AUSTIN, Texas — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, walked the red carpet Sunday for the screening of Netflix’s Knock Down the House at South by Southwest.
- Film follows four Congressional candidates
- Screening held at SXSW
- Directed by Rachel Lears
The documentary is about four women who built a movement of insurgent candidates challenging powerful incumbents in Congress. Cameras follow Ocasio-Cortez, Cori Bush, Amy Vilela, and Paula Jean Swearengin on the campaign trail.
Ocasio-Cortez hopes the film will inspire women who are thinking about running for office.
“It’s like this old adage ‘you can’t be what you can’t see.’ To be able to see four working class women from all different parts of the country, from West Virginia to the Bronx running and really just kicking butt while they’re doing it. I hope that it shows people and inspires people to step up too,” said Ocasio-Cortez.
As is common with documentaries, some moments ended up on the cutting room floor. Producer, writer, and editor Robin Blotnick hopes to show the moments as an extra at some point.
“We were actually just working on re-edits last week and we came really close to including a scene of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez training a whole year before her primary run to handle conservative media interviews,” Blotnick said. “They were simulating a situation where they were asking about socialism and it’s amazing to watch. But it didn’t quite work with the story.”
Producers raised money to make the film through a Kickstarter campaign.