The Long Road Home: 'Without Arrows' Chronicles a Lakota Man’s Return in a Decade-Spanning Documentary

A decade-spanning documentary project has reached its conclusion, offering an intimate and highly authentic portrait of contemporary Native American life. Without Arrows, which is set to premiere on PBS’s Independent Lens on Monday, January 13th, follows the life of Delwin Fiddler, Jr., an enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, as he navigates his identity between his urban life and his eventual return to his ancestral reservation in South Dakota after thirteen years spent in Philadelphia.

The film’s power and authenticity were immediately apparent during a recent test screening in Duluth, Minnesota. Ojibwe filmmaker Elizabeth Day (Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe), who joined the project as co-director, vividly recalled a scene where family members humorously struggled to drag a fresh buffalo hide and heave it into a car trunk, resulting in blood staining everything. The packed theater reportedly "roared with laughter," with one woman confirming, "been there, done that." Day recognized this visceral, communal reaction as confirmation that the documentary was successfully speaking "directly to Native audiences."

The thirteen-year production journey began unexpectedly with a phone call to Philadelphia filmmaker Jonathan Olshefski. Olshefski recalled the moment the acclaimed grass dancer, Delwin Fiddler, Jr., called him, asking, "‘Jon – when are we going to make our movie?’" Over the course of the next decade-plus, Olshefski’s cameras captured life in its entirety, chronicling ceremonies, births, and the passing of elders. These moments of profound joy and enduring loss are interwoven throughout the film to tell not merely one man's story but the expansive, inter-generational story of a family and a community across time.

Several years into the shooting process, Olshefski recognized the essential need for a Native perspective to guide the storytelling. He candidly admitted, "I have things I just don't understand as a white guy, especially a white guy living in Philadelphia," noting his desire to have a Native collaborator. Through public television connections, he reached out to Elizabeth Day, whose previous film work focuses specifically on contemporary Native American stories. This commitment to collaboration ensured a filmmaking approach that honored both artistic and cultural considerations. Day confirmed that the co-directors excelled at "building a safe space" for potentially difficult conversations, forging enough mutual trust to ensure they were always "on the same team" when making important decisions about the film’s final structure.

The documentary captures Fiddler’s complex journey as he navigates between two distinct worlds. Olshefski noted that Fiddler’s relationships manifested differently whether he was in Philadelphia or moving back home. The filmmaker suggested that Fiddler is "navigating that sense of place and identity across multiple locations that I think is sort of universal to a lot of Native folks living in a context where place is really complicated due to what the American government has done to this community."

Without Arrows focuses particularly on Fiddler’s relationships with his parents and his evolving role in preserving cultural traditions. At a pivotal moment, Fiddler's mother asks him to help preserve Native culture for the next generation. Day explained that the mother "tasks him with 'you're 30 years old now, and you have a new set of responsibilities to our family and to our community.'" As a result, Fiddler is not only navigating a reconnection with his immediate family but also confronting the deeper, unique community question of "What does it mean to be a Lakota man? What does it mean to be a Lakota son, father and community member?"

The filmmakers were insistent on showing the community's full spectrum of experiences. Day stressed, "We were really mindful to not sanitize the film but also really to show the positive aspect of the community, the laughter, the joy, the strength, the resilience." She concluded that this focus is essential, as laughter is precisely "how we've survived as a nation and as a culture."

To ensure authentic representation both on-screen and behind the camera, the production team included Native creators in other key roles, including editor Leah Hale (Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota and Diné Nations), composer Olivia Komacheet (Comanche and Otoe-Missouria), and cultural consultant Wayne Ducheneaux (Lakota), who grew up alongside the Fiddler family and attended high school with Delwin.

Prior to the film’s national broadcast, the team undertook what they affectionately called the "Fiddler Family Reunion Tour," screening the documentary in homes across South Dakota. Olshefski recounted a particularly special moment during one screening when Fiddler's nephews watched footage of their great-grandparents, connecting with family members they had never had the chance to meet in person. Olshefski stated that this was "just really special to see people who were seeing themselves interacting with other family members, seeing themselves at a different time." He concluded that the team "worked really hard to make this in a good way," expressing hope that viewers will be inspired to watch the film, ask questions, and then "go out and learn the answers," noting that the necessary information is available to those who "go connect and make some (Native) friends."