An investigation into abuse and missing children at an Indian residential school ignites a reckoning on the nearby Sugar | dG1fSm1XMkNsTGFtYmc
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Short filmTranscript
00:00 [Applause]
00:06 The directing award, US Documentary, goes to co-directors,
00:14 Julian Grave, Noise Hat, and Emily Smith.
00:17 [Applause]
00:25 Chokweinak, good morning, or as it literally means,
00:30 you all survived the night.
00:32 64 years ago, my dad was born at an Indian school
00:40 and left to die, to be burned alive, in the school's incinerator.
00:46 But he survived, and here we are.
00:54 Our film, Sugarcane, follows an investigation into death and abuse
01:00 at one school, St. Joseph's Mission.
01:03 But that school was part of a continent-wide system
01:06 designed to, in the words of one of its administrators,
01:09 "get rid of the Indian problem."
01:12 There were 139 such schools across Canada,
01:17 and there were 408 here in the United States.
01:23 In fact, there was one just over the mountains here, in Utah.
01:27 I just want to give our greatest, heartfelt thanks
01:36 to the Williams Lake First Nation, to our participants,
01:40 and to our families for supporting us and allowing us
01:44 to tell this essential story.
01:48 I also want to thank Sundance for giving Sugarcane
01:52 and this essential part of the Canadian story,
01:55 the American story, and the entire North American story
01:59 the best platform in independent cinema.
02:03 Two and a half years ago, I asked my old friend Julian
02:17 to follow a search with me at St. Joseph's Mission.
02:21 I didn't know his story, and I didn't know the incredible
02:25 courage that he mustered to tell it.
02:28 What a journey it's been to.
02:31 First, thank you to the family of incredible artists
02:37 who came together to make Sugarcane.
02:40 My producing partner, Calin Quinn.
02:49 I got to shoot this film with the incredible Christopher Lamartha,
02:53 our DP and co-producer.
02:56 Our editors, Nathan Pimlar and Maya Daisy Hawk,
03:02 and our composer, Nalia Bombswin.
03:05 Thank you to the festival, the Institute, our funders,
03:11 and the programmers for giving this story a voice,
03:14 and to the jury for recognizing its importance.
03:19 During the making of Sugarcane,
03:22 former chief Rick Gilbert went all the way to the Vatican
03:27 to confront the priest of the Catholic order that abused him.
03:32 He told that priest the truth that he's been in denial of his whole life.
03:38 His mother was abused by a priest, his biological father.
03:45 Rick passed away during our edit.
03:48 His remarkable legacy lives on in this film.
03:52 We love him and we miss him every day.
03:55 This one's for you, Rick.
03:58 Hey, this is Eric from MyOnsenLand.com.
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