249 years to make. 100 days to break.
SYNOPSIS
Our democracy is only as strong as the institutions that serve the people.
Recently, federal agencies have been weakened, stripped of personnel and resources or targeted for elimination. This systematic dismantling is not just policy - it is potentially a heist against the American people.
“Heist" introduces the audience to federal agencies and chronicles how agencies like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, USAID, NIH, Department of Education, and others have been weakened-and what this means for our future as Americans.
Told through powerful visuals and testimonials, this short film provides a glimpse into the erosion of public service and U.S. institutions.
Why This Matters
Federal agencies are not faceless bureaucracies. For many, they are lifelines. They ensure safe medicine, protect children, uphold civil rights, regulate financial systems, respond to disasters, and safeguard our health and environment.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “New Deal” policies created many of these agencies to give relief to the unemployed and poor, stimulate economic recovery, and regulate and reform the banking system. Their dismantling directly impacts communities, families, and generations to come.
“HEIST” the documentary will:
Give a brief introduction and history about the Roosevelt Administration’s vision of a modern America and it’s creation of federal agencies.
Share information about what these federal institutions do for Americans and the Formation of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) which is currently dismantling or shuttering them.
Provide the personal perspectives of federal workers who have been fired.
Create awareness about how the federal workforce was hit first - and now the American public is being targeted through proposed cuts to Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.
Your donations will be used for film completion expenses.
Director Statement
It is imperative to document this time in U.S. history.
ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)
Rebecca Cammisa
Rebecca Cammisa is a two-time OSCAR-nominated and EMMY award-winning filmmaker. Her first feature documentary film Sister Helen aired on HBO and won the 2002 Sundance Film Festival's Documentary Directing Award. Sister Helen received an EMMY award nomination for Outstanding Cultural and Artistic Programming and an Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary Film Award nomination from the Directors Guild of America. Rebecca founded Documentress Films and directed and produced the 2010 OSCAR-nominated feature documentary, Which Way Home which received a Fulbright Fellowship for Filmmaking; was nominated for a 2010 Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary; and received four Emmy nominations. The film also won a News & Documentary Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Programming and the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards Grand Prize. Rebecca’s next film God is the Bigger Elvis received a 2012 OSCAR nomination for Best Documentary Short Subject, an EMMY award nomination for Outstanding Arts & Cultural Programming, and an International Documentary Association Award nomination in the Documentary Short Film category. Rebecca was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship for Filmmaking and began the feature-length documentary film Atomic Homefront which received a MacArthur Foundation Film Grant. Atomic Homefront premiered on HBO and won a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for Domestic Television and an Impact Docs Award for Best Documentary Film. Rebecca’s newest feature documentary film, Yours in Freedom, Bill Baird, chronicles the life and career of birth control crusader William Baird. The film premiered at the 2023 Doc NYC Film Festival.
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ABOUT YOUR DONATION
Women Make Movies (WMM), Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit media arts organization registered with the New York Charities Bureau of New York State and accepts charitable donations on behalf of this project. Your donation will be spent by the filmmaker(s) toward the production and completion of this media project. No services or goods are provided by Women Make Movies, the filmmaker(s) or anyone else associated with this project in exchange for your charitable donation.
Your contributions are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law, and a confirmation of your donation will be sent via email. WMM will send you an acknowledgement letter in the mail to the address listed for tax purposes.