Palantir-Linked Execs Are Helping Launch a New Propaganda Film Venture

They're framing it as an all-American counter to Hollywood, but so far, it's nothing more than imperial agitprop.

Palantir-linked tech executives are reportedly helping raise funds for a film production company that intends to make pro-US government movies. According to a new article from Semafor this week, Founders Films, a Dallas-based production company, is entering the culture war to fight for American nationalism and exceptionalism.

The new company is backed by founding Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar, who recently joined the Army as a lieutenant colonel with several other Big Tech executives (this new “Detachment 201” was reportedly Sankar’s idea). Other backers include a former head of business development for Palantir, Ryan Podolsky, and investor Christian Garrett. Garrett’s firm is invested in government contractor companies like SpaceX, Palantir, and Anduril. Anduril is currently working on AI drone warfare for the military and was just granted an effective monopoly (via the Big Beautiful Bill) on supplying autonomous surveillance towers to US Customs and Border Protection. These three men are reportedly raising money for the new film endeavor.

For context, Palantir is a politically entrenched software, AI, and data analysis corporation that was partially funded early on by In-Q-Tel, the CIA’s investment wing. They were implicated in Edward Snowden’s 2013 releases and have contracts with numerous US government agencies, including the Pentagon, the CDC, ICE, and the IRS by way of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

They recently came under extensive scrutiny after the New York Times reported they were helping President Trump compile a centralized database on Americans, which the company vehemently denied. Palantir founder Peter Thiel and his associates have extensive ties to the current administration. However, as with many nefarious political arrangements, Palantir’s government profiteering is not limited to Republican administrations. Further, Palantir provides services to governments outside the US and recently brought the AI-driven Project Maven, which it built for the Pentagon, to NATO.

A “guerrilla war” against the “status quo”

According to an in-depth article Sankar posted on his Substack late last year, the Palantir CTO believes there must be a heroic challenge to the “status quo” that dominates Hollywood films. This aligns with a recent Founders Films pitch deck obtained by Semafor. In it, the new company decries the current state of affairs:

“The American Brand is broken. Hollywood is AWOL. Movies have become more ideological, more cautious, and less entertaining. Large segments of American and international viewers are underserved. Production costs have soared and sales are flagging.”

Further, in his 2024 article, Sankar accurately points out that films are a form of “soft power,” highlighting that governments have an interest in exporting their cultures to craft a positive image in the world. He frames the communist Chinese regime as an arch-nemesis of the United States, opining that “America is in the middle of Cold War II against a communist enemy with more people, more money, and more military might than the Soviets ever had.” He predictably treats this existential conflict as one of good versus evil. Of course, in his version of reality, America is the good guy standing against oppressors and evildoers who seek to subjugate the world (this is rich coming from the CTO of a company helping multiple government agencies surveil the public more efficiently).

On one hand, Sankar correctly identifies governments’ efforts to exert soft power to influence the world in their favor. The Chinese government does exert immense influence over Hollywood studios, whose leaders are willing to bend the knee to the Chinese government in exchange for access to Chinese audiences.

However, the Palantir CTO’s apparent answer to this, Founders Films, embodies pervasive and outdated ideologies and ways of thinking: he espouses a false dichotomy that paints the United States as the world’s moral authority. Accordingly, Founders Films wants to make films that promote “American exceptionalism.” In reality, the Chinese government is undeniably oppressive and corrupt, but the US government is not its freedom-loving counterpart.

Rather than seeking to produce thought-provoking films that explore true freedom and sincere skepticism of government and authority, Founders Films appears on track to produce traditional right-wing flavored pro-government propaganda. According to Semafor, the production slate includes films about:

• the 9/11 terror attacks

• the Trump administration’s 2020 assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani

• the botched US withdrawal from Afghanistan under Joe Biden;

• Chinese spy operations seeking to upend America’s position as the dominant global power

• the recent US-Israeli air strikes that claimed to take out the Iranian regime’s nuclear program

To complete the pro-government propaganda, the studio also plans to make a new version of Atlas Shrugged, the famous libertarian-themed novel by Ayn Rand. This choice rounds out the current right-wing narrative: the age-old elevation of American exceptionalism, militarism, and government authority under the cover of libertarian, anti-government, and anti-authoritarian values. In reality, military-industrialism and empire are anything but libertarian.

Ignorance is strength

The new venture’s focus on American militarism and exceptionalism perfectly highlights the false dichotomy Sankar paints as “Cold War II.” As evil as the Chinese regime may be, the US military is no stranger to abuses and atrocities. For one, American militarism and exceptionalism have led to decades of wars that are often based on lies. These wars have contributed to a massive national debt on the backs of regular Americans, not to mention the immense toll on the soldiers fighting these endless wars.

More explicitly, US troops (and those who command them) have committed grave inhumanities. A sampling of morally egregious acts includes the My-Lai massacre in Vietnam, torture in Afghanistan, ongoing air strikes that have killed countless civilians, the use of depleted uranium, and turning a blind eye to child sex abuse in Afghanistan. It appears the success of the new film company rests on the mental gymnastics George Orwell once described: “The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them.”

Despite Sankar’s stated desire to challenge the status quo, his vision and that of Founders Films are aligned with the establishment. Indeed, Sankar refers to Top Gun as an ideal American film. As it happens, Top Gun is one of countless movies directly influenced by the US government: the Pentagon enjoyed say over the film’s script in exchange for consulting and providing equipment to make the movie more realistic (the 2022 sequel almost certainly had the same military influence). The original 1986 film also reflects the power of cinema in shaping people’s opinions and perceptions: it provided a small but significant boost to naval recruitments.

This longstanding relationship between Hollywood and the US government—which encompasses not just the Pentagon but agencies like the CIA and FBI–has produced inarguably pro-government films. The film products of this relationship reinforce the same image of the American government that the Palantir-linked production company seeks to boost. Unsurprisingly, right-wing culture warriors rarely decry this flavor of Hollywood propaganda. It is unclear whether Founders Films will seek a similar relationship with government agencies, but it would not be surprising.

Outcomes > intentions

Far from being a true challenge to oppressive ideological influence, Founders Films is on track to reinforce the same pro-government narratives, culture wars, false left-right dichotomy, and polarization that have long plagued media, politics, and society at large. While Sankar may be correct that Hollywood has rolled over for the communist Chinese regime and that the film industry needs fresh content, regurgitating establishment propaganda tropes from decades past is hardly an effective solution.

Perhaps the Palantir-executive-backed film company is knowingly perpetuating harmful, subservient ideologies as an intentional push to subjugate people’s minds. Or, perhaps, the new project is merely a reflection of their own sincere albeit propagandized beliefs. It may be a bit of both. Either way, their true intentions matter less than the end result: conditioning people to revere their jingoistic overlords as liberators and encourage affection and reverence for “good” authoritarians.