T-R PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER - The Gladbrook Theater offered two advance screenings of CLD Films’ first feature-length project, “On Our Way”, on Saturday morning and Monday afternoon.

CONRAD – A local film production outfit recently provided advanced screenings of their full-length holiday film in the areas that helped bring it to the silver screen.

CLD Films, a group started by BCLUW graduates Cole Scafferi, Lucas Halverson and Dillon Jacobson, showed a nearly-finished cut of “On Our Way” at Center Theatre in Grundy Center and the Gladbrook Theater in recent days – one more advance screening in Gladbrook is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 23.

The movie is filmed almost entirely in and around Conrad and features an all-Iowa cast and crew. While there is still finishing touches to be done to the film including color grading and tightening editing, CLD Films all agreed on the importance of giving local audiences a holiday story in time for the season.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO -The cast and crew of “On Our Way” is pictured at Thursday’s advance screening of the film held at Center Theatre in Grundy Center. From left to right, actor Cam Everett, director of photography Grant Gale, actor/producer Cole Scafferi, actor/producer Lucas Halverson, director/producer Dillon Jacobson, actor Amy Van Holland and actor Cheyenne Goode.

“We wanted to screen it for friends and families of the cast and crew to come and see the fruits of their labors,” said Jacobson, the film’s director. “A lot of this production was built on the backs of support from our community, and without them there is no ‘On Our Way’.”

There were some nerves around Thursday’s showtime in Grundy Center with dicey weather rolling into town in the evening, but a good turnout came to the Center Theatre, Halverson said.

“We wanted input from the public before sending it to the film festivals and it was such a great reception,” he added. “It’s very much a relief to have a cut ready to share with the public, a weight lifted off our shoulders as we’ve spent the better part of two years working on it.”

“On Our Way” centers around five high school friends preparing to reunite as adults for their annual Christmas party when a winter storm warning threatens those plans and also elevates simmering tensions as some friends have changed since their high school days.

Scafferi greeted the audience at Saturday’s showing at the Gladbrook Theater, with a more-friendly weather forecast bringing people out for Saturday morning entertainment.

“As filmmakers, we’re always going to be very critical of our products and usually more critical than others,” Scafferi said. “But we got nothing but positive feedback. There were points in the story that I didn’t think would hit as hard with people but I had people come up after the film and say ‘Oh my gosh, that point in the story just actually got me, it hit me in my soul,’ and it’s very cool to hear that kind of stuff reaching people from our film.”

Halverson and Scafferi star in the film, along with Halverson’s father, Jeff; Cheyenne Goode, Amy Van Holland and Cam Everett.

Earlier this year, a scene was filmed at the Conrad American Legion standing in as a soup kitchen during the Christmas season that had a casting call for local extras to provide a little extra Christmas spirit.

That local touch is a priority for CLD Films, where small towns like Conrad, Gladbrook or Grundy Center may not be seen as a film hub like Iowa City or Des Moines.

“It’s where we were raised, where we found our pride and joy in filmmaking,” Scafferi said. “We wanted to give back to our community.”

“On Our Way” aims to make its debut in film festivals in 2025 before a planned wider release of the final cut at the end of next year.

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Contact Jake Ryder at 641-753-6611 ext. 227 or jryder@timesrepublican.com.