‘Fancy Dance’: Apple Original Films Acquires Global Rights To Erica Tremblay’s Feature Film Debut Starring Academy Award-nominee Lily Gladstone

Apple Original Films today announced that it has landed the global rights to Fancy Dance, the Sundance Film Festival Selection from Confluential Films that stars Killers of the Flower Moon award-winning and Academy Award-nominated lead actress Lily Gladstone, alongside Isabel Deroy-Olson, Ryan Begay, Shea Whigham, Crystle Lightning and Audrey Wasilewski. This marks the feature directorial debut for Erica Tremblay, who also co-wrote the script with Miciana Alise.

Following its debut at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, Fancy Dance is set to make its debut in theaters and on Apple TV+ this year.

“Our film ‘Fancy Dance’ has found the perfect home with Apple, and I am thrilled to share this beautiful story of two Seneca-Cayuga women with a global audience.” Tremblay said. “As a Native American filmmaker, seeing my community included in the rich tapestry of cinema is a dream come true.” Tremblay’s film 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.

Since her sister’s disappearance, Jax (Gladstone) has cared for her niece Roki (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 (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.

Fancy Dance, a Confluential Films and Significant Productions/AUM Group production, is produced by Deidre Backs, Erica Tremblay, Heather Rae, Nina Yang Bongiovi, and Tommy Oliver. Lily Gladstone, Bird Runningwater, Charlotte Koh, and Forest Whitaker serve as executive producers. The deal was brokered by WME Independent on behalf of the filmmakers.

Tremblay is represented by WME, Ragna Nervik Management and Frankfurt, Kurnit Klein. Gladstone is repped by Independent Artist Group, McKuin Frankel Whitehead and Authentic Talent and Literary Management, the latter of which also reps Deroy-Olson, along with Red Management. 

Fancy Dance will join Apple’s widely acclaimed and award winning feature, Killers of the Flower Moon, which was recently nominated for 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and is now playing in-theaters, as well as streaming globally on Apple TV+.