Directed by Chase White & Asher Koles / 2026 / 19 Min
Set along British Columbia’s remote Dean River, “Oly’s Dean” follows 9-year-old Oly Hickman as he moves through his family’s fishing lodge in the heart of steelhead country.
Each summer, anglers from around the world come to swing flies for the Dean’s legendary fish. Bears roam the shoreline. The river runs cold and clear. Oly, however, is just as content chasing toads as wild steelhead.
More interested in wanderings than trophies, he explores the wilderness on his own terms. At an age when his father, veteran guide Jeff Hickman, can turn him loose and trust him to be safe, Oly ties flies of his own design and learns the rhythms of lodge life in a place that rewards curiosity.
When he hooks and lands a chrome-bright wild steelhead on a fly he created himself, the moment feels less like conquest than connection. Through quiet observation, “Oly’s Dean” captures a childhood rooted in independence and stewardship—and parents learning to see the world with a renewed sense of wonder.
