the culture and social fabric of Indigenous communities. When Kassie, a journalist and filmmaker, asked her old friend and colleague, NoiseCat, to direct a film documenting the Williams Lake First Nation investigation of St. Joseph’s Mission, she never imagined just how close this story was to his own family.
"Sugarcane" is rated R and shows through Aug. 29.
One of the most thrilling movie epics of all time, "Seven Samurai" tells the story of a 16th-century village whose desperate inhabitants hire the eponymous warriors to protect them from invading bandits. This three-hour-plus ride from Akira Kurosawa — featuring legendary actors Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura — seamlessly weaves philosophy and entertainment, delicate human emotions and relentless action, into a rich, evocative, and unforgettable tale of courage and hope.
The film is not rated and shows through Aug. 29.
Learn more about films at the Ross, including show times and ticket availability.
