Film producer Rachel Lears followed four female Democratic candidates ahead of the midterm elections in 2018, and her footage is now a documentary coming to Netflix. Knock Down the House premiered in January at Sundance, where it won the Audience Award for US Documentary and the Festival Favorite Award. It follows four inspiring women - Amy Vilela (Nevada), Cori Bush (Missouri), Paula Jean Swearengin (West Virginia), and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (New York) - and the campaigns they ran against powerful incumbents in Congress.
Of course, 29-year-old Ocasio-Cortez would become the youngest woman elected to Congress and one of Time's 100 most influential people. "I'm running because everyday Americans deserve to be represented by everyday Americans," she says in the trailer for the documentary. The intimate and empowering film is heading to Netflix and select theaters on May 1.
