Giant Pictures & Kanopy Acquire ‘Finding The Money,’ Documentary That Explodes Myth Of Deficit Spending

EXCLUSIVE: When it comes to understanding the national debt, we’ve got it all wrong. Fiscal conservatives liken the federal balance sheet to a family budget – any dollar spent beyond what’s coming in represents a risk. But that’s utterly misguided; the new documentary Finding the Money offers a fresh new perspective on this perennial political and economic debate.

Giant Pictures and Kanopy have jointly acquired North American rights to the film directed by Maren Poitras, which foregrounds the work of economist Dr. Stephanie Kelton, author of The Deficit Myth and proponent of Modern Monetary Theory. We have your first look at the film in the trailer above.

Giant Pictures will release the film in select theaters nationwide on May 3, featuring Q&As with special guest moderators, film protagonists, and filmmakers. Finding the Money will become available the same day on digital platforms including Apple TV and Amazon. The theatrical and VOD release will be followed by an exclusive streaming window on Kanopy, which will also hold virtual preview screenings.

“Finding the Money follows an intrepid group of economists on a mission to instigate a paradigm shift by flipping our understanding of the national debt — and the nature of money — upside down,” notes a release about the film. “The doc chronicles Kelton, in particular, on a journey through Modern Money Theory or ‘MMT,’ injecting new hope and empowering democracies to tackle the biggest challenges of the 21st century: from climate change to inequality. Kelton shot to prominence as economic advisor to Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaigns, in addition to the theories’ accurate predictions around the 2008 Great Financial Crisis, the Euro debt crisis, and the Covid-19 response.”

Giant Pictures General Manager Nick Savva said, “Promoting a meaningful dialogue around the true nature of the ‘national debt’ and Modern Monetary Theory’s insights is critical to addressing many of our most pressing societal and political problems. I am thrilled to be a part of bringing this important film to audiences across North America.”

The documentary marks the directorial debut of Poitras, who served as associate producer on two recent films directed by Sonia Kennebeck, Reality Winner, and Enemies of the State.

“We are thrilled to release Finding the Money with Giant and Kanopy in the midst of an election year when society will be debating big questions around government spending, the national debt, and what we can afford in the face of our biggest challenges,” Poitras said in a statement. “Can we change the story we tell about money, where it comes from, and who has agency over it? And will that change what we believe as a society we can achieve?”

In a director’s statement, Poitras expanded on the film’s themes: “As the 2024 US election season ramps up, we will be hearing a lot about the national debt and the deficit. As soon as a question about climate change comes up, it will be followed with – ‘but how will we pay for it?’ and ‘where will we find the money?’ As if the US federal government were not the sole issuer of the US dollar.

“This is where the story we tell about money matters. Where does money come from? Who creates it? And who has agency over it? What are the real limits to government spending, if the limit is not how much money we can ‘find’ through taxing or borrowing? An alternative story of money will revolutionize our conception of what we as a society believe we can afford and can achieve.”

Debates about the nature and utility of deficit spending have tied up Congress for months, with the most recent logjam resolved only a few days ago when the Senate approved $1.2 trillion in spending to fund most government operations. Rightwing Freedom Caucus members ousted former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy over funding disagreements and have threatened to do the same to his successor, Mike Johnson, who had to rely on Democratic support to pass the most recent spending measure. Modern Monetary Theory completely reframes our understanding of these debates.

The acquisition deal for Finding the Money was negotiated with the filmmakers by Nick Savva on behalf of Giant, and Jason Tyrrell and Zoe Toupin on behalf of Kanopy.

Finding the Money is directed, produced, edited, and photographed by Maren Poitras, and features Stephanie Kelton, L. Randall Wray, Warren Mosler, Fadhel Kaboub, Mathew Forstater, Lua Yuille, and Pavlina Tcherneva. The executive producers are Marc Smolowitz, Douglas Blush, Eric Breon, and Geoff Coventry.

Watch the trailer above.