One Filmmaker’s Troubled Encounter with DOGE and the NEH: An Inside Look (Guest Column)
I just became a member of a group I never wanted to join - filmmakers whose National Endowment for the Humanities grants were terminated.
As you may have heard, President Donald Trump and DOGE recently cut the vast majority of staff and grants at the NEH. It's hit documentary filmmakers hard.
With the NEH cuts, DOGE has targeted 89 documentary and related "media" projects (this includes podcasts). Among them are a four-part Ken Burns docuseries exploring the history of our criminal justice system; Rita Coburn's film on W.E.B. Du Bois; and Matia Karrell and Hilary Prentice's documentary Returning Home: Battle for a Heritage Regarding America's unsung women pilots from World War II, even documentary projects about baseball and Nancy Drew faced halted funding. The outlook for numerous such initiatives has become precarious.
Often, the movies had to be halted midway through production—Karrell and Prentice managed to secure 20% of their financing, yet the leftover $480,000 remains out of reach. This amount represents all they have left from years of work, shooting, and personal dedication, despite being just a small fraction compared to what the federal government spends. The reduction in "media funding" amounted between $10 million and $20 million. While this might seem significant, it equates to merely around 10% of the National Endowment for the Humanities' entire budget and an infinitesimal 0.003% of the whole federal budget—a mere drop in the bucket when addressing fiscal deficits.
The large-scale cancellation of NEH awards is without precedent in the organization’s 60-year existence and extends beyond affecting only filmmakers; it also touches upon the very essence of our nation's culture. The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) came into being in 1965 under President Lyndon B. Johnson's administration. Since then, it has distributed over $6 billion through grants to humanities boards across all 56 U.S. states and territories with an aim to foster deeper insights into our collective human experience. Numerous documentaries supported by the NEH have significantly influenced society, including works like Gordon Parks’ 1984 production created specifically for public TV. Solomon Northup's Odyssey , based on the Twelve Years a Slave author's odyssey to A Midwife's Tale , a docudrama adapted from the diary of an early American midwife that was broadcasted on PBS's American Experience in 1997. Or 2020's Crip Camp , a inspiring examination of the disability rights movement from James Lebrecht, one of its key activists and founding members. This legacy is currently under threat.
My own letter was a gut punch. I'd been working on a documentary, My Underground Mother for more than ten years. The film traces my search for my late mother's hidden Holocaust past, which included time at a Jewish women's forced labor camp that she and 60 other inmates wrote about in a secret diary (a band of resisters who I locate around the world in real time, combining written passages with new interviews). Their story highlights an untold aspect of the Holocaust and the evil consequences of antisemitism.
However, the non-profit organization supporting my project (every NEH film has such an entity) received a letter from Michael McDonald, who was serving as the acting chairman of the NEH, last month. The letter indicated that my documentary “no longer aligns with the agency’s objectives and priorities outlined in the Grant Agreement,” citing a seldom-used provision that grants federal agencies extensive power to halt funding for initiatives not consistent with the current administration's goals. It went on to state, “The abrupt cessation of your grant is essential to protect the financial interests of the federal government along with its budgetary considerations.”
It seems that not only did my independently produced movie get labeled as a misuse of public funds by the current government, but also its financing was seen as jeopardizing the crucial financial requirements of our country.
This situation appeared particularly odd considering President Trump’s ongoing conflict with prominent universities over their purported inability to address antisemitism. Senator Elizabeth Warren also couldn’t help but notice the irony here. singled out My Underground Mother As a particularly glaring instance of a poor cutting choice, President Trump mentioned that numerous terminated initiatives centered around Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). However, it’s challenging to understand how this relates to film projects involving figures such as artist Frida Kahlo or Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel.
As noted by the Oscar-nominated director Immy Humes—a grant recipient who has been involved in making a documentary about the lesser-known independent cinema icon Shirley Clarke and who has rallied a collective of filmmakers against these changes—the cuts are overly extensive and unclear. She shares, “When I found out about my NEH grant award, I was overjoyed. But suddenly—boom! There came this unexpected termination without any prior notice.”
Although Elon Musk from DOGE views federal grants as handouts meant for individuals who avoid work, allow me to assure you that securing an NEH grant does not involve quick wins. In fact, obtaining one is typically more challenging than being accepted into Harvard University; many applications face initial denials before success comes through. It took almost ten years of relentless effort encompassing extensive research, drafting proposals, shooting footage, making pitches, and soliciting funds until I finally received my first accolade—a $75,000 film development grant.
I doubt the screening procedure here was very rigorous. A NEH employee mentioned to me that "some DOGE employees were present; they were two younger-looking men whom I didn’t know, busy with their smartphones. They stayed for only a short time, just a few days."
It goes without saying that the effects of these budget reductions will be substantial and extend well past the realm of documentaries. Cutting funding from these grants will adversely affect all libraries, historical societies, museums, and organizations involved in producing, distributing, and screening such films. The entire ecosystem is further threatened by Trump’s proposal to drastically reduce support for the NEA and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
It’s challenging to determine the subsequent actions. Rather than providing explicit instructions for appeals, the administration released a set of perplexing orders, doubling the appeal period from 30 days to 60 days, yet they also clarified: “NEH is not providing a method for resolving disputes.”
The NEH has initiated a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York through the American Council of Learned Societies, the American Historical Association, and the Modern Language Association. Typically, it falls upon the non-profit entities collaborating with the NEH rather than independent filmmakers to pursue legal action regarding terminated grants. This leads to an inconsistent strategy, where numerous parties opt to accept the terminations due to concerns over pending reimbursement payments they urgently require. However, some individuals such as Prentice, who alongside her production collaborator Women Make Movies is appealing on behalf of her documentary, choose to contest these decisions instead.
Several recent victories in court, particularly those secured by journalists from the Voice of America, offer some optimism. (Despite this, an appellate court recently ruled otherwise,) reversed the ruling.) V.O.A. was founded during World War II to broadcast fact-based journalism to troops and citizens abroad and counter Nazi propaganda. And if there's one thing I've learned from my film's deep dive into history, it's that there's no better way to counter hate than by humanizing the other. I've seen first hand how meeting a Holocaust survivor, whether in person or through a project, can dispel the most deep-seated antisemitic beliefs. But if the NEH, NEA and local humanities councils are defunded, the platforms that can bridge divides will be severely limited. And so, too, will our chances of stemming hate's rising ride.
As George Orwell noted, 'The most effective method to undermine individuals is by denying them an accurate comprehension of their past.' On this Thursday, as we commemorate the Allies' triumph over prejudice during the 80th anniversary of VE Day, let us aspire, seek divine guidance, and continue our efforts to guarantee that institutions such as the NEH remain steadfast in preventing such erasure.
Marisa Fox is a veteran journalist and television producer and the director of My Underground Mother.
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