Join SITE SANTA FE at Violet Crown for a special screening of the award-winning film, Sugarcane from Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie. Set amidst a groundbreaking investigation, Sugarcane illuminates the beauty of a community breaking cycles of intergenerational trauma and finding the strength to persevere.

Reception and Q&A at SITE SANTA FE with Sugarcane Impact Producers Amber Morning Star Byars and Jade Begay will follow after the screening.

Schedule

2:00 PM / Screening at Violet Crown
4:30 PM / Reception and Q&A at SITE SANTA FE

About the Presenters

Jade Begay, Diné and Tesuque Pueblo, is an Indigenous rights and climate policy expert, organizer, and filmmaker. Jade has partnered with Climate and Indigenous organizations and Tribal Nations from the Arctic to the Amazon to develop strategies, create stories, and build campaigns to mobilize engagement and impact around issues like climate change, Indigenous self determination, and environmental justice.

Currently, Jade is developing an environmental justice start-up, The EJ Agency and is currently a research fellow with RISE, building data on how climate change impacts Native Americans. Jade serves on the board of Native Conservancy, Doc Society, Amazon Watch, and Evergreen Action. In 2021, Jade was appointed by President Biden to serve on the first ever White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council.

Amber Morning Star Byars (she/her/ella) an enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, is a multidisciplinary artist, lawyer, and Indigenous rights activist. Amber graduated from the Institute of American Indian Arts in 2018 with BFA in Indigenous Liberal Studies. She then went on to receive her Juris Doctor from the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law, graduating with two certificates in business law in 2022. In 2023 Amber founded Good Trade Productions, a production company that has since provided impact production services for the two-time Emmy winning film Lakota Nation vs United States, and currently, the two-time Critics Choice Award winning documentary, Sugarcane. Amber currently serves as a cultural advisor for AMC Networks and was recently named one of DOC NYC’s New Leaders for 2024. Amber currently resides in her hometown of Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Instagram: @Amber_Morning_Star