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The deadCenter Film Festival has a history of shining a light on films made in Oklahoma about Oklahoma, and this year is no exception. Last night’s closing film was the Sundance Film Festival darling, Fancy Dance, from Oklahoma-born director Erica Tremblay. The film tells the soulful story of Jax, a Native American woman living on the Seneca–Cayuga Nation Reservation, who serves as a stand-in mother for her niece, Rokie, just before Rokie’s grandparents separate them. Fancy Dance received a standing ovation from the audience in The First American’s Museum Five Moons Theater before taking home the Best Indigenous Feature and Best Narrative Feature awards.
Erica Tremblay is the 2023 deadCenter Icon Award winner, one of the highest festival honors. In this deadCenter 2023 interview, we talk with Tremblay about her experience bringing Fancy Dance back to Oklahoma.
She shares her perspective on why representing Queer native women on the big screen is essential to understanding the urgent state of the Seneca-Cayuga Nation along with some of the unique challenges faced making the film.
Tremblay is a Sundance Screenwriters and Directors Lab fellow and recipient of SFFILM Rainin and Lynn Shelton grants. She was the executive story editor of Dark Winds, an AMC series produced by George R.R. Martin and Robert Redford. She also served as executive story editor on season two of FX’s Reservation Dogs from fellow dCFF ICON Sterlin Harjo. She will co-produce and direct season three.
Listen to this conversation with Erica to hear her passion for this subject and approach to filmmaking.
The Cinematic Schematic recording with Erica Tremblay from the dCFF23 press room.
Fancy Dance Q&A featuring Lily Gladstone, Erica Tremblay, and deadCenter Features Programmer Sunrise Tippeconnie.
Special Guest
Erica Tremblay
Writer/Director/Producer of Fancy Dance
About Fancy Dance
According to IMDB, Fancy Dance is described as:
The film follows a Native American hustler who kidnaps her niece from her white grandparents and sets out for the state powwow in the hope of keeping what’s left of their family intact.
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