A collaboration between Ranstrom and two prize-winning journalists from The Chicago Sun-Times, photographer, Henry Gill, and writer, Rick Sol.

Based on these two journalist’s investigation of the illegal drug trade in South American, The Cocaine Express consists entirely of B&W still photos and narration by the reporters and was a precursor to the work of Ken Burns.   This critically-acclaimed documentary was Ranstrom’s first documentary out of college and was nominated for Chicago/Midwest Emmy Award for Best Investigative Report.