Apple Original Films has picked up Fancy Dance starring Lily Gladstone

Apple Original Films has announced that it has landed the global rights to Fancy Dance, the acclaimed Sundance Film Festival Selection from Confluential Films that stars “Killers of the Flower Moon” award-winning and Academy Award-nominated lead actress Lily Gladstone, and marks the feature directorial debut for Erica Tremblay, who also co-wrote and produced the film.

Following its debut at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, “Fancy Dance” is set to make its debut in theatres 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.”

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 losing custody to Jax’s father, 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 and at the mercy of a failed justice system. Gladstone stars alongside Isabel Deroy-Olson, Ryan Begay, Shea Whigham, Crystle Lightning and Audrey Wasilewski.

“Fancy Dance” introduces director Erica Tremblay, who also serves as screenwriter alongside Miciana Alise. 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.

“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.