Filmmaker Julian Brave NoiseCat makes history at Academy Award ceremony

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National Geographic: Sugarcane | Official Trailer | National Geographic Documentary Films

Monday, March 3, 2025

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Julian Brave NoiseCat made history at the 2025 Oscars as the first Native filmmaker to be nominated for an Academy Award.

NoiseCat, a citizen of the Canim Lake Band in British Columbia, Canada, was nominated in the Best Feature Documentary category. He served as co-director of Sugarcane, a film about the genocidal residential school era and its impacts on his family and community.

“Helping tell this story has been a profound and life-changing experience,” NoiseCat said in a post on social media on Friday. Emily Kassie served as co-director of Sugarcane.

NoiseCat attended the 97th Academy Award ceremony on Sunday with his father. Ed Archie NoiseCat, an artist, is featured in the documentary, having been a survivor of St. Joseph’s Mission, a residential school in British Columbia that became the birthplace of Orange Shirt Day, now known as National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Canada.

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The Oscars ceremony took place in Los Angeles, California. No Other Land, a film about the ongoing conflict in Israel and Palestine, won the award for Best Feature Documentary.

In the United States, Sugarcane premiered on National Geographic on December 9, 2024. It became available on Disney+ and Hulu the following day.

In Canada, Sugarcane debuted on Disney+ and Hulu on December 26, 2024. It aired on National Geographic on February 16, 2025.

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Prior to its streaming launch, Sugarcane was shown to Native audiences in the U.S. and Canada as part of a “Rez Tour” last fall. Screenings took place from August 28, 2024, through December 4, 2024.

NoiseCat also brought the film to Washington, D.C. A screening took place at the U.S. Capitol last September amid debate on Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act, a bill that would begin to address the impacts of boarding schools in the U.S.

The bill did not make it over the finish line in the prior session of Congress. A new version, S.761, is due to be advanced by the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on Wednesday, a key first step in the legislative process.

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Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), the chair of the committee, introduced S.761 in the U.S. Senate on February 26. She took over the bill from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts), who is an original co-sponsor of the new version.

Rep. Tom Cole (R-Oklahoma), a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation who serves as chair of the House Committee on Appropriations, is expected to introduce a version of the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act in the U.S. House of Representatives. He is anticipated to take over the bill from Rep. Sharice Davids (D-Kansas), a citizen of the Ho-Chunk Nation.