How the Ford Foundation Took Over Storytelling

Late last month, Darren Walker, the president of the Ford Foundation, one of the world’s most influential left-leaning philanthropic organizations, announced his intention to step down. Mr. Walker will no doubt be remembered as a powerful political kingmaker. But, his greatest impact may be his funding of a vast film and entertainment landscape during his twelve-year tenure.

The Ford Foundation and its long game

Documentaries and other nonprofit-funded film projects can have a massive impact on public opinion. Think, for example, about what films like “The Inconvenient Truth” and “Gasland” have done for the environmental movement. But high-impact films don’t happen by accident or in a vacuum, and if conservatives are concerned with the future of culture, Walker’s example can serve as a blueprint.

Ford claims that its film-related grantmaking constitutes “one of the largest documentary funds in the world.” A 2022 report from Inside Philanthropy agrees, reporting that Ford spent over $312 million on filmmaking from 2014 to 2018. This figure, which represents only 12.5% of the foundation’s spending, is still enough to make it “clearly the biggest foundation funder of film in the country.”

The most significant portion of that film funding comes from Ford’s JustFilms initiative, which “supports independent film and emerging media projects that explore urgent social justice issues and seek to challenge inequality in all its forms.” Between 2017 and 2021, JustFilms provided $27.3 million in “content grants” to support 187 films. JustFilms was spearheaded by Orlando Bagwell in 2011, crucially, a great filmmaker in his own right – not a public policy-oriented foundation program officer.

Ford’s long view extends beyond direct film funding. About 60% of the JustFilms spending goes to creating a documentary film ecosystem, supporting film festivals, outreach, and educating the next generation of filmmakers.

Fund the festivals

Ford spends millions on film festivals, spreading small grants among lesser-known festivals all over the world while consolidating bigger funding with major players like Sundance and Tribeca. This creates a healthy environment where Ford’s film grant recipients have multiple options to gain recognition from friendly venues and ensures that the most important festivals maintain their legitimacy.

According to its online grants database, Ford has committed over $14.7 million to the Sundance Institute since 2006, most of which was earmarked to fund either the documentary film program or general development support. Many Ford-funded films have won awards at Sundance, including “The Fight,” which is about the efforts of American Civil Liberties Union attorneys to combat the policies of the Trump Administration, and “Philly D.A.,” about left-wing Philadelphia district attorney Larry Krasner.

Ford also wisely spends substantial money supporting the next generation of storytellers and filmmakers, with 52% of JustFilms content grants going to filmmakers who have made fewer than five films. Once they’ve secured their first Ford grant, these new filmmakers will have an easier time finding funding and distribution.

Some examples of grants in the film education space include $9.6 million in grants since 2012 to a nonprofit called Firelight Media, whose mission is to support “documentary filmmakers of color,” and $10.1 million since 2011 to a group called Doc Society, including $2 million to their Good Pitch program, which functions as a forum for social justice filmmakers and activist partners.

Conservatives, you can and should do the same!

Conservatives spend far less on cultivating talent among our filmmakers – and I should know, I run a Film Incubator, one of the few film training programs in the conservative space, and I have done considerable research in this area. If conservatives want better films coming out from their side, they need to train the documentarians who dare to question left-wing orthodoxy but don’t quite know how.

Conservatives often complain about the lack of right-of-center movies, citing Hollywood as a corrupt system that favors the left. Nevertheless, movie making, especially for documentaries, is a relatively free market. If conservatives made movies that people wanted to watch, they would be successful. The problem is that conservative donors don’t spend the type of money Ford and its allies spend on film, and few donors on the right have a long-term strategy for effecting cultural change through continuous film funding.

Ford’s film strategy during Walker’s time as President has been clear: Fund hundreds of films, including up-and-coming filmmakers and future festival darlings, fund the festivals, the promotion, and the film education for the next generation. Ford should be commended for putting together a coherent and holistic strategy, one that will have a long-lasting effect on American culture. Culture warriors on the right would be wise to pick up this blueprint and step into the arena with the Ford Foundation.

This article was originally published by RealClearPolitics and made available via RealClearWire.