Emily Kassie (born 15 December 1992) is an Academy Award nominated filmmaker and investigative journalist. [1] [2] She won the Directing Award at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival for her debut feature documentary Sugarcane . [3]
Kassie was born in Toronto. She studied at Brown University [4] and was awarded the Gates Scholarship to the University of Cambridge where she completed her masters. [5] In 2015 her short documentary, I Married My Family's Killer, on intermarriage in post-genocide Rwanda, won the Student Academy Award. [6] The film was broadcast on the CBC. [7]
Kassie has covered conflict and human rights abuses internationally. In 2016, she won the World Press Photo award for the cover up of DuPont's chemical spill in West Virginia [8] and was also named NPPA's multimedia portfolios of the year for her work on radicalization of ISIS operatives and corruption in the pharmaceutical industry. [9] In 2017 her reporting on the profiteers of the refugee crisis in Niger, Turkey, Italy and Germany garnered an Overseas Press Club Award, [10] the ASNE's Punch Sulzberger award [11] and the National Magazine Award [12] of which she was the youngest ever winner. [13]
In 2019, her New York Times documentary on sexual abuse in immigrant detention was used in the senate judiciary hearings on child separation, and subsequently won the World Press Photo award and earned an Emmy nomination. [14] In 2020, she won a National Magazine Award for her immersive documentary on immigrant detention [15] and was nominated for a Peabody Award. [16] She was named to Forbes 30 under 30 list in 2020. [17] In 2021, she directed a Frontline documentary following an undocumented family during the coronavirus pandemic which was nominated for an Emmy. [18]
After smuggling into Taliban territory with PBS Newshour correspondent Jane Ferguson to report on their imminent siege of Kabul, Kassie was part of the PBS NewsHour team to win the Overseas Press Club award for a series on the fall of Afghanistan in 2021. [19]
She served as director, producer and cinematographer of Sugarcane with co-director Julian Brave NoiseCat. The film follows an investigation into abuse and missing children at an Indian residential school near the Sugarcane reserve in British Columbia. The New York Times called it "stunning" and "a must-see." [20] RogerEbert.com called it "soul-shaking," and "profoundly evocative." [21]
After winning the Grand Jury Directing Award at the Sundance Film Festival, [22] Sugarcane was acquired by National Geographic Documentary Films and was distributed in theaters before streaming on Hulu and Disney +. It won over 30 International awards including two Critics Choice Awards and the National Board of Review award for best documentary. It was screened at the White House and named to President Barack Obama's top ten movies of 2024.
| Year | Organization Name | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Academy Awards | Documentary | Nominated |
| 2025 | Directors Guild of America Awards | Documentary | Nominated |
| 2025 | National Board of Review | Best Documentary | Won |
| 2025 | Cinema Eye Honors | Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography | Won |
| 2024 | Critics Choice Awards | Political Documentary | Won |
| 2024 | Critics Choice Awards | True Crime Documentary | Won |
| 2024 | Sundance Film Festival Jury Prize | Directing | Won |
| 2021 | Overseas Press Club Award | The Peter Jennings Award | Won |
| 2021 | News and Documentary Emmy Awards | Outstanding Continuing Coverage News Story | Nominated |
| 2020 | National Magazine Awards | Multimedia Story of the Year | Won |
| 2020 | Edward R. Murrow Award | News Documentary | Won |
| 2019 | News and Documentary Emmy Awards | Hard News Feature | Nominated |
| 2019 | Peabody Awards | General | Nominated |
| 2019 | Edward R. Murrow Award | Excellence in Video | Won |
| 2019 | Pictures of the Year International | Multimedia Photographer of the Year | Won |
| 2018 | Peabody Futures of Media Award | General | Won |
| 2018 | Edward R. Murrow Award | Breaking News | Won |
| 2018 | International Photography Awards | Moving Image Photographer of the Year | Won |
| 2017 | Overseas Press Club Award | International Reporting | Won |
| 2017 | National Magazine Awards | Multimedia Story of the Year | Won |
| 2017 | American Society of News Editors | The Punch Sulzberger Award | Won |
| 2016 | World Press Photo Awards | Immersive Storytelling | Won |
| 2016 | National Press Photographers Association | Multimedia Portfolio of the Year | Won |
| 2015 | Student Academy Award | Documentary | Won |