Kotlowitz

CeaseFire caught the eye of writer Alex Kotlowitz, whose book There are No Children Here 1992 chronicled two years in the lives of two brothers in a violent Chicago housing project.

Kristin McCracken: Violence, Interrupted: Steve James and Alex Kotlowitz on The Interrupters Kristin McCracken 2011

Alex Kotlowitz: Beginning with my book There are No Children Here -- and Steve certainly grappled with this in Hoop Dreams -- so much of those two years I followed the boys was about the violence in their lives.

Kristin McCracken: Violence, Interrupted: Steve James and Alex Kotlowitz on The Interrupters Kristin McCracken 2011

Together, the two men -- with James as director/producer/co-editor, and Kotlowitz as producer -- spent 14 months with the interrupters on the city streets; the result is a moving portrait of the complicated journeys some lives take.

Kristin McCracken: Violence, Interrupted: Steve James and Alex Kotlowitz on The Interrupters Kristin McCracken 2011

Alex Kotlowitz: Beginning with my book There are No Children Here -- and Steve certainly grappled with this in Hoop Dreams -- so much of those two years I followed the boys was about the violence in their lives.

Kristin McCracken: Violence, Interrupted: Steve James and Alex Kotlowitz on The Interrupters Kristin McCracken 2011

Kotlowitz profiled CeaseFire for the New York Times Magazine before calling up his friend Steve James -- a documentary filmmaker best known for his Oscar-nominated Hoop Dreams which Roger Ebert called "the best film of the '90s" -- and suggesting The Interrupters as a film subject: he thought a doc could dig deeper into the personal stories of those involved.

Kristin McCracken: Violence, Interrupted: Steve James and Alex Kotlowitz on The Interrupters Kristin McCracken 2011

We recently sat down with James and Kotlowitz to discuss their film, their city -- both are Chicago residents -- and the movement that has changed not only the lives of the people in countless communities, but also the filmmakers themselves.

Kristin McCracken: Violence, Interrupted: Steve James and Alex Kotlowitz on The Interrupters Kristin McCracken 2011

Kotlowitz profiled CeaseFire for the New York Times Magazine before calling up his friend Steve James -- a documentary filmmaker best known for his Oscar-nominated Hoop Dreams which Roger Ebert called "the best film of the '90s" -- and suggesting The Interrupters as a film subject: he thought a doc could dig deeper into the personal stories of those involved.

Kristin McCracken: Violence, Interrupted: Steve James and Alex Kotlowitz on The Interrupters Kristin McCracken 2011

Alex Kotlowitz: Beginning with my book There are No Children Here -- and Steve certainly grappled with this in Hoop Dreams -- so much of those two years I followed the boys was about the violence in their lives.

Kristin McCracken: Violence, Interrupted: Steve James and Alex Kotlowitz on The Interrupters Kristin McCracken 2011

In their new doc, duo Steve James and Alex Kotlowitz profile some criminals-turned-activists who find redemption through mediation on the streets of Chicago.

Kristin McCracken: Violence, Interrupted: Steve James and Alex Kotlowitz on The Interrupters Kristin McCracken 2011

CeaseFire caught the eye of writer Alex Kotlowitz, whose book There are No Children Here 1992 chronicled two years in the lives of two brothers in a violent Chicago housing project.

Kristin McCracken: Violence, Interrupted: Steve James and Alex Kotlowitz on The Interrupters Kristin McCracken 2011