Julian Brave NoiseCat is a writer, filmmaker and student of Salish art
and history. His first documentary, SUGARCANE, directed alongside
Emily Kassie, follows an investigation into abuse and missing children
at the Indian residential school NoiseCat’s family was sent to near
Williams Lake, British Columbia. A proud member of the Canim Lake Band
Tsq’escen and descendant of the Lil’Wat Nation of Mount Currie, he
is concurrently finishing his first book, We Survived the Night, which
will be published by Alfred A. Knopf in North America, Profile Books
in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth, Albin Michel in France and
Aufbau Verlag in Germany. NoiseCat’s journalism has appeared in
dozens of publications including The New York Times, The Washington
Post and The New Yorker and has been recognized with many awards
including the 2022 American Mosaic Journalism Prize, which honors
“excellence in long-form, narrative or deep reporting on stories
about underrepresented and/or misrepresented groups in the present
American landscape.” In 2021, NoiseCat was named to the TIME100 Next
list of emerging leaders alongside the starting point guard of his
fantasy basketball team, Luka Doncic. Before turning full-time to
writing and filmmaking, NoiseCat was a political strategist, policy
analyst and cultural organizer. In 2019, he helped lead a grassroots
effort to bring an Indigenous canoe journey to San Francisco Bay to
commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1969 Alcatraz Occupation.
Eighteen canoes representing communities from as far north as Canada
and as far west as Hawaii participated in the journey, which was
covered by dozens of local and national media outlets, including The
New York Times. In 2020, he was the first to publicly suggest that Deb
Haaland should be appointed Interior Secretary. Working with leaders
from Indian Country as well as the progressive and environmental
movements, NoiseCat helped turn the idea into a sophisticated
inside-outside campaign that drew support from celebrities, activists
and even a few conservative politicians. When Haaland was sworn in she
became the first Native American cabinet secretary in United States
history.
