Sugarcane

An investigation into unmarked graves at an Indian residential school ignites a reckoning in the lives of survivors and their descendants, including the film’s co-director whose father was born, and nearly buried, at the school. Sugarcane spotlights the lasting traumas inflicted upon Indigenous North Americans from the residential school system, including physical and sexual abuse, the separation of families and the destruction of Native culture and language. With empathy and grace, the filmmakers follow their subjects as they search for painful truths in the recesses of their memories and muster the courage to confront representatives of the church, government and their own families. The resilience of survivors and their descendants is celebrated in this poignant and compassionate film.