ST. LOUIS – Cinema St. Louis and the Hi-Pointe THeater announced that their $20,000 NEA grant for the 2025 St. Louis International Film Festival has been withdrawn—just months before the November event.

The Trump Administration began canceling grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, which caused the theater to lose 12% of its Annual Festival Budget.

“It’s devastating. I’ve been an arts lover since I was a kid, and to know that education through the arts that has been a thread through the cultural fabric of this country since at least the ‘60s could potentially be going away, it’s a huge loss for this country and every community across America,” said Bree Maniscalco, executive director of Cinema St. Louis & Hi-Pointe Theater.

Cinema St. Louis says it will now rely more heavily on volunteers, reduce travel budgets for filmmakers and may cut back on the number of free films.

Filmmaker Dana Christian, who showcased a short film last year honoring Ferguson’s 10-year anniversary, says this loss hurts deeply.

“As a minority in the creative space to do this full time, we are always searching and trying to pull to try to get things funded… Luckily I do this full time but some of my colleagues, they work parting jobs and they have to come out of their pockets,” Christian said.

The timing comes just ahead of “Give STL Day” this Thursday. 

Cinema St. Louis is launching a “35 for 35” campaign to raise $35,000 in support of 35mm film programming. 

Despite the cuts, the festival will go on November 6 to the 16.