Following its National PBS Premiere, WITHOUT ARROWS comes to Streaming & DVD on February 18th!

Full Synopsis

The poignant feature documentary Without Arrows chronicles three generations of a Lakota family as Delwin Fiddler Jr., an acclaimed grass dancer, returns to his ancestral home on the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Reservation in South Dakota. After 11 years of living in Philadelphia, he leaves his big city life behind, aiming to reconnect with his mother and father and learn more about their family history.

A portrait of the Fiddlers, Without Arrows begins as Delwin works to rebuild his life and sense of identity while navigating within his family and within the larger culture of the reservation. Delwin experiences struggles and frustrations as he attempts to rekindle an interest in traditional Lakota lifeways while healing from the trauma that caused him to leave home in the first place. Through tenderness and tragedy Without Arrows celebrates the emotional arcs and hidden longings of the Fiddler family as they strive to carry on the legacy of their ancestors to the next generation.

Filmmaker Bios

Delwin Elk Bear Fiddler is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, Sans Arc band, and a world renowned Native American performing Artist. Delwin's accolades include performing for two American Presidents and the Royal Family in England. As a teenager he was a champion Grass and Hoop dancer on the pow-wow circuit. His traditional Grass Dance is displayed in a continual loop at the Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.

Delwin created the non-profit PAZA Tree of Life to fulfill his mother's dream of returning the people to the roots of their culture. PAZA's goal is to promote cultural awareness with cultural exchange so that all people might learn the medicine ways of his ancestors who have walked the earth for thousands of years. Delwin believes that through empowerment and reconciliation, healing can occur. Like his ancestor, Crazy Horse, he sees the future with all people working together in harmony for the greater good of humankind.

Jonathan Olshefski is an artist and documentary filmmaker. His debut feature documentary QUEST premiered at Sundance in 2017. He was named as one of 25 New Faces in Independent Film by Filmmaker Magazine and mentioned in the New York Times as one of “The 9 New Directors You Need to Watch.” In 2018 he received the “Truer Than Fiction Award” at the Independent Spirit Awards and was selected for a Pew Artist Fellowship. Olshefski strives to tell intimate and nuanced stories that honor his protagonists’ complexity by employing a production process that emphasizes collaboration, dialogue, and relationship seeking to amplify their voices and reflect their points of view in an artful way. He is a Professor at Rowan University and lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. More about Jon here: olshefski.org

Elizabeth Day (Ojibwe) is a filmmaker from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Born on the Leech Lake Reservation and raised in the Twin Cities area, Day blends her Native American heritage with her urban upbringing to create films that employ traditional Ojibwe-style storytelling while using contemporary filmmaking techniques. Her work often explores the tension between traditional Native teachings and the life of a modern, urban Indian. A primary motivation for Day is recording and capturing the quickly fading pastimes of Ojibwe culture, an important and integral piece of Minnesota’s history. Through the medium of film, she examines a broad swath of Native history, from the rich Ojibwe tradition of storytelling to the painful history of government-enforced boarding schools to the modern-day identity issues faced by Native families.