Storytelling for the Screen: Fancy Dance

Erica Tremblay is a queer and Native American director, writer, and producer from the Seneca-Cayuga Nation. Her work across film and television has quickly established her as one of the most exciting new voices working today, and exemplifies her artistic mandate of crafting authentic stories that showcase and celebrate contemporary Native American characters not typically seen on screen. Her feature film directorial debut, Fancy Dance, which she also co-wrote and produced, received its world premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Tremblay also served as an Executive Story Editor on Season 2 of FX’s landmark series Reservation Dogs, and made her television directorial debut with the season’s third episode. She will co-produce the show’s upcoming third season. She is also currently developing a television series alongside Sterlin Harjo based on the Pulitzer Prize finalist Yellow Bird. Her short film Little Chief, which also starred Lily Gladstone, premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and was named to IndieWire’s “10 Must-See Short Films” at the festival. She is the recipient of the Walter Bernstein Screenwriting Fellowship, the Maja Kristin Directing Fellowship, the SFFILM Rainin Grant, and the Lynn Shelton “Of A Certain Age” Grant. Before devoting herself to writing and filmmaking full-time, Tremblay had a successful career in media, producing content at both Hearst Digital Media and the Bustle Digital Group. She currently resides in upstate New York, where she studies her Indigenous language.