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Knock Down the House at Brandeis University

  • Brandeis University Liberman-Miller Lecture Hall in the Epstein Building 415 South Street Waltham, MA, 02453 United States (map)
A photo of congress with the faces of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Amy Vilela, Cori Bush, and Paula Jean Swearengin at the bottom

Directed by Rachel Lears, Documentary, English, 86 min, USA, 2019.

Tuesday March 3rd, 5:00 - 6:30 PM

Brandeis University Liberman-Miller Lecture Hall in the Epstein Building

When tragedy struck her family in the midst of the financial crisis, Bronx-born Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had to work double shifts in a restaurant 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 was drawn into the streets when the police shooting of an unarmed black man brought protests and tanks into her neighborhood. Paula Jean Swearengin was fed up with watching her friends and family suffer and die from the environmental effects of the coal industry.

At a moment of historic volatility in American politics, these four women decide to fight back, setting themselves on a journey that will change their lives and their country forever. Without political experience or corporate money, they build a movement of insurgent candidates challenging powerful incumbents in Congress. Their efforts result in a legendary upset.

Discussion with The WSRC Feminist Film Forum Group to follow.

Later Event: March 5
Fear No Gumbo at MIT