On May 1, 2019, the powerhouse streaming network, Netflix, will be releasing Knock Down The House, a documentary about the campaign journey of New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) and three other inspiring women: Amy Vilela of Nevada, Cori Bush of Missouri, and Paula Jean Swearengin of West Virginia.
All four women are progressive Democrats. The director, Rachel Lears, traveled with them on their road to the primaries to get this moving footage.
Ocasio-Cortez tweeted about the film, using #KnockdownTheHouse, on Monday afternoon.
Before my primary, three women & I agreed to film our journey of trying to run for office without big money.Now, #KnockDownTheHouse hits Netflix & select theaters next week, May 1st.To find or host a local community screening, follow: @knockdownmovie
Video Transcript:
Ocasio-Cortez: If I were a rational person, I would have dropped out of this race a long time ago.
Film Narrator: Crowley hasn’t had a primary challenger in 14 years.
Ocasio-Cortez: He has take 3,000,000 per cycle. He’s going to tell me I’m small, I’m young, I’m inexperienced.
Ocasio-Cortez: *breathes out a sigh of frustration*
The 2:20-minute trailer starts out with AOC stating if she were a “rational person,” she would have “dropped out of the race a long time ago.” She wasn’t planning to run. She was working as a waitress, but she saw how Americans simply needed politicians who wanted to help them get by in life—and she decided to try and become that “every day” lawmaker who would represent the everyday people.
Over 500 women ran for office in 2018. Ocasio-Cortez was one of them who made it through and was elected, taking office in January 2019. Since then, she has become one of the most talked about and fearless lawmakers in politics today, rocking the boat on the right—and the left.
Though Vilela, Bush, and Swearengin didn’t win in their primaries, their stories need to be heard as they represent the true need for change.
Vilela: It’s not just our family. 30,000 families a year are losing loved ones because they don’t have insurance.
Ocasio-Cortz: We’re doing something very controversial. People say, ‘How dare you do mount the challenge to someone so established.’
Bush: I was not trying to become an activist. I live six minutes from Ferguson. Being a woman of color, our image is scrutinized. People in my district—this is how we look.
Swearengin: I come from a long line of coal miners. We’ve been collateral damage. They underestimate us.
Vilela: I’m not going to allow my daughter to have died for nothing.
Bush: The problems that we have in our district—we ourselves can fix.
Ocasio-Cortez: I get scared from the cynicism of people really believing n something and then it not working out. I just don’t want to let them down. No matter what the outcome, it will never be the same.
Swearengin: We’re going to fight for each other.
Vilela: Some of us got to get through. It’s about the whole movement.
Ocasio-Cortez: For one of us to get through a hundred of us have to try.
The Sundance Film Festival winning documentary is about the struggles, the fears, the hopes, and frustrations they all experienced, before and during their runs.
Here’s to raw and bold courage. Here’s to the women changing the world.
In addition to the Netflix release, the documentary will run in select theaters across the country.
Here’s the official trailer, courtesy of YouTube: