Mar 1, 2025
In 2021, evidence of unmarked graves
near an Indian residential school run by the Catholic Church in
Kamloops. BC, 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 Emily- a journalist and filmmaker- asked her old
friend and colleague, Julian, 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. As the investigation continued, Emily and Julian
traveled back to the rivers, forests and mountains of his homelands
to hear the myriad stories of survivors. During production,
Julian's own story became an integral part of this beautiful
multi-stranded portrait of a community. By offering space, time,
and profound empathy the directors unearthed what was hidden. Emily
and Julian encountered both the extraordinary pain these
individuals had to suppress as a tool for survival and the unique
beauty of a group of people finding the strength to
persevere.
The film is nominated for an
Academy Award. It has already won two Critics Choice
Awards.
Julian Brave
NoiseCat
- Director
Julian is a writer, filmmaker and
student of Salish art and history.
His first
documentary, SUGARCANE, directed alongside
Emily Kassie, follows an investigation into abuse and missing
children at the Indian residential school NoiseCat's family was
sent to near Williams Lake, British Columbia. A proud member of the
Canim Lake Band Tsq'escen and descendant of the Lil'wat Nation of
Mount Currie, he is concurrently finishing his first
book, We Survived the Night, which will be
published by Alfred A. Knopf in North America.
EMILY KASSIE
-
Director, Producer,
Cinematographer
Emily Kassie is an Emmy® and
Peabody®-nominated investigative journalist and filmmaker. Kassie
shoots, directs and reports stories on geopolitical conflict,
humanitarian crises, corruption and the people caught in the
crossfire. Her work for The New York Times, PBS Frontline, Netflix,
and others ranges from drug and weapons trafficking in the Saharan
desert, to immigrant detention in the United States. . Her first
documentary, I Married My Family's Killer, following
couples in post-genocide Rwanda, won a Student Academy Award in
2015.
Indian residential school
history and its impact are not in the past. For more information on
the film's impact campaign, please visit here.
If you need support, the following
resources are available:
CANADA
The National Indian Residential
School Crisis Line provides 24-hour crisis support
to former Indian Residential School students and their families
toll-free at 1-866-925-4419.
First Nations, Inuit and Métis
seeking immediate emotional support
can contact the Hope for Wellness
Help Line toll-free at 1-855-242-3310,
UNITED STATES
Call or text 988