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“It Was Crucial to Bring a Native Lens into Each Area of the Creative Roles”: Jonathan Olshefski and Elizabeth Day on Without Arrows

Without Arrows

Delwin Fiddler Jr., star of Jonathan Olshefski (a “25 New Face” of 2017) and Elizabeth Day’s Without Arrows, grew up on the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Reservation in South Dakota, where he found his calling as a grass dancer (which led to championships on the pow-wow circuit and eventually even international fame. His work can be seen not only in the film but also in a continual loop at the Museum of the American Indian in D.C.). And then he spent over a decade in Philadelphia, making more money if not a better living.

Having had enough of big city life, Fiddler eventually decided to return home to rekindle relationships, particularly with his aging mom and dad, and to reconnect with his culture and absorb the family history. However that’s where things got complicated, for the rez is a place of beauty and unconditional love but also dark generational trauma.

Remarkably, it was in this intimate space that Fiddler and his family allowed two outsiders with cameras to film for 13 years, one of whom (Ojibwe filmmaker Day) was born on the Leech Lake Reservation and raised in Minneapolis–Saint Paul. So to learn how the co-directors crafted a film that celebrates heritage without sugarcoating the inheritance of genocide, Filmmaker caught up with the duo the week before the doc’s PBS debut. (January 13th on Independent Lens.)

Filmmaker: So how did this collaboration — with each other and with Delwin and his family — begin? How did you all meet?

Olshefski: It all started in 2010, when I was doing community screenings in North Philadelphia. I eventually partnered with Independent Lens to host monthly screenings with a slate of films from their documentary series. One of the films on the slate was (Neil Diamond’s) Reel Injun, which is about Native American representation in media. For this event I wanted to find someone who had relevant cultural knowledge to facilitate the post-screening discussion. A friend shared that there was a Native dance troupe in West Philly called Native Nations Dance Theater. So I sent an email – and NNDT members Vaughnda Hilton and Delwin Fiddler Jr. agreed to come to the event. A few months later Delwin called me from a number I didn’t recognize, and without reintroducing himself simply said, “Jon, when are we going to make our movie?”
 
In May 2011 we flew to South Dakota and started what we thought would be a short film about a week-long visit home to the reservation, but a few weeks after that trip Delwin uprooted his entire life and bought a one-way ticket with the intention to move back to the reservation permanently. At this point we both realized that the story was deeper than a simple portrait of a visit home, so we kept filming.
  
After shooting for many years as a one-person-band I realized that I needed support if I was ever going to complete the film. I knew that I wanted to work with Native talent to navigate how to best tell the story for a Native audience. Shirley Sneve is the former executive director of Vision Maker Media, and she connected me to Elizabeth. After sharing footage and having a number of conversations we decided to work together, eventually becoming a co-producer/co-director team.
 
Day: When I got the email from Shirley introducing me to Jon I wasn’t sure if I was ready to take on a project at that time, but after some emailing back and forth my interest was piqued. Jon sent some footage and a sample scene, which I watched with my dad. As I watched my dad watching footage of Delwin Sr. I saw how he responded — leaning forward and laughing and relating to Delwin Sr as a familiar relative. That’s when I knew this was a project I needed to be a part of.

Filmmaker: How did you divide up co-directing duties? Did this change over the many years of shooting?

Olshefski: We took a consensus approach to our decision making. We had many conversations that were pretty emotional because we are both incredibly passionate about this story. We kept an open mind and tried a lot of things, because you don’t know until you cut it and watch it down. Ultimately we didn’t keep anything in if we both weren’t fully onboard. 

Day: I came onboard after the principal photography was completed so it did not change how the film was shot; I love Jon’s style and have so much trust in his methodology, so it probably would not have made too much of a difference if I had come on earlier.

In building the story structure, we tried a lot of different approaches to building scenes. If there was ever a time we did not agree with each other we were able to talk through it in a really open and respectful way. That might have been one of the greatest strengths of this partnership, our ability to listen to each other knowing we were always on the same team. I think that respect for each other and the respect for the Fiddler family comes through in the movie. 

Filmmaker: Though the filmmaking is quite intimate I’m guessing certain aspects, such as tribal ceremonies, might have been off limits to the camera. Which made me wonder what boundaries were established on the reservation and how those were navigated.

Olshefski: Without Arrows is the result of an invitation into the life of a family. We filmed what the Fiddlers wanted to show. When they wanted to film we filmed, and when they didn’t want to film the camera went away.

This did pose some challenges in the edit, as the Fiddlers are a bit more liberal with showing cultural practices than other members of the community might be. Elizabeth and co-editor Leya Hale (Dakota/Diné) expressed what they were comfortable including, and then when the edit was further along we got feedback from our cultural consultant Wayne Ducheneaux, who grew up with Delwin on the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Reservation and was a former tribal council member. 

This is touchy because the spectrum of opinion on what is acceptable to show is very wide, but we worked hard to figure out what we needed to show to serve the story and what to leave out.

Day: I think that everyone involved in the project was sensitive to how ceremony and culture are represented in the movie. It was amazing that we were able to have Wayne Ducheneaux as a cultural consultant. It really was a gift because of his relationship with the Fiddler family as well as knowledge of the larger community. 

Filmmaker: Though Native representation in film has certainly increased (especially in the post-Standing Rock period), stereotypes persist. So was avoiding any potential demonization/romanticization of reservation life top of mind — or did you just trust in Elizabeth’s familiarity with that world?

Day: Filmmaking is a team event. It is not enough to have just one role filled by a Native person. It was really crucial to bring a Native lens into each area of the creative roles.

The whole team knew that it was important to hold space for Native talent to work on this movie, and it was a joy to work with other Native women. Leya Hale brought her knowledge and perspectives from Diné and Dakotah culture in the edit; Olivia Komacheet brought her Camachee and Otoe influence into the score; and I bring the perspective of an Ojibwe woman into the direction. It was a great honor to build representation both in front of and behind the camera. 

A lot of the conversations we had during the edit was around representation, knowing we held a huge responsibility to give an honest depiction of life on the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Reservation without diluting or sanitizing. There were conversations around the question of, “Is this unique to reservation life or is this farm life? “We asked, “Is the information being presented in this scene accurate information or could it lead to misinformation being spread?” We had to decide things like if a storyline was exploitive or potentially harmful. In the end, we were able to make a movie that is full of joy and humor while also showing a family that has to navigate times of struggle and the healing of traumas. I think that this was possible to do without falling into stereotypes or tropes because it was made with a Native lens.

Filmmaker: What’s been the various reactions from the participants to the final film? Had the family viewed rough cuts?

Olshefski: Delwin viewed rough cuts all along the way and provided feedback at various points in the editing process. We also were able to show cuts to Delwin’s mother Shirley.
 
Then in September we did the Fiddler Family Reunion Tour where Delwin and I traveled all over South Dakota, showing the film to friends and family members in various communities so that they could see it before our national broadcast. Watching the film with so many Fiddlers was really special. One family member was so moved that she watched the film twice in a row. Derek, Francois, and Lil Man all appear in the doc, and it was poignant to see them reconnecting to their past selves — especially when they watched themselves interact with people who are no longer in this world.

It was also really cool to watch with great-grandchildren who didn’t get to know their great-grandparents have the opportunity to meet them onscreen. And during one showing Delwin’s great-nephew even picked up a plastic recorder and began to play along as Delwin played his flute onscreen. It was an incredible moment for me to witness, this onscreen/offscreen duet.

Ultimately we made this film for the extended Fiddler family first, and then for Native and Indigenous people everywhere. We hope this audience will relate deeply to the struggle and laughter that the Fiddlers experience over the course of the film. For those outside of that community we hope that the film can serve to inspire a deeper commitment to supporting Native communities as they strive to not just survive, but thrive and live out their deepest hopes and dreams.

It is pretty incredible that things have come full circle, and that a relationship that was sparked by Independent Lens in 2010 resulted in a movie that is now being broadcast on Independent Lens 14 years later. I am just so grateful to have had the opportunity to connect with the Fiddlers and to share so much life with them.

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