''Citizen Koch'' is a 2013 film produced and directed by

Tia Lessin Tia Lessin is an American documentary filmmaker. Lessin has produced and directed documentaries, earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary, three Emmy Awards, two primetime Emmy Nominations, the duPont Columbia Award, and the Sund ...

and Carl Deal, concerning the political influence of American plutocrats on the political process following the US Supreme Court decision in '' Citizens United v. FEC'' which granted corporations the ability to anonymously spend unlimited money to influence public policy and elections. The film focuses on the eponymous Koch brothers, in particular, and their political and financial support for

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

governor Scott Walker, who represents the Citizen Koch in the title. The film chronicles the rise of the

Tea Party movement The Tea Party movement was an American fiscally conservative political movement within the Republican Party that began in 2007, catapulted into the mainstream by Congressman Ron Paul's presidential campaign. The movement expanded in resp ...

in response to the election of the first African-American President in 2008, and the strategic attacks on organized labor by Gov. Walker and Koch political operatives in other states as a strategy to eliminate liberal opposition. ''Citizen Koch'' was completed using funds from a successful

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campaign, after public television's Independent Television Service (ITVS) pulled funding it had initially committed. The filmmakers were told by ITVS staff that the title, which referenced conservative billionaire David Koch, would be "extremely problematic" as Koch served on the boards of flagship public broadcasters WNET and WGBH. The filmmakers were also told directly by ITVS staff that the financial support would be restored after it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, if they removed references to David Koch from the film. Regarding the allegations of censorship and ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' article which helped bring the case to public attention, the PBS

ombudsman An ombudsman ( , also ) is a government employee who investigates and tries to resolve complaints, usually through recommendations (binding or not) or mediation. They are usually appointed by the government or by parliament (often with a sign ...

(without ever speaking to the filmmakers) has stated: The film premiered at the 2013

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

and was named to the shortlist by the

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., with the stated goal of adva ...

for best documentary feature.

References

External links

* *{{Official website, http://www.citizenkoch.com/ 2013 documentary films 2013 films Films about the Koch family Lessin and Deal productions American documentary films Documentary films about American politics Kickstarter-funded documentaries Variance Films films 2010s American films

See also

References

Further reading

External links