Cate Blanchett launches refugee film fund © Bang Showbiz
Cate Blanchett has teamed up with the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) on a funding scheme for refugee filmmakers.
The Hollywood actress—who is known for films including ‘Elizabeth,’ ‘The Aviator’ and ‘Thor: Ragnarok’—is a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and has joined forces with the IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund to offer production grants of more than $100,000 to five displaced filmmakers or those “with a proven track record in creating authentic storytelling on the experiences of displaced people.”
Blanchett said: “Film can drop you into the texture and realities of someone’s life like no other art form. Working with UNHCR I have engaged in both the large-scale impact and the vast statistics of forced displacement as an issue faced by millions of people—but I have also been fortunate to meet affected people directly and engage with their stories and experiences.”
“It is this aim of creating personal, intimate touchpoints that the Displacement Film Fund is driven by. When people are forced to leave their homes, they lose access to the most basic support, but as artists they also lose access to the means to make work at a time when it is more vital than ever. I’m grateful to the Hubert Bals Fund and the coalition of supremely talented individuals we’ve gathered around this collective effort to step into that gap.”
The Displacement Film Fund was launched at IFFR’s 54th edition in February, during a panel with Blanchett and her fellow UNHCR supporter and Head of HBF, Tamara Tatishvili, moderated by Uzma Hasan—to “discuss the scheme’s origins, aims and the urgency of its focus.”
Blanchett is the chair of the Selection Committee, which includes ‘Wicked’ star Cynthia Erivo, journalist and documentarian Waad Al Kateab, director and screenwriter Agnieszka Holland, IFFR Festival Director Vanja Kaludjercic, educator, activist and refugee Aisha Khurram, ‘Flee’ filmmaker Jonas Poher Rasmussen, and Amin Nawabi, the LGBTQ+ asylum seeker who inspired the film.
Those chosen for the fund will be announced during the Cannes Film Festival in May, and their finished films will receive world premieres at IFFR 2026.
Clare Stewart, Managing Director IFFR, and Tamara Tatishvili, Head of The Hubert Bals Fund, said: “We are deeply proud that the framework HBF has created over the last three decades to support filmmakers across the globe making groundbreaking work in often hugely challenging environments, is trusted as the ideal management partner to enable this vital fund. The dedication of the founding members of the Displacement Film Fund is inspiring, and we wholeheartedly support the vision to harness the power of film to articulate an experience faced by such a large portion of the world’s population. We stand with them in the efforts to give displaced filmmakers vital support and to raise awareness for stories of displacement.”
(Source: Bang Showbiz via Reuters Connect)
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