The Interrupters

Tribune Trumpets Good Pitch Chicago

March 21, 2013 1:57 pm

Kartemquin's Executive Director Justine Nagan was featured on the print front page of the business section of today's Chicago Tribune due to her key role in bringing Good Pitch to Chicago later this year. The documentary pitching event, which brings in-progress projects in front of potential funders and outreach partners, will take place at Tribeca Flashpoint Media Arts Academy on October 22nd, 2013. Read more about the event in Melissa Harris' article: "Good Pitch Chicago forum will connect documentary filmmakers with supporters." She notes that "pulling more funders and partners into the documentary industry is perhaps the last piece of a growing renaissance."
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Meet Legendary Filmmakers and Critics at SCMS Chicago

February 27, 2013 12:56 pm

From March 6-10, the world's largest gathering of cinema experts will be in Chicago. The Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS) 2013 Chicago Conference brings together global film academics and critics to discuss the past, present and future of cinematic arts. So, of course, Kartemquin is involved! The showpiece opening night event of the conference is also open to the public: Urban Documentaries and Social Change: Where Are We? Asking the question of "how do we socially understand urban media and how has the contemporary political landscape impacted documentary filmmaking?", the event, hosted by the MCA Chicago, features a very strong and rare meeting of acclaimed panelists.
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Good Pitch is Coming to Chicago!

February 7, 2013 1:00 pm

On October 22nd, 2013, Chicago will host Good Pitch for the very first time, it was announced last night at Chicago's Tribeca Flashpoint Media Arts Academy.

In the style of other successful Good Pitch² events, Good Pitch Chicago will bring together "Midwestern filmmakers with nonprofits, foundations, philanthropists, brands and media around leading social issues – to forge coalitions and campaigns that are good for all these partners, good for the films and good for society."

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25 University Screenings of The Interrupters this week

February 4, 2013 12:59 pm

Over the next week, The Interrupters, working in collaboration with React To Film, will screen at 25 universities from coast to coast – from Princeton to Berkeley. React To Film, an educational program in high schools and universities that features social issue documentaries, is featuring The Interrupters as part of their College Action Network series. React To Film’s co-founder, Dennis Paul commented, “No better film has ever been made on the subject of violence in America than The Interrupters. There are so many opportunities that we have collectively -- as parents, brothers, sisters, friends, politicians, educators, and citizens -- to interrupt this chain for our children's sake.”
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The Interrupters wins duPont Award to cap year of success

December 19, 2012 9:30 am

The Interrupters has won a 2013 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award, one of the highest honors available to broadcast journalism.

Steve James & Alex Kotlowitz's film, which aired on PBS through WGBH's FRONTLINE in February 2012, was praised by the awards committee for providing "new understanding of a stubborn societal problem through strong characters and excellent reporting, shooting and editing."

The film is one of 14 documentaries and news reports honored with Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award Silver Batons this year for "the strength of their reporting, storytelling and impact in the public interest." The awards are seen as the broadcast journalism equivalent of the Pultizer Prize.

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Dominican University Honors Steve James & Alex Kotlowitz for The Interrupters

December 7, 2012 10:00 am

Dominican University will be presenting both Steve James and Alex Kotlowitz with honorary degrees in January, in recognition for their achievement in creating The Interrupters.

Steve James will deliver the commencement address to students when the pair accept their degrees on Sunday, January 12 at the University's main campus in river Forest, Illinois. More details here.

The award is the second honorary degree Steve James has received this year, following recognition in May 2012 from Columbia College Chicago.

Dominican University has embraced The Interrupters, hosting screenings and even posting an excellent guide for "Teaching The Interrupters" on their website.

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Video: The Interrupters in Oakland Schools

December 6, 2012 2:15 pm

On May 23rd and May 24 2012, hundreds of Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) high school students throughout the Bay Area saw the award-winning Kartemquin documentary, The Interrupters, and learned directly from one of the film’s subjects, Cobe Williams, as well as local experts currently engaged in using a ‘violence interruption’ model to stop violence before it happens in Oakland.

Collaborating officials at the Oakland Unified School District cited the city’s rise in violence for wanting to collaborate on the screening, “With over 100 recorded homicides in Oakland [as of December 1st] the film’s message of ‘interrupting the cycle of violence to reduce killings’ is as grimly relevant here as it is in the Chicago streets in which it was filmed.”

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Stock up on Docs!

December 6, 2012 11:41 am

Take part in the annual Kartemquin holiday sale! We're offering 25% of everything in our store. Just use coupon code: KTQHOLIDAY12 when you check out.

We're also giving back - from now until the end of the year, Kartemquin Films will donate half of all of its sales made on Typeface DVDs and merchandise to Hamilton Wood Type Museum eviction relief fund. Last month, the museum was told it would be forced to leave it's current home in Two Rivers by the end of the year. In order to make the move, the museum must first find and purchase a new space and then pack up it's enormous collection of priceless, historic wood type - the world's largest. The museum is attempting to raise $250,000 to purchase and move to a new location.

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Steve James Brings his Docs to USC & BYOD

November 26, 2012 5:02 pm

This Friday, Steve James will present a special screening of The Interrupters at the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts, followed by discussion with USC alum Shaft director John Singleton, and The Interrupters stars Ameena Matthews and Eddie Bocanegra. The event is now sold out. Tomorrow, Steve will also present Stevie at USC SCA (get more info & RSVP).

But if you can't attend, perhaps an online video interview of Steve James by award-winning documentary filmmaker Ondi Timoner (Dig! and We Live in Public) will help compensate!

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