The First Step

America may be deeply divided by political alignments, but CNN host and contributor, Emmy award winner and 3-time New York Times bestselling author Van Jones managed to pass a bi-partisan criminal justice reform that freed thousands of incarcerated felons for drug-related crimes and more, now the subject of a documentary called The First Step. HFPA's Jenny Cooney spoke with director Brandon Kramer and producer Lance Kramer about the film that follows Jones on his journey, has gone viral at 40+ festivals and got picked up for worldwide distribution.

The massive difficulties of consensus-building in a polarized world are ably highlighted in The First Step, a sociopolitical documentary that should find engaging reception with both those acutely interested in the sharp-elbowed realm of American political gamesmanship as well as those just contemplating real-world events of the past several years. Taking as its central subject lawyer, author, and activist Van Jones, director Brandon Kramer’s movie, fresh off its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival and accompanying presentation at AFI Docs, focuses on the efforts of his nonprofit organization #cut50 (now Dream Corps) as it lobbies for criminal justice reform.