Synopsis
In this searing exposé of the state of democracy in America, Academy-Award® nominated filmmakers Carl Deal and Tia Lessin (Trouble the Water; producers of Fahrenheit 9/11 & Capitalism: A Love Story) follow the rise of the Tea Party and the trail of money unleashed by the US Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling. A citizen uprising to recall Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker collides with the Tea Party-aligned “Americans for Prosperity,” founded and lavishly financed by two of the world’s richest men — billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch, who are among Walker’s biggest financial supporters. As Republican working class voters find themselves in the crosshairs of their own party and its billionaire backers, they are forced to choose sides. Weathering a storm of censorship controversy (public television officials pulled funding for the film out of fears that it would upset one of their largest donors, David Koch) CITIZEN KOCH now stands as an essential and powerful portrait of our political times.