Utah filmmaker makes Sundance debut with family drama "Omaha"
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Cole Webley, director of "Omaha." Courtesy: Sundance Institute
Utah-based director Cole Webley's journey to the big screen has come full circle after recently debuting his first-ever feature film at the Sundance Film Festival.
State of play: The drama, "Omaha," the only movie in this year's festival filmed in Utah, centers on a father who takes his children on an unexpected cross-country road trip following a family tragedy.
- It stars John Magaro ("Past Lives"), Molly Belle Wright and Wyatt Solis.
Zoom in: The self-funded flick, which explores fatherhood and masculinity norms, Webley told Axios, was shot mostly in Utah over 27 days.
- For Webley, Utah played a larger role than just the backdrop.
- "It was the workforce. It was the inspiration. We shot in places that I had shot in as a film student," said Webley, who attended Brigham Young University. "Its identity within this film is inseparable."
Between the lines: Utah director and writer Robert Machoian had written the film's script a decade earlier, when he showed it to Webley while working on another project together.
- "This was the script that was really written for me to direct," Webley, who previously worked on hundreds of commercials and short films, said.
The intrigue: Webley joins a long list of directors who premiered their first movies at the long-running independent film festival, including Wes Anderson, Jordan Peele and Quentin Tarantino.
- When asked if he plans to pursue directing another feature film, Webley responded: "Do bears s–t in the woods?"