History intersects with current lived experience in Sugarcane

The documentary Sugarcane reminds us that, as Faulkner put it, "The past is never dead. It's not even past."

Aug 05, 2025

Sugarcane | Julian Brave NoiseCat, Emily Kassie | USA, Canada | 2024 | 107 minutes

Screening at Madison Museum of Contemporary Art Rooftop Cinema, Thursday, August 7, after sunset, approximately 8:30pm

First a plug. Tomorrow (Tuesday, August 5) at about 4:00pm, I’ll appear on the “Wages of Cinema” segment of “Fire Worship,” hosted by JoAnne Powers, on WORT 89.9 FM. I’ll discuss not only Sugarcane, but also the remaining screenings for Rooftop Cinema this season.

Second, the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art continues its social media posts about Rooftop Cinema with a new post about Sugarcane today.

mmocamadison

A post shared by @mmocamadison

Sugarcane traces an investigation of St. Joseph’s Mission, a residential school for Indigenous children who were taken away from their reservations and communities, like nearby Williams Lake First Nation in Canada. The film’s explanation of what-happened-when is not always clear, but the trauma that residential schools inflicted on Indigenous children is crystal clear from talking to victims today. The strength of Sugarcane is how it vividly shows us Indigenous families and communities living with the legacy of residential schools despite the pain of telling their stories. Not everyone can live with the legacy. The high rate of suicide for victims of the residential schools is a common motif throughout the film.

In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada asserted that the nation’s system of Indian residential schools, mostly run by the Catholic Church, committed a “cultural genocide.” In 2021, unmarked graves of students were discovered on the grounds of Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia. Soon after that discovery, co-directors Emily Kassie and Julian Brave Noisecat initiated their own investigation of a different school, St. Joseph’s Mission, with the cooperation of Williams Lake First Nation chief Willie Sellars, who serves as a guide for the audience in portions of the film.

We learn historical facts very elliptically in Sugarcane, and it is not always easy to piece together timelines and causal chains. One example is the story of Julian’s father, artist Ed Archie NoiseCat. We learn early on that Ed was born at St. Joseph’s Mission, but beyond that many details are lost to history due to church-taught shame, coercion, and silence. Ed’s trauma as a child had consequences when he became a father, and Ed and Julian cannot always adequately communicate with each other despite their love for one another. The same goes with Ed’s relationship with his mother. She is not able to fill in the gaps in his history for him, despite his desperate need to fill those gaps.

Former Williams Lake First Nation chief Rick Gilbert has similar communication issues with his wife. Despite her laying out the facts that Rick’s genetic test clearly shows that he has European blood in his family tree, he refuses to believe the possibility that it could be due to sexual abuse from priests at St. Joseph’s Mission. His story arc is perhaps the one most clearly presented in the film, as we follow him to the Vatican for an audience with Pope Francis. The message from Pope Francis is disappointing, but Rick follows that up with a visit to a priest who listens to Rick tell his story and understands his pain.

Sugarcane earned almost unanimous critical acclaim, winning awards at important festivals like Sundance and Full Frame, and it was nominated for Best Documentary at the Academy Awards. Despite the emotional clarity and force of the film, I do have some issues with its argumentation, clarity, and structure. Some of the lack of clarity is part of the story itself, as Ed will probably never discover enough of his history to find any resolution and solace. But sometimes the elliptical style of the film presents some unnecessary barriers to a better understanding of the underlying facts. The film is about the importance of stories, and to remain vital stories need to be told well. Regardless of this criticism, the big picture remains clear, and the emotional truth of the film is undeniable.

Ultimately, the film reinforces the importance of telling stories and writing histories. As I have mentioned elsewhere, the selection of Rooftop Cinema films this summer has been inspired by work in this year’s Wisconsin Triennial at MMoCA, and the selection of Sugarcane was inspired by the paintings of Tom Antell, whose family has its own history with the Pipestone Indian Training School in Pipestone, Minnesota. I’ll end with a quote from Antell’s artist statement: “In light of the current political climate in America, in which the accurate teaching of Native history is white-washed or outright banned, it is more important than ever that Native Americans tell their stories – past, present, and future.”

Now Playing In Madison: July 27 to August 4, 2025

Please confirm showtimes with the venues (follow venue links where provided). The commercial theaters update their weekend listings on Wednesdays.

Comments here are not reviews of the films, they are usually a response to the trailer, a summary of the buzz I have heard, or just snark.

Wisconsin Union Directorate Film

THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG 8/4
MAMMA MIA 8/11

Madison Museum of Contemporary Art: Rooftop Cinema

SUGARCANE 8/7
- See my review above.

AMC Theatres, Flix Brewhouse, Marcus Theatres

Always check the respective websites to confirm dates and showtimes. I add trailers to new films of interest that you might not know about (American indies, international features, etc.).

#RUNSEOKJIN_EP.TOUR IN AMSTERDAM: LIVE VIEWING: at Point, Palace.
AMC SCREEN UNSEEN: AUGUST 4: at AMC.
AMC SCREEN UNSEEN: AUGUST 11: at AMC.
ARCHITECTON: at Point.
- Very few (and late) screenings of Victor Kossakovsky’s new documentary. Read Rob Thomas’s review, and my video posted yesterday.

BAD GUYS 2, THE (2025): at AMC, Flix, Point, Palace.
BTS ARMY: FOREVER WE ARE YOUNG: at Palace.
CRITICAL ROLE LIVE: INDIANAPOLIS: at Point, Palace.
DCI 2025: BIG, LOUD & LIVE: at Point, Palace.
DEEP SKY: THE IMAX 2D EXPERIENCE (2023): at AMC.
- IMAX educational film.
DHADAK 2 (2025): at AMC.
EASY A: at Flix.
EDDINGTON (2025): at AMC, Flix, Point.
ELIO: at Point.
F1 THE MOVIE (2025): at AMC, Flix, Point, Palace.
FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS, THE (2025): at AMC, Flix, Point, Palace.
FREAKIER FRIDAY (2025): at AMC, Flix, Point, Palace.
GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES - STUDIO GHIBLI FEST 2025: at AMC, Point, Palace.
- Very intense story of two siblings trying to survive in post-WWII Japan. A classic, but probably not for younger children.

HOME, THE (2025): at AMC.
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON (2025): at AMC, Point, Palace.
I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER (2025): at AMC, Point, Palace.
JURASSIC WORLD REBIRTH (2025): at AMC, Flix, Point, Palace.
KINGDOM (2025): at AMC.
MARCUS MYSTERY MOVIE (8/11): at Point, Palace.
MET: LIVE IN HD SUMMER ENCORES - LUCIA DI LAMM, THE: at Point.
MIGRATION (2023): at AMC.
MY MOTHER'S WEDDING (2025): at AMC, Point.
- Scarlett Johansson, Sienna Miller star in this comedy drama directed and co-written by Kristin Scott Thomas.

NAKED GUN, THE (2025): at AMC, Flix, Point, Palace.
OH, HI! (2025): at AMC.
SECRET LIFE OF PETS, THE: at AMC.
SHE RIDES SHOTGUN (2025): at AMC, Point.
SKETCH (2025): at AMC, Point, Palace.
- Fantasy comedy film starring Tony Hale (Arrested Development, Veep) and D'Arcy Carden (The Good Place, Barry). Feature length version of a short film by director Seth Worley. Read Rob Thomas’s review here.

SMURFS (2025): at AMC, Flix, Point, Palace.
SON OF SARDAAR 2 (2025): at AMC.
- Indian Hindi-language comedy. I’ve actually seen the original Son of Sardaar (2012), which I recall to be very entertaining. Ajay Devgn returns but Sanjay Dutt does not. This appears to introduce an international flair to the proceedings. The humor is very broad, as you can sense from the trailer.

SORRY, BABY (2025): at AMC.
STANS (2025): at AMC.
- Eminem documentary, taking its name from his song about obsessive fandom.

STRANGE HARVEST (2025): at AMC.
- Horror mockumentary. Doesn’t look that great, but it seem to have good reviews. House on Eden disappeared pretty quickly, perhaps this will fare better.
SUNSET BOULEVARD 75TH ANNIVERSARY: at Flix, Point, Palace.
SUPERMAN (2025): at AMC, Flix, Point, Palace.
TOGETHER (2025): at AMC, Flix, Point, Palace.
WEAPONS (2025): at AMC, Flix, Point, Palace.
- Mystery/horror film, with an interesting cast including Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Alden Ehrenreich, Benedict Wong. To me, this looks more promising than Strange Harvest, if horror if your thing. But horror is not my thing, so what do I know?

WHAT IF... 15TH ANNIVERSARY: at Palace.
- Well, faith-based feature films now seem to be successful enough to warrant anniversary screenings. This one was directed by Dallas Jenkins (creator of the multi-season story of Jesus, The Chosen) and stars Kevin Sorbo and Kristi Swanson. (Oh, Buffy, what happened? When this was originally released, it was Swanson’s first theatrical film in nine years).