For most of the first few decades of his life, Indigenous writer and filmmaker Julian Brave NoiseCat didn’t see much of his father. Ed Archie NoiseCat, a well-known visual artist, left the family when Julian was 6, and that history of abandonment made it hard to connect when father and son did see each other over the years. But when Julian was 28, he began two projects that precipitated an unexpected choice: he moved across the country and became roommates with his dad.
Julian talks to host Anita Rao about how the decision to dig into his family’s past and Indigenous history broke open his relationship with his dad and led to healing. He also shares how his questions about Native fatherhood have become more urgent now that he has his own son.
Julian Brave NoiseCat is the co-director of the Oscar-nominated documentary Sugarcane and the author of "We Survived the Night."
