Focus on Lily Gladstone

Celebrate a true trailblazer of American independent cinema and beyond.

When a relatively unknown Lily Gladstone appeared in Kelly Reichardt's Certain Women, a film that starred Laura Dern, Michelle Williams and Kristen Stewart, they did the impossible: Gladstone stole the show. Their performance was nuanced and articulate, with so much more communicated non-verbally than the dialogue could begin to convey. Since then, Gladstone has carved out a career in independent cinema, embodying thoughtfulness, measure and magnetism in their roles.

In 2023, Gladstone's career took another huge turn with her portrayal of Mollie Burhart, an Osage woman in 1920s Oklahoma, in Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon. Gladstone themself is of Piegan Blackfeet and Nez Perce heritage and spent their childhood raised in the Blackfeet Nation in Montana. They are the first Indigenous actor, from what is now the United States of America, to receive the Golden Globe for Best Actress and be nominated for the equivalent Academy Award – this is only the beginning of what is shaping up to be a brilliant career.

This May, we dedicate our cinema screens to the actor’s luminous presence which has captured the attention of viewers and awards season pundits alike.

– Reece Goodwin, Curator (Film & TV)