ERICA TREMBLAY | USA | 2023 | 90 MIN | RATING | ENGLISH, CAYUGA
Already having a breakout year thanks to her acclaimed performance in Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, Lily Gladstone cements her status as one of the most exciting actors working today in this powerful drama, in which she plays a Native American woman trying desperately to hold her family together. Months after her mom’s disappearance, good-natured, impressionable 13-year-old Roki (Isabel Deroy-Olson) holds out hope that they’ll dance together in the state powwow. Roki’s tough but loving aunt Jax (Gladstone) is a bit more clear-eyed but no less determined to find her sister, taking matters into her own hands when the authorities make their indifference apparent. When Roki is removed from Jax’s care and placed with her estranged white grandparents, Jax kidnaps her niece and hits the road in search of answers, triggering an Amber Alert and setting into motion a series of events that will change both of their lives. With this sensitive and assured feature debut, Seneca-Cayuga filmmaker Erica Tremblay has created an indelible depiction of hardship and joyful resistance.
Cast: Lily Gladstone, Isabel Deroy-Olson, Ryan Begay, Crystle Lightning
All sales are final. Admission is not guaranteed after scheduled start time.
CLICK HERE to return to the complete 32nd Philadelphia Film Festival schedule.