Sugarcane did not win an Oscar.
But that didn't stop the Williams Lake First Nation (WLFN) and the surrounding the community from celebrating the film's success, or the raised profile it created for the story of the Williams Lake residential school.
Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, Sugarcane follows the work of Charlene Belleau and Whitney Spearing as they lead the investigation into the St. Joseph's Mission Indian Residential School in Williams Lake. It brings to light a painful past at the school, including stories of abuse and neglect of children there.
The nomination inspired a WLFN presence on the Oscars red carpet on March 2, with Kukpi7 (chief) Willie Sellars dancing a blessing in front of the Oscars banner as a group of WLFN leaders joined the filmmakers at the 2025 Academy Awards ceremony at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California.
At home in Williams Lake, community celebrated alongside Sellars and the others at the Oscars, as they watched the ceremony. The Williams Lake First Nation hosted a broadcast screening of the awards ceremony in Williams Lake for some in the community.
The Gibraltar Room in Williams Lake was decked out and the Los Angeles ceremony was up on the big screen, as WLFN community and invited guests dressed up and enjoyed a catered event to celebrate the film's nomination.
While the film did not win the Oscar 鈥� which was taken home by the Israeli-Palestinian film No Other Land 鈥� Sugarcane's presence on the world stage brought the issue of Canada's history of residential schools to a global audience..
The film has laready won its share of awards. Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, the directors, were recipients of the U.S. Documentary for Directing award at the Sundance Film Festival and the film won the Grand Jury Prize for best Documentary at Sundance as well.
NoiseCat and Kassie also both won Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary from the Directors Guild of America
