Documentary ‘Sugarcane’ Starts Sitka Conversation

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Created on Tuesday, 27 August 2024 15:41

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By CATHY LI
For the Sentinel
More than 200 people attended the free screening of award-winning documentary “Sugarcane” in Harrigan Centennial Hall on Monday.
Directed by Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, the film follows the recent discovery of unmarked graves at Native residential schools across Canada, in addition to patterns of abuse directed against Indigenous children at those schools.

Film directors Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie speak at Monday’s screening of the award-winning Canadian Indian residential school system documentary ‘‘Sugarcane’’ at Harrigan Centennial Hall. (Photo by Cathy Li)

“The film is designed to help start conversations about this history that we all share as First Peoples across North America,” NoiseCat said. “I’m hopeful that people will not just be thinking about this story, but also about that history and the conversations that need to continue to find the truth.”
For attendee Dmitry Rudas, watching “Sugarcane” already gave him a more personal understanding.
“I do remember hearing the news and [seeing] all the campaigns for justice, but you never know the pain that others experience until you see a story being told like that. It’s a sort of pain that I’ve never had to feel, but it was really powerful to see,” Rudas said.
Before the documentary screening, local Tlingít performers sang sorrow songs and read aloud a list of former residential schools in Alaska.
“That was hard. It’s hard to hear [the Raven moiety] sing their sorrow songs and then have to follow,” Sheridan Bacon, a performer of the Eagle moiety, said. “When a Raven comes in, they ask for balance, [which is why] they need someone from the Eagle side. When our opposite side is grieving, we respond with that same sorrow song; it’s just what we do to hold them up. When it’s a situation like this, where the grief affects both sides, what we did with the songs was express our sorrow for the topic.”
A fire dish ceremony was also conducted, a Tlingít practice in which food is placed into a fire to feed and honor the dead.
“They said that when somebody died, they would go to the spirit realm. The only way they would eat is if we call their names and burn the food and the smoke carries the food with it,” performer Paul Marks said. “That’s why we burnt the dish, so that those children who weren’t able to come home know we’re thinking about them.”
The evening began on a somber note, but a song of celebration — not sorrow — was performed at the end of the event. NoiseCat, similarly, doesn’t want “Sugarcane” to be viewed as wholly without hope.
“I think as Native people, a lot of our storytelling has a tragic comic approach and sensibility,” NoiseCat said. “What we’re trying to get at is not just the awfulness of this history, but also the beauty and love and humor in Native communities.”
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Cathy Li, a 2024 graduate of Walnut (California) High School, is a member of the inaugural class of Outer Coast College, in Sitka.

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