Michael Lumpkin Reports from SXSW

The SXSW Film Festival announced The Interrupters as a "festival favorite" at this year's festival. Michael Lumpkin, IDA's Executive Director, agrees stating that the film, "won over audiences not only at Sundance in January, but here at SXSW with sold out screenings."

The SXSW appearance was the film's fourth festival appearance in March, following on from its success in Sundance in January. The film also played twice at each of the following film festivals: Adelaide Film Festival, True/False Film Festival and Miami International Film Festival where it won the "Best Documentary" award.

The Interrupters tells the moving and surprising stories of three Violence Interrupters who try to protect their Chicago communities from the violence they once employed. From acclaimed director Steve Jamesand bestselling author Alex Kotlowitz, this film is an unusually intimate journey into the stubborn persistence of violence in our cities. Shot over the course of a year out of Kartemquin Films, The Interrupters captures a period in Chicago when it became a national symbol for the violence in our cities. During that period, the city was besieged by high-profile incidents, most notably the brutal beating of Derrion Albert, a Chicago High School student, whose death was caught on videotape.

To learn more about The Interrupters and to meet Steve James in person, attend Doc U this Monday, March 21 at The Cinefamily (at the Silent Movie Theater) in Los Angeles. For more event info, click here.