This roundtable discussion explores themes of friendship and kinship within Sugarcane, an Oscar-nominated documentary. The co-directors, Emily Kassie and Julian Brave NoiseCat, will speak to the role that friendship played in the formation of the film and highlight the centrality of relational themes expressed through the documentary. Such themes may include kinship with the land, the shared pursuit of truth, reconciliation and friendship between generations, and the intertwining of friendship and justice when it comes to relationships between peoples.
Panelists will share key insights from the documentary, and respond to the following question: What practices of friendship, personal and civic, can we nurture within our spheres of influence—whether as academics, activists, authors, faith leaders, journalists, or filmmakers—to support healing, provoke dialogue, promote justice, nurture friendship and solidarity, and contribute towards the multigenerational flourishing of Indigenous Peoples, and, in turn, the multigenerational flourishing of all?