Holiday movie filmed in St. Joseph released on Friday

Photo: Courtesy YouTube

ST. JOSEPH - Originally called "Fly Swatter Cafe" during production, the movie filmed in St. Joseph in January 2020 was released on YouTube on Friday. A Fargo Christmas Story, starring the late Ed Asner, Cynthia Aileen Strahan, and Richard Riele, is a film based on several short stories from Fargo, North Dakota. Just a few months before most of the world sheltered in place due to the pandemic, Geschenk Coffee House was the location chosen as the cafe featured several times in the one hour and 37-minute presentation.

While the majority of the production was completed in North Dakota, the writer and director, Monticello native Robin Christian Peters, told WCIA in 2020, "We were looking around for places to shoot, looked at 30 cafes, and found one in St. Joe that fit the, you know, the feeling. The charm wasn’t too modern, wasn’t too old."

Released on December 1, the movie can be viewed for free on YouTube or below.

The film also features Sadie Katz, Robert Donavan, and former Associate Chief Administrative Law Judge of the United States Social Security Administration, Paul Lillios.

Known for his iconic roles in "The Mary Tyler Moore Show", "Lou Grant", and the movie "Elf", Grant passed away on August 29, 2021, in Los Angeles.

Peters, who is Executive Producer and Director for Dreamscape Cinema, has produced ten films to date, and currently has two other projects in post-production.

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Chilton lands model job at Boeing Company

Brian Chilton, a 2009 graduate from St. Joseph-Ogden High School, has joined Boeing Company in St. Louis as a Database Content Developer.

"I'll be 3D modeling airports for military simulators," he said.

Chilton, who was a VDC Virtualization Technician with Clayco, was furloughed due to the economic downturn created by the Coronavirus pandemic and quickly landed on his feet three weeks later.

"I was the primary visualization artist there. They called it a technician," he said about his position that lasted just eight months. "I just loved the challenges that making animated videos, between editing and compositing everything together to make the final product."

With over $3.2+ billion in revenue for 2019 and more than 2,400 employees across the country, Clayco is one of the nation’s largest privately-owned real estate, architecture, engineering, design-build and construction firms that has set new standards for collaborative design, construction quality and craftsmanship, efficient project management, cost containment and jobsite safety.

Despite his short tenure with Clayco, he expanded his knowledge base on the building construction industry.

"I had to learn how buildings were constructed and go off of build schedule plans. What's crazy is not all buildings are constructed the same."

After leaving SJO, Chilton attended Parkland College where graduated in 2013. From there he went on to the Savannah College of Art & Design where he earned a bachelors degree in animation. Below is an animated short film he created that can be found on his website at BrianChilton3D.

Boeing is recognized as the largest aerospace company in the world. The company builds commercial jetliners and security systems as well as provides aftermarket support for their products which are used worldwide by the United States and allied government customers in more than 150 countries.

Chilton resides in Hazelwood, MO., with his wife, Sara, and their daughter.