Montgomery Fellow's film shows at South by Southwest
Courtesy Of Interrupters.Kartemquin.Com/
"The Interrupters," a film produced by former Montgomery Fellow Alex Kotlowitz, was also screened as a part of the film portion of this year's South by Southwest festival. Steve James, best known as the director and producer of "Hoop Dreams," directed the movie.
The documentary focuses on CeaseFire, an organization in Chicago that attempts to deal with urban crime by treating it in the same way that doctors handle an infectious epidemic. Founded by epidemiologist Gary Slutkin, the group aims to nip violence in the bud and prevent incidents from leading to a cascade of shootings and counter-shootings. "The Interrupters," follows several key "violence interrupters," who are former members of gangs and many of whom have served time. Eddie Bocanegra, Rodney Phillips and Ameena Matthews prove charismatic leads, and their work attemps to reduce gang violence in some of Chicago's most dangerous neighborhoods. Some Dartmouth students got a sneak peak at footage now included in the film during the English 67 class Kotlowitz taught last summer.
"The Interrupters" works best when it is focused on the experiences of Bocanegra, Phillips and Matthews, as their stories provide the viewers with a personal connection to the larger view of CeaseFire's work. The version of the film shown at South by Southwest clocked in at 162 minutes, however, and began to drag after the first two hours. A more recent showing at the Cleveland Film Festival trimmed the documentary down to 144 minutes, according to the Kartemquin Films website.
The movie will continue to make the rounds on the festival circuit until this summer, when it will be distributed in theaters by Cinema Guild, according to the website.