While being nominated for an Academy Award is a high honor, it carries even greater significance for directors Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie whose Sugarcane (National Geographic) is in the running for the Best Documentary Feature Film Oscar. Gaining recognition from Hollywood–which has a cinematic history of cowboys and Indians fare in which the Indigenous are stereotyped, dehumanized and villainized–means all the more for a documentary chronicling the strength, righteousness and resiliency of real-life Native people as they push back against cultural genocide.
Sugarcane is a groundbreaking investigation into an Indian residential school run by the Catholic Church in Canada, revealing years of forced separation, assimilation and abuse that Indigenous children endured, part of a cycle of intergenerational trauma. The story began to emerge publicly in 2021 when evidence of unmarked graves was discovered on the grounds of St. Joseph’s Mission near Williams Lake, British Columbia, a boarding school that operated until 1981. What happened there reflects horrific conditions at many such schools–in the U.S. and Canada–with land across North America taken from Indigenous people who were then subjected to physical, sexual and psychological abuse. Their families were torn apart as part of a concerted effort to take them from–and to destroy–their culture.
Yet these people persevered as Sugarcane also introduces us to a community that has the resolve to find its roots–translating into a stirring triumph of the human spirit.
For Hollywood to embrace this film with an Oscar nod, said NoiseCat, is gratifying given that cinema for a century has had Indigenous people “positioned at the end of a gun barrel in Westerns, which the industry has in part been built on.” Telling a true Indigenous story in which courage and heroism are exhibited in response to unimaginable adversity–and getting that out to the world at large–means the world to long-time friends NoiseCat and Kassie.
It was Kassie who reached out to NoiseCat about telling this story, which resulted in their auspicious documentary feature debut. NoiseCat served as director with Kassie taking on director, producer and cinematographer roles. Going into Sugarcane, NoiseCat was best known as an accomplished writer; Kassie as an investigative journalist. One decision in particular she made as a journalist hit home for NoiseCat. Kassie chose to focus on the school which unbeknownst to her was where NoiseCat’s father was born. The documentary became all the more personal for NoiseCat who too made a fateful decision a year into shooting Sugarcane, consenting to have the camera turned on himself, adding an extra heartfelt dimension to the film.
Kassie points with pride to not only that courageous decision by NoiseCat but also his making history this awards season. She noted that in the 97 years of the Oscars, Sugarcane is the first ever film directed by a North American Indigenous person to be nominated in any category.
Going into Sugarcane, Kassie’s filmmaking experience was on newsroom-generated documentaries–with a relatively short amount of time to put a story together. Sugarcane, she reflected, taught her the lesson of time–”to live this story along with participants over two-and-a-half years, 160 shoot days. Having time and patience, moving through the pace of real human connection and relationships, getting under the skin of these people.”
Another prime lesson for her was the gift of collaboration. NoiseCat came from his roots as a writer, she as a self-described “one-woman show.” Kassie observed, “This film is greater than the sum of its parts–a collection of artists serving something bigger than all of us. Julian and I were able to learn from and trust each other in a way that allows the film to become a shared vision, an art form evolved from two different skillsets, to create something with emotional and spiritual truth.”
NoiseCat said that he learned about the brand of personal storytelling that the verité medium requires, the need to give real people more space. “If you really want to tell real, raw human stories,” affirmed NoiseCat, “you have to be willing to go all in, to get really close.”
He too became one of the film’s subjects, “stepping in as a participant.” NoiseCat said that came a bit easier given that he felt confident that he and Kassie “had developed this shared understanding of the film we set out to make.” Thus he felt better able to be fully present in the story he was both telling and living, dating back to his father. Such authenticity is essential to documentary filmmaking.
NoiseCat said he embraced “the benefit” of telling real stories about real life and “choosing to do that from a perspective, culture and tradition nearly annihilated through a history of colonization.”
Jarin Blaschke
Starting with Robert Eggers’ second short film, The Tell-Tale Heart (2007), Jarin Blaschke has lensed all of the writer-director’s projects which include another short and four feature films–The Witch, The Lighthouse, The Northman, and Nosferatu (Focus Features).
The latter last month earned Blaschke his second career Oscar and ASC Award nominations–the first both came in 2020 for The Lighthouse. (Blaschke wound up winning the ASC Award in the Spotlight category for The Lighthouse.)
Nosferatu reimagines FW Murnau’s silent German Expressionist vampire film in 1922–Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror–which itself was an adaptation of the famed “Dracula” novel by Bram Stoker.
Set in the 1830s, Eggers’ film stars Nicholas Hoult and Lily-Rose Depp as husband and wife Thomas and Ellen Hutter. Thomas Hutter is a real-estate agent who’s summoned to the remote castle of the mysterious Count Orlok (portrayed by Bill Skarsgard) to close a land deal. But unbeknownst to Hutter, Orlok is a bloodthirsty vampire who sinks his teeth into the real estate agent’s hometown and life, including wife Ellen, filling her with dread and catastrophic visions. She is left to deal with overwhelming forces of evil. The cast also features Willem Dafoe as Professor Albin Eberhart Von Franz, an eclectic expert in the occult, and Ralph Ineson as Dr. Wilhelm Sievers who tries conventional medicinal treatments on Ellen but to no avail.
Blaschke shared that there were strong sources of inspiration–Murnau’s silent movie and Stoker’s novel–which had to be considered but at the same time the new Nosferatu had to be distinctly different and justified on its own. In sifting through the script and the lineage of the story, Blaschke gained a piece of direction from Eggers that was most helpful. Eggers told him that he wanted romanticism to be felt in the feel and look of the film. This, said Blaschke, set him on the right path, dovetailing with scenes basking in the pale glow of moonlight–even the interior shots at times–but looking natural and realistic. The vision of romanticism had Blaschke thinking of bringing the 19th Century and the sublime together, achieving a feel that was beautiful and terrifying, a heightened naturalism, lush while giving a melodramatic tinge to landscapes, attaining voluptuous rich imagery as opposed to something expressionistic.
Blaschke gravitated to vintage Baltar lenses for Nosferatu, having had a good experience with them on The Lighthouse. The Baltar lenses helped deliver the soft glow and cool pastels he wanted. Blaschke said those lenses made in the late 1930s/early ‘40s were “sharp enough but sort of obscure in a subtle way,” yielding fine detail, gentle color that’s slightly washed to bring pastels to the palette. And he chose a film camera (film often being the medium of choice for Eggers and Blaschke) conducive to those lenses, namely the ARRICAM ST model. The Baltar lenses were complemented by Ultra High-Speed Panavision optics, specially engineered to be simpatico with the Baltars.
The cinematographer added that he often benefits from an extended gestation time on his collaborations with Eggers. The director brings the cinematographer in early on–sometimes before it’s known whether the film will even come to pass. “I’m thinking about the movie months before a typical DP would get to contemplate a new project–sometimes years before,” noted Blaschke. At a given time, related Blaschke, Eggers may have five movies in his mind–that might or might never happen. But they talk about them as friends, get the wheels turning and that contemplation of possibilities over time can prove advantageous when a film is eventually greenlit. Plus the two have developed a shorthand over the years which has been beneficial.
Principal photography on Nosferatu got underway in the Czech Republic in February 2023 and wrapped some 65 shooting days later. Lensing spanned physical locations from centuries ago, as well as more than 60 sets.
Blaschke’s Oscar nomination is one of four garnered by Nosferatu–the others being for production design (production designer Craig Lathrop and set decorator Beatrice Brentnerova), costume design (Linda Muir) and makeup & hairstyling (prosthetic makeup effects designer David White, makeup designer Traci Loader, and hair designer Suzanne Stokes-Munton).
Tod A. Maitland
It’s already been an eventful awards season for sound mixer Tod A. Maitland as he’s being honored not just for his work on A Complete Unknown (Searchlight Pictures) but also for what he’s widely known for as an artist over an enduring, ongoing career.
The latter recognition comes in the form of the Cinema Audio Society’s 2025 Career Achievement Award which will be presented to him later this month at the 61st Annual CAS Awards. CAS president Peter Kurland said of Maitland, “His love for and deep respect for film, combined with his impeccable artistry, make him a truly deserving recipient. Having spent much of my career in New York, I am especially excited to recognize Tod. His family has been prominent in New York sound mixing for generations, and he has beautifully carried on that tradition both in New York and beyond. Tod’s amazing work, especially in sound for music-based films, has set new standards and inspired countless peers and aspiring mixers. His work exemplifies the best in production sound mixing, taking on ever bigger challenges and creating outstanding sound.”
Among those career achievements are six Oscar nominations, the latest being for A Complete Unknown. Maitland’s other Academy Award nods came for Born on the Fourth of July in 1990, JFK in ‘92, Seabiscuit in 2004, Joker in 2020, and West Side Story in 2022. Additionally, Maitland is a two-time CAS Award nominee this year for his work on A Complete Unknown as well as the first episode of TV/streaming series Fallout.
A Complete Unknown marks the first time Maitland has worked with director James Mangold (who wrote the screenplay with Jay Cocks). “I love working with strong directors–Spielberg [on West Side Story], Scorsese [Killers of the Flower Moon, The Irishman],” related Maitland who said of Mangold, “He knows very much what he wants and is not shy to tell you. I really enjoy that.”
Mangold’s directorial vision called for authenticity in telling the story of Bob Dylan (portrayed by Timothée Chalamet). A Complete Unknown focuses on the pivotal years from when Dylan arrived in New York in 1961 through to the 1965 Newport Folk Festival where he became the stuff of American song legend.
The Mangold-driven quest for authenticity entailed live music performances, no playback tracks. This was the first time Maitland had done a movie sans the safety net of playback music. He credited a great team with stepping up to the challenge, capturing everything that went on. “It was kind of like recording a double album and a movie at the same time,” he observed, adding that Chalamet’s work and commitment to doing justice to Dylan vocally and musically were remarkable.
Adding to the realism from a sound standpoint was the deployment of microphones true to the time period. We hear the progression of microphone development over the years. Maitland noted that 40-plus period microphones were used throughout the film, stretching from 1960-’65 for studio sequences and live performances. The film captures the different textures of sound for every different venue.
Maitland had to make allowances for aspects of Chalamet’s performances. For example, Maitland had to wire a microphone in Chalamet’s hair because the way he holds the guitar is so high up on his body. That was the only way to get a mic on him.
Paramount in Maitland’s mind is to provide his audio postproduction colleagues–including his fellow Best Sound Oscar nominees on A Complete Unknown, namely supervising music editor Ted Caplan, supervising sound editor Donald Sylvester, re-recording mixer Paul Massey, and re-recording mixer/sound designer David Giammarco–with “as much as I can give them, as many options…and sound elements as possible.”
A Complete Unknown earned a total of eight Oscar nominations–the others being for Best Picture, directing (Mangold), adapted screenplay (Mangold and Cocks), performance by an actor in a leading role (Chalamet), supporting actor (Edward Norton), supporting actress (Monica Barbaro) and costume design (Arianne Phillips).
This is the final installment of our weekly 16-part The Road To Oscar Series of feature stories. The 97th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 2, with coverage appearing on SHOOTonline, the SHOOT>e.dition and SHOOT Dailies.
