Press release
THE INTERRUPTERS
Opens at IFC Center on Friday, July 29, 2011, followed by National Rollout in August
On behalf of Cinema Guild, festival favorite THE INTERRUPTERS, a creative partnership between producer-director Steve James (HOOP DREAMS, STEVIE) and acclaimed author-turned-producer Alex Kotlowitz (There Are No Children Here), whose article for the New York Times Magazine inspired the film.
A gripping and inspiring documentary about modern-day heroes, former gang members who disrupt violent situations as they happen, THE INTERRUPTERS will open at the IFC Center on Friday, July 29 with a national rollout beginning in August.
A special selection of documentaries by Steve James will also be presented as part of the Master Class series at New York’s Maysles Cinema, July 28-29 and August 4, including screenings of NO CROSSOVER: THE TRIAL OF ALAN IVERSON (James introducing), HOOP DREAMS and AT THE DEATH HOUSE DOOR, along with a limited run of THE INTERRUPTERS from August 5-11.
An unusually intimate journey into the stubborn persistence of violence in our cities, THE INTERRUPTERS tells the stories of three Violence Interrupters who try to protect their communities from the brutality they once employed.
Shot over the course of a year out of Kartemquin Films, the film captures a period in Chicago when it became a national symbol for violence in America.
Ameena, Eddie and Cobe are all active in Chicago’s CeaseFire organization, which aims to stop the spread of inner-city violence with a unique, dangerous, and controversial method of insinuating its members personally into the fray. Intervening in disputes before they turn violent, they employ lessons learned from their own complicated pasts to gain access and credibility within local gang and drug communities, forming personal bonds and offering alternatives to those who until now have had no hope of either.
With extraordinary access, director James’ camera follows the three dedicated Interrupters as they go about their work, and while doing so reveal their own inspired journeys of hope and redemption.
World Premiere - Sundance Film Festival, 2011
Centerpiece Selection - 2011 Silverdocs Film Festival
Winner - Special Jury Award, 2011 Sheffield Doc/Fest
Winner - Audience Award, 2011 Philadelphia Cinefest
Winner - Best Documentary, 2011 Miami International Film Festival
Winner - Special Jury Award, 2011 Full Frame Film Festival
Winner - True Life Fund, 2011 True/False Film Festival
144 mins. A Cinema Guild release. Not rated.
______________________ADDENDUM
Mediations with the Camera: Steve James on Making 'The Interrupters' By Joseph Jon Lanthier
A portrait of calculated resilience and rebirth amid struggles of urban turbulence, Steve James and Alex Kotlowitz's The Interrupters indelibly humanizes the gang war-zone of Chicago's south and west sides. The documentary, based on a New York Times Magazine article by Kotlowitz, follows a collection of anti-violence agents from the organization CeaseFire. Read full article »
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THE INTERRUPTERS
Opens at IFC Center on Friday, July 29, 2011, followed by National Rollout in August
On behalf of Cinema Guild, festival favorite THE INTERRUPTERS, a creative partnership between producer-director Steve James (HOOP DREAMS, STEVIE) and acclaimed author-turned-producer Alex Kotlowitz (There Are No Children Here), whose article for the New York Times Magazine inspired the film.
A gripping and inspiring documentary about modern-day heroes, former gang members who disrupt violent situations as they happen, THE INTERRUPTERS will open at the IFC Center on Friday, July 29 with a national rollout beginning in August.
A special selection of documentaries by Steve James will also be presented as part of the Master Class series at New York’s Maysles Cinema, July 28-29 and August 4, including screenings of NO CROSSOVER: THE TRIAL OF ALAN IVERSON (James introducing), HOOP DREAMS and AT THE DEATH HOUSE DOOR, along with a limited run of THE INTERRUPTERS from August 5-11.
An unusually intimate journey into the stubborn persistence of violence in our cities, THE INTERRUPTERS tells the stories of three Violence Interrupters who try to protect their communities from the brutality they once employed.
Shot over the course of a year out of Kartemquin Films, the film captures a period in Chicago when it became a national symbol for violence in America.
Ameena, Eddie and Cobe are all active in Chicago’s CeaseFire organization, which aims to stop the spread of inner-city violence with a unique, dangerous, and controversial method of insinuating its members personally into the fray. Intervening in disputes before they turn violent, they employ lessons learned from their own complicated pasts to gain access and credibility within local gang and drug communities, forming personal bonds and offering alternatives to those who until now have had no hope of either.
With extraordinary access, director James’ camera follows the three dedicated Interrupters as they go about their work, and while doing so reveal their own inspired journeys of hope and redemption.
World Premiere - Sundance Film Festival, 2011
Centerpiece Selection - 2011 Silverdocs Film Festival
Winner - Special Jury Award, 2011 Sheffield Doc/Fest
Winner - Audience Award, 2011 Philadelphia Cinefest
Winner - Best Documentary, 2011 Miami International Film Festival
Winner - Special Jury Award, 2011 Full Frame Film Festival
Winner - True Life Fund, 2011 True/False Film Festival
144 mins. A Cinema Guild release. Not rated.
______________________ADDENDUM
Mediations with the Camera: Steve James on Making 'The Interrupters' By Joseph Jon Lanthier
A portrait of calculated resilience and rebirth amid struggles of urban turbulence, Steve James and Alex Kotlowitz's The Interrupters indelibly humanizes the gang war-zone of Chicago's south and west sides. The documentary, based on a New York Times Magazine article by Kotlowitz, follows a collection of anti-violence agents from the organization CeaseFire. Read full article »
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