For filmmaker Erica Tremblay, “Fancy Dance” has already achieved the highest of honors. After screening the film for an audience of Cayuga-language speakers in Toronto this past year, one of the elders grabbed her by the cheeks and told her “good job” in Cayuga. “Some of them were crying because they’re in their 80s and 90s and they’ve never seen their language in a film before,” says Tremblay. “To me, that’s the biggest award that the film has received so far.
Anthropologists tried to rewrite that, but it’s in the language, it’s in the ceremonies, it’s in the culture. I'm much more excited about accepting that than any sort of shame. I’m signing up for: I’m at my most powerful. How did you approach balancing these topics that matter to you with making entertainment? Miciana and I wrote this film and made this film for Native people. We wanted the film to be a film that's by Native people, about Native people.