Fancy Dance

A Native American hustler kidnaps her niece from the child’s white grandparents and sets out for the state powwow in hopes of keeping what is left of their family intact.

The bond between an Indigenous girl and her aunt proves stronger than ever when their loved one goes missing.

Since her sister’s disappearance, Jax (Lily Gladstone) 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 Jax losing custody to Roki’s grandfather, 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 while at the mercy of a failed justice system.

Missing and murdered Indigenous women have become so commonplace that there is a dance dedicated to them each year. Fancy Dance gives us some insight into the challenges that Native American people face, along with the challenges that women of all backgrounds experience in our society. This is not a happy story, but it is an important one.

Lily Gladstone stars alongside Deroy-Olson, Ryan Begay, Crystle Lightning, with Audrey Wasilewski and Whigham. Directed by Erica Tremblay.