From July 2025 through June 2026, join us for free matinees at the Seattle Art Museum. These films explore themes from art on view at SAM and bring ideas from the museumâs exhibitions, collections, and programs to the big screen. Check out SAM Films for all upcoming events and details.
A stunning tribute to the resilience of Native people and their way of lifeâSugarcane, the debut feature documentary from Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, is an epic cinematic portrait of a community during a moment of international reckoning. Set amidst a ground-breaking investigation into abuse and death at an Indian residential school, the film empowers participants to break cycles of intergenerational trauma by bearing witness to painful, long-ignored truths, and the love that endures within their families.
In 2021, evidence of unmarked graves near an Indian residential school run by the Catholic Church in 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 Kassie, a journalist and filmmaker, asked her old friend and colleague, NoiseCat, to direct a film documenting the Williams Lake First Nation investigation of St Josephâs 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, Julianâs 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. Kassie and NoiseCat 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.
Stay after the film for a talk by writer, Oscar-nominated filmmaker, champion powwow dancer and student of Salish art and history, Julian Brave NoiseCat
Sugarcane premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival where NoiseCat and Kassie won the Directing Award in the US Documentary Competition. The film was recognized with 40 awardsi ncluding Best Documentary from the National Board of Review and was nominated for a Peabody and an Academy Award. Sugarcane screened at film festivals around the world and in theaters across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The film is distributed by National Geographic and can be streamed on Hulu in the United States and in over 150 markets on Disney+.
Program
1:45 pm Doors Open
2 pm Film begins
3:45 pm Discussion with director, Julian Brave NoiseCat
4:30 pm Program concludes
5 pm Museum closes
Tickets
Free with RSVP
SAM Films are generously supported by the Bagley and Virginia Wright Endowment and The Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Film and Education Endowment.