without arrows
documentary i Jonathan Olshefski, Elizabeth Day
Filmed over the course of thirteen years (2011-2023), WITHOUT ARROWS chronicles the vibrance and struggle of a Lakȟóta family.
Delwin Fiddler Jr., a champion grass dancer from the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, left his reservation as a young man to escape a trauma that splintered his family and built a new life in Philadelphia. A decade later he abandons it all and returns home to fulfill his mother’s ambition and carry on the legacy of their thiyóšpaye (extended family).
TRT: 60 Minutes
Release: January 13, 2025
Expiration:
Distributor: Independent Lens
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Jonathan Olshefski
Director/Producer
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.
elizabeth day
Director/Producer
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.
