'Fancy Dance' starring Lily Gladstone balances heartbreak and humor in the story of a missing Indigenous woman

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Lily Gladstone knows the serious stories about what she calls the “epidemic” of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People to have. But she also values ​​humor in telling these stories.

In “Fancy Dance” Set for a limited theatrical release Friday and a streaming release on Apple TV+ on June 28, Gladstone plays Jax, who has been caring for his niece, Roki, since her sister disappeared on the Seneca-Cayuga reservation in Oklahoma. As the couple searches for their loved one and prepares for Roki's upcoming powwow, they share moments of unexpected levity woven into the emotional story.

“It would be very difficult to find a Native person in North America today who is not personally touched by some element of history,” Gladstone said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. “We all know a MMIP (missing and murdered indigenous person). This is something we are all collectively grieving and working to resolve. … We stay together and we survive by being funny, by finding humor in it.

Newcomer Isabel Deroy-Olson, who stars alongside Gladstone as Roki, said the film's humor helps audiences get through the story's heavier moments – which is also true for the actors.

“As we all have a pretty similar sense of humor, we also brought that behind the scenes, as a way to encourage each other, and that’s so true in all of our communities,” she said. “We just like to laugh with each other. Showing that both on and off screen was really important to us.

“We have to keep the joy, we have to keep the laughter and we have to keep our optimism to survive an ongoing genocide,” declared director and co-writer Erica Tremblay.

Named after Jacqueline “Jax” Agtuca, who works for the National Native Women's Resource Center, Gladstone's character becomes frustrated with the authorities' lack of attention or care toward her sister's case and turns to community for help with research. Gladstone said amplifying this kind of story on screen without it being “shoved down anyone's throat” can inspire change.

“By being and embodying a character, a person who goes through the stages of this work, you invite the audience into this perspective, into this world where they learn about the jurisdictional gaps and inequalities in society that create the obstacles for the characters that they 'They support,' she said.

“You learn about this obstacle in a way that makes you want to change it, instead of just hearing about it in a PowerPoint presentation or as a talking point in a news segment that you'll quickly skim through because you're more interested by your team’s score,” Gladstone continued.

Although films and shows have previously addressed the topic of missing indigenous people, they have often been criticized for not depicting the issue accurately and respectfully or for failing to reach a wide audience. Taylor Sheridan, co-creator of the Paramount hit “Yellowstone,” wrote and directed one of the few widely distributed films on the subject with 2017’s “Wind River.”

ABC's 2022 drama series “Alaska Daily” also explored violence against Native women and the lack of attention given to their cases, but was canceled after one season. ABC had already published "Big Sky," a drama set in Montana that premiered in 2020 and was criticized for centering on white victims rather than Native women, who make up the majority of the state's missing and murdered population.

THE Bureau of Indian Affairs it is estimated that there are approximately 4,200 cases of disappearances and murders nationwide that have remained unresolved.

“Fancy Dance” focuses on the lack of institutional support and jurisdictional issues that make it difficult to resolve missing Indigenous cases. Unlike its predecessors, “Fancy Dance” does not show any violence against women on screen, a move that is often considered exploitative.

The film premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 2023, and despite critical acclaim, it was not picked up by a distributor until over a year later. Tremblay said the film crew didn't see the offers they expected because of how they “met the checklist of what it takes to make a successful independent film,” but noted that the film landing on Apple's streaming service was the “end of their dream.” .”

“The linchpin of the entire plan to bring this film to the world was Lily's continued advocacy for the film and the beautiful time that she and all of the Indigenous cast and crew of 'Killers of the Flower Moon ” experienced last year. » said Tremblay. “Lily used some of that sparkle to aim for 'Fancy Dance,' I think that was essential for us and we're very grateful to be there.”