Telling the South Milwaukee Story, on Film

Now is a great time to be reminded about what makes South Milwaukee, South Milwaukee — what we want to and should be famous for. 

That is why, I am proud to present “The South Milwaukee Story,” a production of Kyle Olson. Watch it here. 

You’ll recall that Kyle, a South Milwaukee High School graduate and now Emmy Award-winning Hollywood film director, returned home in February to shoot two short films for us: a submission for HGTV’s “Hometown Takeover” show and a marketing video that would stand the test of time in promoting our city.

He overdelivered on both, as I knew he would — in partnership with an amazing team.

We have not yet heard back from HGTV on our submission, and we have always known it would be a longshot, as we went up against thousands of submissions nationally. The real value for the city in this effort is the marketing video, and you’ll be seeing a lot more of it across our platforms in the days, weeks, months and years ahead.

Check it out, and share the heck out of it. We have so much to be proud of in South Milwaukee, and this video brings it to life beautifully.

Use it to tell our story to the world!

Also, join me in thanking everyone who made this possible. It took a village to tell the story of our city, and I’ll attempt to thank them all here … 

We shot at nine different locations in less than 12 hours on that February Saturday: Moran’s Pub, Avenue Coffeehouse, Barbiere’s Italian Inn, The Barber Shop, Parkway Floral, the Muza Church, American Legion Post #27, South Milwaukee High School and the South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center.

We talked to more than a dozen people along the way — not including a segment with the South Milwaukee Youth Basketball Club sixth-grade girls basketball team — who shared their stories about what makes our city great … and why a makeover would only make that story stronger. Thank you to everyone who joined us!

The crew was first rate, and with a distinct local flavor. Kyle and videographer Nick Koscielniak are South Milwaukee graduates who started making movies together more than a decade ago while in school — like this one.

They were joined by James Stewart, Sasa Miladinovic and Julia Beck, as well as assistant City Administrator Patrick Brever, who was invaluable in getting us from point A to point B. Local teen Austin Keller also pitched in. 

A special thanks to Ante Udovicic, who welcomed us with open arms at the school campus and expertly accommodated us. And it was great to see Kyle’s parents, Mick (a longtime former South Milwaukee police officer) and Jewel join us on the shoots. It’s easy to see where Kyle gets his Emmy award-winning passion and talent from.

Three South Milwaukeeans also supplied footage, including local photographers and videographers Julie Arnold and John Krecji. The beautiful drone footage was provided by David Ryba of Veterans Media Services. 

Editor Mitchell Stewart put this all together, and his work speaks for itself.

And, our sponsors! We could not have done this without them. 

Thanks to the City of South Milwaukee, Molthen-Bell & Son Funeral Home, Da Crusher Foundation, Moran’s Pub, DB Tax & Financial Services, the South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center and Anne and Tom Frederick for their support of this economic development and community building project.

Enjoy, South Milwaukee. Be proud.