Interrupt Violence: New Interactive Website for The Interrupters

Posted on February 14, 2012

Filmmaker Steve James' The Interrupters premieres on FRONTLINE Tuesday night on PBS. The ITVS-funded documentary looks at a group of men and women in Chicago — most of them former gang leaders and ex-cons — that are trying to "interrupt" shootings and protect their communities from the violence they once employed.  A companion site for the film, interruptviolence.com, launched today. Kartemquin films have permitted BTB to share their post about some of the site's features.

 

Today we’re launching Interrupt Violence (interruptviolence.com), Kartemquin’s first transmedia project, which will expand the journey of The Interrupters into the persistent violence that plagues American cities.

On the new site, users can explore an interactive sequence including background and personal histories of murder victims and communities featured in The Interrupters.

By April, additional sections will be created, including:
  • Interactive webisodes paired with Interrupter advice about dealing with crisis, anger, loss, and redemption
  • Community resources (violence prevention, counseling, health, education, etc.) that can have an impact on local families
  • A living shrine where users can honor victims with notes, recorded memories, and other personal tributes

Through this, we aim to augment traditional storytelling and audience engagement with unique personal experiences, activating audiences around issues related to the film.

We’re building this with HTML5 and popcorn.js, so you’ll need a modern browser, such as the latest Firefox or Chrome, in order to view the website.


To learn more about Living Docs and Popcorn, visit:

The Interrupters airs tonight on PBS's Frontline

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