About
Filmmaker and lifelong Cheesehead, Bryan Oldenburg, journeys to blue and red counties in SWING STATE Wisconsin, asking folks who they supported in Election 2016, and what they thought happened.
Unlike other political documentaries of recent note, SWING STATE takes a journalistic approach toward affairs, letting each side (with its interesting array of characters) speak for itself.
As things progress, the film seems to point to one, all-important question: is friendship still possible in hyperpolarized America? Poetically enough, the director ends our journey in Friendship, WI (by way of the sequel).
The first film in the series takes us through roughly 5 communities, with the second film visiting 4 more. There appears to be no other film which documents Wisconsin’s important role in the last election, and which speculates on the one to come.
Historical
To the best of our knowledge, the only visual documentation of SWING STATE Wisconsin in the last contentious election, and the one to come.
Comprehensive
The SWING STATE Series visits roughly 10 communities, equally divided between Red and Blue, plus uses research from other expert travelers.
Balanced
SWING STATE travels to Democrat and Republican areas, letting both sides tell their own stories. Its sequel is bipartisan as well.
Filmmaker
Bryan Oldenburg began Radio Broadcasting right out of Beloit College, then entered the world of Television Commercials about ten years after that.
His latest foray into Documentary Filmmaking started roughly 8 years ago with THE MINDSET MOVIE, which told the story of The Beloit College Mindset List (a chronicle of Freshman thinking throughout the decades).
In SWING STATE Wisconsin, he teams up with veteran cinematographer, Dan Klopp, of both Milwaukee and Madison notoriety, plus welcomes in master musician, Ryan Thomas Becker, who won “Best Guitarist in Texas” a few years ago (no small accomplishment).
Award-winning Associate Producer, Jim Peterson (THE YUPPIE, DARKWING DUCK, KIM POSSIBLE, etc.) comes onboard yet again to offer his brilliant insights in SWING STATE— an endeavor that is likely to become a 3-Part series, once the Democrats bring their convention to Milwaukee.
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Director's Statement
I started my journey at The Women’s March in Madison, where the atmosphere was predictably electric. The cast of characters (as with all the places in my film) was ideal for documentary filmmaking, both for its passion and intelligence.
My goal was to strike a balance between Left and Right, as I continued through Beloit, Baraboo, Kenosha, Fond du Lac and Ripon (in the first film) to Janesville, Mauston, Friendship and Milwaukee (in the second). Both by way of research and travel, I discovered many things about a place I thought I knew much better.
I hope you, too, learn a lot about my home state, as you listen to folks giving their take on the most interesting election of my lifetime. With the Republicans intending to bring their convention to Milwaukee in 2024, all eyes were set to be on SWING STATE Wisconsin.
America's Dairyland remains one of a handful of very important Swing States, and God only knows what direction the nation will take after Nov. 3, 2024.
FRIENDSHIP, WI
ADAMS COUNTY
