It took over 300 hours of video filmed over the course of a year to produce The Interrupters, Steve James‘ latest documentary study of urban America. While James’ celebrated Hoop Dreams captures the rise of inner-city kids to college basketball fame, his latest flick studies the pervasive violence that plagues Chicago. Together with journalist and author Alex Kotlowitz, James looks at violence in a new way–as an infectious disease.
Kotlowitz and James document with fervor the bold approach of one organization to combat the problem: Take ex-cons, former addicts and reformed gangsters into the streets to mediate conflict and stop the cycle of retribution. This team is aptly called “The Interrupters.” I had the opportunity to chat with James and Kotlowitz about how they selected their three characters, the access they had on the streets, and why this story deserves nearly two and a half hours of screen time.
The full Q&A can be read on the Washington City Paper blog.
