Young Voters Reminded of Issues at Home Five Days Before Election

NEW YORK, Oct. 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --With so much of the Presidential campaign dialogue centered around how to prevent attacks from oversees enemies, violence in our own local communities and inner-cities remains a topic often neglected by politicians on the national stage.  A few days before the presidential election, SnagFilms will offer an online screening and discussion of a film that reminds all of us that the gun and gang-related violence happening in our own backyards cannot be ignored.  On Thursday, November 1st, Steve James' (Director of Hoop Dreams) The Interrupters will be presented as the sixth and final digital premiere of the Snag the Vote series, telling the inspiring story of a team of "violence interrupters" who work for CeaseFire, an innovative organization through which they take on Chicago's ruthless streets.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121030/NY02486 )

The Social Screening™ will premiere the 125-minute theatrical version of the film for an online audience at 7pm EDT/ 6pm Central time on www.snagfilms.com/interrupters.  The free online event will be followed by a live discussion featuring acclaimed director Steve James, producer and best-selling author Alex Kotlowitz (There Are No Children Here), Amy Ellenbogen, director of Crown Heights Meditation Center, which is home to S.O.S. Crown Heights, a New York-based CeaseFire replication, and Rudy Suggs, an S.O.S Crown Heights violence interrupter and long-time resident of the Brooklyn neighborhood.  James and Kotlowitz will answer questions from the online audience.

Chicago has already seen more than 400 murders in 2012, and with new incidents of gun violence nearly every weekend, The Interrupters merits a national audience and a place in the Presidential election dialogue.  This past weekend the city saw its 435th homicide, which equals Chicago's total for all of 2011.

"The Interrupters paradoxically succeeds because it refuses to soften reality…" writes The Los Angeles Times.  "…But it simultaneously insists, and makes you believe, that change is possible one person at a time."  Through Kartemquin Films, the award-winning documentary will be available exclusively at SnagFilms.com for two weeks.

"I spent three years living in the neighborhood featured in The Interrupters," says Rick Allen, SnagFilms CEO. "And while the murder rate in Chicago is particularly horrifying, the kind of violence depicted in the film plagues too many of our cities. We are honored to bring the full version of The Interrupters to a national audience – and we hope it will focus attention on a true threat, and a promising response."

This theatrical release version of The Interrupters streams live on Thursday, November 1st as a featured film in the online film festival Snag the Vote 2012 – independent films for independent voters.  The unprecedented, free, online film festival running through Election Day, showcases movies on snagthevote.com chosen to illuminate 10 key issues defining the 2012 presidential election (Economy and Jobs, Health Care, Immigration, the Environment, Foreign Affairs, Energy, National Security, Education, Civil Liberties, and the political process). Watch, share, debate and decide.

About SnagFilms

SnagFilms features free, sponsor-supported, on demand viewing of more than 3,500 award-winning, fiction and non-fiction titles from some of the greatest names in film. SnagFilms' curated collection is viewed on its own site and a digital network of more than 110,000 affiliated sites and webpages worldwide, including partners such as Comcast's Xfinity, Hulu, the Starbucks Digital Network, IMDb, hundreds of non-profits, special interest sites and blogs -- and via its applications for tablets, including Apple's iPad (AirPlay-enabled), Amazon's Kindle Fire, BlackBerry Playbook and other Android-based tablets; Android smartphones; OTT platforms Roku, Boxee and Western Digital; connected TVs and Blu-ray players from Sony, Panasonic, LG and Vizio, and soon to launch on connected TVs and Blu-ray players from Samsung. SnagFilms' titles have been featured on more than 3.5 billion page views across its network.  

SnagFilms also offers selected titles via pay video on demand with Comcast, iN Demand (including Time Warner Cable, Cox and Bright House Networks), Verizon's FiOS and DIRECTV, as well as on iTunes, Hulu Plus, Amazon, VUDU, Xbox Live, Google Play, YouTube Movies, Samsung Media Hub, and will soon be launching on DISH Network.  SnagFilms was named one of the fastest growing technology companies in Washington, DC area. Gizmodo has named SnagFilms as a "Best iPad App," OVGuide has twice named SnagFilms a Top Site, and MovieMaker Magazine named SnagFilms to its annual list of "50 Best Websites for Moviemakers." The SnagFilms family also includes Indiewire, for more than 15 years the web's top source of news, reviews and information about independent film – and winner of the 2012 Webby Award as the top film and movie site.

Contact
SNAGFILMS
Delena Turman
[email protected]
Cell: 323 496-9693
www.snagthevote.com

SOURCE SnagFilms