Knock Down the House

Wednesday, January 8, 2020

Four exceptional women mount grassroots campaigns against powerful incumbents in KNOCK DOWN THE HOUSE, a galvanic and inspiring look at the 2018 midterm elections that tipped the balance of power. When tragedy struck her family in the middle of the financial crisis, Bronx-born Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had to work double shifts as a bartender to save her home from foreclosure. After losing a loved one to a preventable medical condition, Amy Vilela didn’t know what to do with the anger she felt about America’s broken health care system. Cori Bush, a registered nurse and pastor, was drawn to the streets when the police shooting of an unarmed black man brought protests and tanks into her neighborhood. A coal miner’s daughter, Paula Jean Swearengin was fed up with watching her friends and family suffer from the environmental effects of the coal industry.

Winner of the Audience Award: U.S. Documentary and the Festival Favorite Award at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, KNOCK DOWN THE HOUSE joins these extraordinary women on the campaign trail as they mobilize their bases, engage voters, and build a movement during a time of historic volatility in American politics. Directed by Rachel Lears (The Hand that Feeds); written by Lears and Robin Blotnick (The Hand that Feeds); and produced by Lears, Blotnick, and Sarah Olson (Fed Up). Score by Ryan Blotnick (The Hand that Feeds).

Screening in the series Oscars Spotlight: Documentaries 2020.


  • Country USA
  • Running Time 86 minutes
  • Distributor Netflix
  • Director Rachel Lears
  • Writer Robin Blotnick, Rachel Lears
  • Producer Robin Blotnick, Rachel Lears, Sarah Olson
  • Editor Robin Blotnick
  • Cinematographer Rachel Lears
  • Cast Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Cori Bush, Joe Crowley, Paula Jean Swearingen, Amy Vilela
  • Accessibility Assistive Listening, Closed Captioning, Descriptive Audio, T-Coil

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