Ocasio-Cortez campaign documentary wins Sundance Film Festival audience award

Audience members at the annual Sundance Film Festival voted Saturday to recognize the documentary “Knock Down the House” with the festival’s coveted annual audience award in the documentary category.
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 2, 2019
The film, described on Twitter by one attendee as a “powerful and painful” look at the freshman Democrat’s stunning 2018 defeat of former Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.) in the state’s primary election, reportedly received a five-minute standing ovation from the audience after its viewing.
{mosads}Ocasio-Cortez herself appeared at the festival through a video call following the film’s showing, admitting that she herself was still “recovering” from the shock of her own victory.
“I’m still recovering from the tears myself,” she said on the video call, according to Remezcla. “I’m just so glad that this moment for all four of us was captured and documented not just for the personal meaning of it but for everyday people to see that yes, this is incredibly challenging, yes, the odds are long but also that yes, this is worth it.”
@AOC Documentary, Knock Down the House was as powerful and painful as you can imagine going in. A 5 min standing ovation after the film says this one will be an expensive acquisition and easy Oscar campaign. Simply Incredible! #SundanceFilmFestival2019 pic.twitter.com/npUTnxMasH
— Mat Levy (@PRfilms_Mat) January 27, 2019
The film’s positive reception comes days after Variety reported that streaming service Netflix was nearing a deal for rights to the documentary, with a rumored sale price as high as $6 million.
Directed by Rachel Lears, the documentary was the subject of a multiday bidding war between Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and other companies, according to Variety.
Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.