Netflix has acquired worldwide distribution rights to an award-winning documentary that features Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., the company announced Thursday.
“Knock Down the House,” which will soon be available to the roughly 139 million Netflix subscribers worldwide, was directed by Rachel Lears. The film follows the paths of four progressive women — former New York bartender Ocasio-Cortez, St. Louis nurse Cori Bush, Nevada resident Amy Viela, and West Virginia native Paula Jean Swearengin — as they embark on their respective runs for Congress.
Of all of Lears’ subjects, Ocasio-Cortez was the only one to win her campaign, becoming the youngest woman ever elected to Congress.
Netflix has acquired worldwide rights to “Knock Down the House,” an award-winning documentary that chronicles the campaigns of four progressive candidates — @AOC @CoriBush @amy4thepeople and @paulajean2020 — in the 2018 midterm election. pic.twitter.com/s8YGoDKHsf
— See What’s Next (@seewhatsnext) February 7, 2019
Lears told the Wrap that she decided to focus her documentary on people who were “building a path to power for working people,” and that while the losses of a majority of her subjects were “devastating,” she was inspired by their personal stories, which she claims “are so dramatic and relatable on a human level.”
“Even the candidates who lost are very inspiring to audiences,” Lears said.
Her documentary premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and won the Audience Award in the U.S. Documentary Competition. It also received a standing ovation, according to the outlet.
? Audience Award: U.S. Documentary Competition Presented by @Acura, goes to KNOCK DOWN THE HOUSE, directed by Rachel Lears. #Sundance pic.twitter.com/r4GdPc0NB5
— SundanceFilmFestival (@sundancefest) February 3, 2019
“When political campaigns are expected to involve millions of dollars, only people with access to millions of dollars are going to be running political campaigns,” Lears told the Hollywood Reporter. “And so what we’ve seen with this cycle and with victories like Alexandria’s is that a different model can be successful, and I want to see more of that in 2020 and beyond.”
A spokesperson for Netflix confirmed the purchase of the documentary to the Washington Examiner, and said that the release date has not yet been finalized. Netflix’s purchase of the documentary comes the same day as Ocasio-Cortez introduced a “Green New Deal” resolution, which calls for a dramatic shift in the nation’s energy system in order to combat climate change.
