Knock Down the House

About

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a young, bold Puerto Rican bartender from the Bronx, had to work double shifts to save her family’s home from foreclosure. She knows many of her neighbors are also hard-pressed to make a living. In order to bring representation to one of the most marginalized constituencies in America, Alexandria runs for office.

This film follows four women—Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Amy Vilela, Cori Bush, and Paula Jean Swearengin—who join a movement of insurgent candidates to topple incumbents in an electric primary race for Congress. At a moment of historic volatility in American politics, these four women—all political outsiders—unite to do what many consider impossible. Their efforts result in a legendary upset.

This seamlessly edited and heart-wrenching character story captures these four women’s unlikely journey to inspire Americans to get fired up about the new faces of politics. Director Rachel Lears gives viewers intimate and unprecedented access to the first days of Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign, revealing the candidate’s fierce fight to be elected the country’s youngest member of Congress.


YEAR 2019

CATEGORY U.S. Doc

COUNTRY U.S.A.

RUN TIME 86 min

COMPANY Jubilee Films

WEBSITE http://www.knockdownthehouse.com

EMAIL Olson.s@mac.com

PHONE (574) 849-3420

Credits

Director
Producers
Writers
Director Of Photography
Editor
Executive Producers
Co Producers
Original Score
Consulting Editor
Additional Cinematography
Subjects

Artist Bio

Rachel Lears

Rachel Lears is a documentary director, producer, and cinematographer based in Beacon, NY. Her first feature, The Hand That Feeds, about undocumented immigrant workers organizing at a New York deli, was nominated for an Emmy in 2017. Rachel is a 2013 Sundance Creative Producing Fellow, has a PhD in cultural anthropology, and is the mother of a two-year-old son.