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Filmmaker and Seneca-Cayuga Nation member Erica Tremblay grew up in Seneca, a rural town in Missouri. One of the driving forces behind Fancy Dance, her feature debut co-written with Bremerton-based Miciana Alise, was a desire to “take the things that we see in our own communities and put them up on screen.” 

Released on Apple TV+ late last month, the film stars Mountlake Terrace High School graduate Lily Gladstone as Jax, a woman living on the Seneca-Cayuga reservation searching for her sister, Tawi, who has worryingly disappeared without a trace. She’s taking care of her sibling’s 13-year-old daughter, Roki (a revelatory Isabel DeRoy-Olson), in the meantime, but she’s dealt a blow early in the film when Roki’s grandfather (Shea Whigham) and his wife (Audrey Wasilewski), to whom the teen doesn’t have much of a relationship, are determined to get full custody after learning of Jax’s criminal record.

Read the full interview with Tremblay at 425.