Sundance Film Festival 2020 – Little Chief
The lives of a Native woman and nine-year-old boy intersect over the course of a school day on a reservation in Oklahoma
Interview with Writer/Director/Producer Erica Tremblay
Watch Little Chief here:
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
Little Chief is a love letter to my mother and all of the other matriarchs in my life who are working through their own trauma in order to heal themselves and others in our community. It is this exhaustive work that ensures our future as a people. We are still feeling the resounding impact of the residential school era, and it is paramount that we take back our classrooms and provide culturally-specific teachings. Little Chief was an opportunity for me to highlight that incredible work and explore the challenges that our teachers and students face every day.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
It's not often you get to watch a film about Indigenous folks made by Indigenous folks.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
We only cut one scene from the film in post. What is on the screen is almost beat for beat what was written in the script.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
We recently screened the film on the Seneca-Cayuga Nation where we filmed and it was so great to get to share Little Chief with my community. The response was really great. That has been our only screening so far so I am excited to hear the feedback at Sundance.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
This is my first narrative piece and I am looking to make more. I would love to find folks who are interested in collaborating and supporting a queer Indigenous filmmaker.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
All of the above!
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I made this film to highlight the work being done in my community to provide safety and knowledge to our youth. I am really hoping that people who watch this film will consider the challenges rural and urban schools face when educating their students and think about ways they can support these institutions.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
How do colonized cultures grapple with educating their youth in culturally-aware ways? What are the burdens on the next generation, and how are these children emotionally coping with a grim reality that they neither chose nor control? I hope to provide insight into these questions through this work.
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
I am currently writing a feature called Fancy Dance, about a two-spirit woman who kidnaps her niece from a foster home on the way to a powwow. The U.S. government has long been removing Native kids from their homes and placing them with non-Native wards and I want to explore the impacts of this but in a way that allows the characters to take a break from the trauma and go on a road trip together. I am also working on a feature documentary called Sister’s Gone, that investigates the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Alaska.
Interview: January 2020
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
Little Chief
The lives of a Native woman and nine-year-old boy intersect over the course of a school day on a reservation in Oklahoma
Length: 12:49
Director: Erica Tremblay
Producer: Erica Tremblay
Writer: Erica Tremblay
About the writer, director and producer:
ERICA TREMBLAY (Seneca-Cayuga) is a filmmaker and activist currently studying her Indigenous language on the Six Nations Reserve. Her projects have screened at 60+ film festivals and her work has been featured on PBS, CNN and the Independent Film Channel. Erica’s films explore topics including violence against Indigenous women, restorative justice and issues impacting the two-spirit community. She has worked with many grassroots organizations including the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center, the Alaska Native Women’s Coalition and the Monument Quilt Project. Erica was recently honored as a 40 Under 40 Native American.
Key cast: Lily Gladstone, Jullian Ballentyne
Looking for: sales agents, distributors, film festival directors, journalists, buyers
Facebook: Erica Tremblay
Twitter: @EricaTremblay
Instagram: @littlechieffilm
Hashtags used: #littlechief
Website: www.erica-tremblay.com
Other: IMDb
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? Sundance Film Festival