Cate Blanchett has announced a refugee film fund, offering five filmmakers €100,000 to tell the story of those displaced by conflict.
Empowering Storytellers of Displacement
The Hollywood actress Cate Blanchett, known for films such as Elizabeth, The Aviator, and Thor: Ragnarok, serves as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). In collaboration with the IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund to offer €100,000 production grants to five displaced filmmakers or those “with a proven track record in creating authentic storytelling on the experiences of displaced people.”
The Vision Behind the Initiative
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.
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.
Launch and Future Plans
The organizers will announce the chosen recipients for the fund during the Cannes Film Festival in May, and IFFR 2026 will premiere their finished films worldwide.
Clare Stewart, Managing Director of IFFR, and Tamara Tatishvili, Head of The Hubert Bals Fund, said: “We take immense pride in the framework HBF has built over the last three decades to support filmmakers across the globe who create groundbreaking work in often hugely challenging environments.
Many now trust HBF as the ideal management partner to enable this vital Fund.”
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Published by HOLR Magazine
Sources: The Aviator, Elizabeth, Thor: Ragnarok, UNHCR, International Film Festival Rotterdam
Image Credit: BANG SHOWBIZ