Uploaded February 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Sugarcane is a powerful documentary film that delves into the dark history of abuse and murder at a Canadian residential school. These Catholic boarding schools in North America and Canada have caused lasting trauma across Indigenous communities. The film centers around the Williams Lake First Nation in British Columbia, where a ground-breaking investigation into the St. Joseph’s Mission residential school is underway. Sugarcane is Oscar-nominated for Best Documentary Feature.
Director Emily Kassie is an Emmy and Peabody-nominated investigative journalist and filmmaker. Co-director Julian NoiseCat’s family has an intimate and painful connection to the residential schools. His father, Ed Archie NoiseCat, was born at St. Joseph’s Mission to a student there. The NoiseCat family story became inextricably woven into the fabric of the documentary.
Emily envisioned a film that was not only informative but also deeply sensitive. She partnered with cinematographer Christopher LaMarca, whose verité style of filmmaking hinges on the power of time, trust and truth. Over two and a half years, Kassie and LaMarca spent 160 days in Williams Lake, embedding themselves within the community. “The approach to true verité filmmaking is time,” says Chris. “You need lots of time to shoot this way. You need to spend time with people before you even start shooting so that they trust you. It’s a way of being instead of just being a cinematographer.” Emily fully embraced Chris’s approach. “For me, what comes with time is trust and intimacy,” she says. “It was so important to earn the trust of this community that has been ravaged by colonization, that has been lied to and betrayed by white people since they arrived on the land.”
This trust informed every aspect of their filmmaking. The decision to use prime lenses, for example, was a deliberate choice. Instead of the distancing effect of a zoom lens, prime lenses required the filmmakers to physically move closer to their subjects, fostering a sense of connection and intimacy. “Prime lenses render the face and space differently than a zoom does,” Chris notes, emphasizing the importance of physical proximity in creating a sense of genuine conversation. The resulting close-up shots, born from their time spent in the community, offer a powerful and intimate glimpse into the lives and experiences of those affected by the residential school.
Both Emily and Chris were shooting with a Canon C500 Mark II camera at all times, simultaneously filming and recording their own sound. The emphasis on capturing dialogue was crucial, allowing them to connect the dots in the ongoing investigation and understand the full scope of the story. She became intimately familiar with every piece of research and evidence uncovered in the residential school archives.
For Chris, the most vital part of their process happened after each day of filming. Every night, they would download the footage and reflect on the moments that resonated most deeply. “You’re recalling all of the things that hit your heart the hardest and penetrated the deepest,” he explains. “And in that moment, that’s where the film starts to get made – not on paper, but from the heart, being totally clear and focused on what was happening in the day.”
Sugarcane premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival and is available to stream on Disney+ and Hulu.
Find Emily Kassie: Instagram @emilykassie
Find Chris LaMarca: Instagram @christopher_lamarca
Close focus: The Sundance Film Festival wrap up and move from Park City, as discussed in episode 298. After a slow start, several big ticket deals were made for independent film.
Ben’s short end: The documentary Have You Got It Yet? The Story of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd on Amazon Prime.
Illya’s short end: Tokina just announced the Tokina Vista-C prime lenses. The Vista-C lenses beautifully flare with red and blue accents, avoiding the more modern green flares often found on newer cinema lenses.
Sponsored by Hot Rod Cameras
Check out the new Betty Luminous Reflector at Hot Rod Cameras! The Betty Luminous is the most human flattering, full spectrum light reflector. It has a beautiful fresnel-like directionality while maintaining a gentle gaussian fall off, ideal for lighting human skin.
Sponsored by Aputure: Aputure’s YouTube channel has great product information, as well as education and interviews with cinematographers and gaffers.
YouTube
Email: editor@camnoir.com
Facebook:@cinepod
Instagram: @thecinepod
Threads: @thecinepod
Blue Sky: @thecinepod.bsky.social
Podcast Credits:
Producer: Alana Kode
All web and social media content written by Alana Kode
Host and editor in Chief: Illya Friedman
Instagram: @illyafriedman @hotrodcameras
Host: Ben Rock
Twitter: @neptunesalad
Instagram: @bejamin_rock
Editor: Michael Dispenza
Composer: Kays Al-Atrakchi
Sugarcane is a powerful documentary film that delves into the dark history of abuse and murder at a Canadian residential school. These Catholic boarding schools in North America and Canada have caused lasting trauma across Indigenous communities. The film centers around the Williams Lake First Nation in British Columbia, where a ground-breaking investigation into the St. Joseph’s Mission residential school is underway. Sugarcane is Oscar-nominated for Best Documentary Feature.
Director Emily Kassie is an Emmy and Peabody-nominated investigative journalist and filmmaker. Co-director Julian NoiseCat’s family has an intimate and painful connection to the residential schools. His father, Ed Archie NoiseCat, was born at St. Joseph’s Mission to a student there. The NoiseCat family story became inextricably woven into the fabric of the documentary.
Emily envisioned a film that was not only informative but also deeply sensitive. She partnered with cinematographer Christopher LaMarca, whose verité style of filmmaking hinges on the power of time, trust and truth. Over two and a half years, Kassie and LaMarca spent 160 days in Williams Lake, embedding themselves within the community. “The approach to true verité filmmaking is time,” says Chris. “You need lots of time to shoot this way. You need to spend time with people before you even start shooting so that they trust you. It’s a way of being instead of just being a cinematographer.” Emily fully embraced Chris’s approach. “For me, what comes with time is trust and intimacy,” she says. “It was so important to earn the trust of this community that has been ravaged by colonization, that has been lied to and betrayed by white people since they arrived on the land.”
This trust informed every aspect of their filmmaking. The decision to use prime lenses, for example, was a deliberate choice. Instead of the distancing effect of a zoom lens, prime lenses required the filmmakers to physically move closer to their subjects, fostering a sense of connection and intimacy. “Prime lenses render the face and space differently than a zoom does,” Chris notes, emphasizing the importance of physical proximity in creating a sense of genuine conversation. The resulting close-up shots, born from their time spent in the community, offer a powerful and intimate glimpse into the lives and experiences of those affected by the residential school.
Both Emily and Chris were shooting with a Canon C500 Mark II camera at all times, simultaneously filming and recording their own sound. The emphasis on capturing dialogue was crucial, allowing them to connect the dots in the ongoing investigation and understand the full scope of the story. She became intimately familiar with every piece of research and evidence uncovered in the residential school archives.
For Chris, the most vital part of their process happened after each day of filming. Every night, they would download the footage and reflect on the moments that resonated most deeply. “You’re recalling all of the things that hit your heart the hardest and penetrated the deepest,” he explains. “And in that moment, that’s where the film starts to get made – not on paper, but from the heart, being totally clear and focused on what was happening in the day.”
Sugarcane premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival and is available to stream on Disney+ and Hulu.
Find Emily Kassie: Instagram @emilykassie
Find Chris LaMarca: Instagram @christopher_lamarca
Close focus: The Sundance Film Festival wrap up and move from Park City, as discussed in episode 298. After a slow start, several big ticket deals were made for independent film.
Ben’s short end: The documentary Have You Got It Yet? The Story of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd on Amazon Prime.
Illya’s short end: Tokina just announced the Tokina Vista-C prime lenses. The Vista-C lenses beautifully flare with red and blue accents, avoiding the more modern green flares often found on newer cinema lenses.
Sponsored by Hot Rod Cameras
Check out the new Betty Luminous Reflector at Hot Rod Cameras! The Betty Luminous is the most human flattering, full spectrum light reflector. It has a beautiful fresnel-like directionality while maintaining a gentle gaussian fall off, ideal for lighting human skin.
Sponsored by Aputure: Aputure’s YouTube channel has great product information, as well as education and interviews with cinematographers and gaffers.
YouTube
Email: editor@camnoir.com
Facebook:@cinepod
Instagram: @thecinepod
Threads: @thecinepod
Blue Sky: @thecinepod.bsky.social
Podcast Credits:
Producer: Alana Kode
All web and social media content written by Alana Kode
Host and editor in Chief: Illya Friedman
Instagram: @illyafriedman @hotrodcameras
Host: Ben Rock
Twitter: @neptunesalad
Instagram: @bejamin_rock
Editor: Michael Dispenza
Composer: Kays Al-Atrakchi
