Tag: Knock Down the House

  • Rachel Lears on Following Up ‘Knock Down the House’ With a Darker Look at the Climate Crisis

    Rachel Lears on Following Up ‘Knock Down the House’ With a Darker Look at the Climate Crisis

    In 2019, Rachel Lears electrified Sundance with “Knock Down the House,” a fly-on-the-wall look at a group of progressive candidates hoping to ride grassroots campaigns to Washington. That film, which played like cri de coeur while the Trump administration was at the height of its power, also benefitted from capturing Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez while she was…

  • The Future of Documentary Filmmaking Is Bright, but It Remains a High-Risk Endeavor

    The Future of Documentary Filmmaking Is Bright, but It Remains a High-Risk Endeavor

    IndieWire turns 25 this year. To mark the occasion, we’re running a series of essays about the future of everything we cover.Remember when documentaries were deeply honorable but commercially unviable? “Knock Down the House” shattered Sundance records in 2019 when Netflix bought it for $10 million; Apple and A24 broke that record the next year…

  • ‘She Had a Dream’ Director Raja Amari on Battling Sexism and Racism in Today’s Tunisia

    ‘She Had a Dream’ Director Raja Amari on Battling Sexism and Racism in Today’s Tunisia

    There have been a number of recent documentaries—Netflix’s “Knock Down the House,” featuring Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and “Time for Ilhan,” looking at Ilhan Omar—that are about female politicians of color who have challenged the status quo on gender and race as they vie for political office in America. But these representational battles are not just the…

  • Netflix Puts 10 Educational Documentaries on YouTube for Free

    Netflix Puts 10 Educational Documentaries on YouTube for Free

    Netflix has released 10 of its educational documentaries on YouTube to give teachers free content to screen for their virtual classrooms.The company’s free documentaries include the David Attenborough-narrated “Our Planet,” which explores the various wonders of the natural world, and Ava DuVeray’s “13th,” which examines the 13th Amendment, mass criminalization, and the American prison industry.…

  • ‘Maiden’ and ‘Apollo 11’ Lead Oscar Documentary Feature Shortlist

    ‘Maiden’ and ‘Apollo 11’ Lead Oscar Documentary Feature Shortlist

    The sailing documentary “Maiden” and the chronicle of the first trip to the moon, “Apollo 11,” are among the 15 titles that made this year’s shortlist for the Oscars’ Best Documentary Feature race.The shortlist also included two films about Syria, “For Sama” and “The Cave”; the first film produced by Barack and Michelle Obama’s production…

  • Sundance 2020 Oscar Preview: Keep Your Eye on the Documentaries

    Sundance 2020 Oscar Preview: Keep Your Eye on the Documentaries

    While a few lauded Sundance Film Festival titles like “The Farewell” and “The Report” still seek 2020 awards attention, the 2019 narrative selection became more talent discovery than Oscar launchpad as heated buys like “Late Night” and “Brittany Runs a Marathon” fizzled at the box office. For the documentary section, however, it’s a different story.While…