Directors: Emily Kassie, Julian Brave NoiseCat
Producers: Emily Kassie, Kellen Quinn
Description:
A stunning tribute to the resilience of Native people and their way of life, this is an epic cinematic portrait of a community during a moment of international reckoning. In 2021, evidence of unmarked graves was discovered on the grounds of an Indian residential school run by the Catholic Church in Canada. After years of silence, the forced separation, assimilation and abuse many children experienced at these segregated boarding schools was brought to light, sparking a national outcry against a system designed to destroy Indigenous communities.
Biography:
Emily Kassie is an Emmy and Peabody nominated investigative journalist and filmmaker. She graduated with honors from Brown University when she was awarded the Academy Award for student documentary and was a Gates Scholar at Cambridge where she completed her masters in International Relations. She covers geopolitical conflict, humanitarian crises and the stories of people caught in the crossfire for PBS Newshour, the New York Times, Netflix, Frontline, Time, the Guardian and more.
Julian Brave NoiseCat is a writer, filmmaker, and activist who is an enrolled member of the Canim Lake Band Tsq'secen of the Secwepemc (Shuswap) Nation in the Canadian province of British Columbia. He is a public thinker and advocate on issues of climate justice and Indigenous rights in North America.
Kellen Quinn is an Oscar®-nominated producer whose credits include Garrett Bradley's Time (Oscar® nominated), Luke Lorentzen's A Still Small Voice, and Midnight Family (shortlisted for Documentary Feature Oscar®), Asher Levinthal’s Shaken), Noah Hutton’s In Silico, Daniel Hymanson So Late So Soon and Viktor Jakovleski's Brimstone & Glory (aired on POV). Kellen was selected for the Dear Producer Award and DOC NYC’s 40 Under 40 class. He participated in the Sundance Documentary Creative Producing Lab and Fellowship. He was among six producers selected for Impact Partners’ Documentary Producers Fellowship. With Luke Lorentzen, Kellen co-founded the independent production company Hedgehog Films.
Contact Information:
e: andre.gary@natgeo.com
w: https://films.nationalgeographic.com/sugarcane
©2024 United Nations Association Film Festival (UNAFF)
