The Vanishing Point (2026, ongoing) 


Theatrical Release: IFC Center Short Attention Span Cinema, April 2026
Digital Release: Crafty Short Films, April 2026



The Vanishing Point is a documentary series about the rollback of American science funding since 2025. Through these stories, I'm documenting the loss of expertise, collaboration, and imagination that took generations to build.

Organizations like Stand Up for Science and the Weather and Climate Livestream are pushing back, bringing letters to Congress and advocating for the future of American science. At the same time, new proposed rules from the OMB will fundamentally remake how federally funded scientific research operates, putting political appointees, rather than scientists, in charge of what research is funded and how grantees are able to spend those funds.

While investigating these cuts, I visited NASA's GISS Lab during its final days, when scientists packed up decades of climate data and equipment to be sent to storage at taxpayer expense, while the government remains legally obligated to pay a ten-year lease. This episode, NASA v. DOGE, played theatrically at New York's IFC Center as part of Short Attention Span Cinema, which has also featured the New York Times Op-Docs and The Moth Radio Hour. Another episode, Young Scientists Speak Out, will play at IFC Center in Fall 2026.

NASA v. DOGE is distributed online by Crafty Short Films. You can watch this episode for free below.




The effects reach beyond budgets. PhD student Samsara Upadhya saw her NIH grant, focused on cell replication, revoked for being part of a diversity supplement program. The research had "nothing to do with diversity at all," Upadhya explained. Her funding was canceled only because she had indicated that she was a diverse researcher. Her proposal went through the standard peer review process and scored exceptionally well.




I am covering this ongoing story - so please reach out with questions, ideas, and tips. 

Upcoming episodes will feature:
  •   Noam Ross, Founder Grant Witness 
  •   Colette Delawalla, Founder and CEO, Stand Up for Science 
  •   Elizabeth Ginexi, former NIH 

Past Interviews Include
  • Ed Pilkington, Chief Reporter, Guardian US 
  • Dr. Paul Graham Fisher, Stanford Pediatric Neurooncology 
  • Jenna Norton, NIH Whistleblower 
  • Dr. Allegra LeGrande (NASA) Dr. Miriam Nielsen (former NASA) 
  • Early Career Scientists Impacted at Columbia, Weill Cornell Medicine, and Princeton 

Between Instagram and YouTube, the series has more than 250,000 views.


Selected Documentary Work 




Chapel (2025) 

Short Documentary

    Supported by the Inwood Filmmaker Fund
   In Collaboration with Alamo Pictures (UK)

Millions of people walk through JFK’s Terminal 4 each year, where four chapels stand side by side. Step into these chapels, where a rabbi and an imam share a friendship, and cherish the unity that deep faith can provide.
     



Flying in the Dark (2022) 

Animated Short Documentary 
   
   Funded by the Austin Film Society
   Distributed by Samuel Goldwyn Films
   Now on YouTube

Women have flown since the dawn of aviation, but we're still surprised to see a woman pilot. Here are stories directly from women who fly, from World War II to the present. Featuring interviews with General Jeannie Leavitt, Wally Funk, and veterans of the Women Airforce Service Pilots program. This film premiered at the Austin Film Festival and played the Brooklyn Film Festival. 



Mimi, 1945 (upcoming) 

Short Documentary

    Supported by the Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection at Brown University

At 22 years old, Mimi Korach Lesser left her home in New York to serve as a portrait artist in the USO. This film captures her story and her travels in Europe. It features interviews with historians Judith Coffin and Kara Vuic, as well as women in their twenties today reflecting on which aspects of Mimi's story resonate most with them.



Selected Narrative Film Work



The Upholder (2020)

Live Action, Narrative Short Film 

   Written and Directed by Annika Horne
   Cinematography by Ben Root
   Produced by Francesa Bertini

Anne-Marie, a teenager in 1960s Texas, learns that her tyrannical father is running for office and determines to stop him.

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