FANCY DANCE

Since her sister’s disappearance, Jax (Kelly Reichardt acting staple Lily Gladstone, who will soon reach mainstream stardom with the upcoming KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON directed by Martin Scorsese) has cared for her niece Roki (Isabel Deroy-Olson) by scraping by on the Seneca-Cayuga Reservation in Oklahoma. Every spare minute goes into finding her missing sister while also helping Roki prepare for an upcoming powwow. At the risk of losing custody to Jax’s father, Frank (Shea Whigham), the pair hit the road and scour the backcountry to track down Roki’s mother in time for the powwow. 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 and at the mercy of a failed justice system. Writer-director Erica Tremblay’s first feature film is produced by Sundance stalwart producer Nina Yang Bonjiovi (Ryan Coogler’s FRUITVALE STATION, Alika Tengan’s upcoming feature adaptation of MOLOKA‘I BOUND). Tremblay’s juxtaposition of settler violence against the strength of Indigenous communities offers a nuanced account of the human costs of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women epidemic and the possibilities of healing for those left behind.