- Details
- By Native News Online Staff
Oscar-nominated Lily Gladstone is once again on the movie screen, this time in the recent film Fancy Dance, now streaming on Apple Tv+.
In the 90-minute film created by Erica Tremblay (Seneca-Cayuga), Gladstone plays Jax, a queer Native woman living on the Seneca–Cayuga Nation Reservation in Oklahoma. In the wake of her sister’s disappearance, Jax is tasked with caring for her niece Roki (Isabel Deroy-Olson), while also fighting to keep her in custody. The film deals with themes of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, the Indian Child Welfare Act, and tribal sovereignty.
Lily
“What begins as a search gradually turns into a far deeper investigation into the complexities and contradictions of Indigenous women moving through a colonized world while at the mercy of a failed justice system,” Apple said about the film in a statement.
Fancy Dance originally premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. For more than a year, the film remained undisturbed until Apple purchased it in February. It played in limited theaters at the end of June, and is now available for streaming on Apple TV+, as of June 28.
In March, Native News Online spoke with Gladstone ahead of the Oscars. She had earned an Oscar nomination for Best Actress as Mollie Burkhart in Martin Scorsese's “Killers of the Flower Moon,” a film that follows a stoic Osage woman from the 1920s whose relatives were murdered by her white husband (Leonardo Decaprio) in pursuit of oil wealth.
The irony: a century after the FBI was created to save Native lives and investigate a string of murders on the Osage Nation, Indigenous people go missing or are murdered more than any other race in the country. The FBI, the agency responsible for investigating many of the crimes in Indian Country, has done little to stop the crisis.
Gladstone likened the plot of Fancy Dance to a modern-day Killers of the Flower Moon.
“It really is kind of incredible how much those (Fancy Dance and Killers of the Flower Moon) need to be seen together,” Gladstone told Native News Online in March. “Because it's the same issues 100 years later, on the same land. Time changes, but these systemic issues remain.”
In February, Native News Online interviewed Tremblay about her work creating Fancy Dance, a film that was written and shot in Oklahoma on Cherokee land.
“We made the film with so many incredible Indigenous and Oklahoma crew members, and to get to make the film with my friends and collaborators is such a dream,” she said. “I'm just hoping that it reaches as many Native American living rooms as possible.”
More Stories Like This
Q&A: Sicangu Lakota Filmmaker Yvonne Russo on Her New Hulu Series, 'Vow of Silence: The Assassination of Annie Mae'Third Annual Tribal Museums Day Centers Diverse Histories, Cultures & Lifeways
Tommy Orange's "Wandering Stars" Makes TIME's 100 Must-Read Books of 2024 List
Barbie Honors Maria Tallchief, America’s First Prima Ballerina, with Inspiring Women Doll for Native American Heritage Month
10 Native American Artists and Musicians You Should Know
Support Independent Indigenous Journalism That Holds Power to Account
With the election now decided, Native News Online is recommitting to our core mission: rigorous oversight of federal Indian policy and its impact on tribal communities.
The previous Trump administration’s record on Indian Country — from the reduction of sacred sites to aggressive energy development on tribal lands — demands heightened vigilance as we enter this new term. Our Indigenous-centered newsroom will provide unflinching coverage of policies affecting tribal sovereignty, sacred site protection, MMIR issues, water rights, Indian health, and economic sovereignty.
This critical watchdog journalism requires resources. Your support, in any amount, helps maintain our independent, Native-serving news coverage. Every contribution helps keep our news free for all of our relatives. Please donate today to ensure Native News Online can thrive and deliver impactful, independent journalism.
