Cate Blanchett has announced a refugee film fund, offering five filmmakers €100,000 to tell the story of those displaced by conflict.

January 28, 2025: Cate Blanchett has teamed up with the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) on a funding scheme for refugee filmmakers.

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.

Additionally, 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.
However, 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.”
IFFR’s 54th edition will launch the Displacement Film Fund, and Blanchett will join a panel on February 1 at 3:30 PM CET with fellow UNHCR supporters and Head of HBF, Tamara Tatishvili. Uzma Hasan will moderate the discussion on 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.

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.”

Moreover, 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.
Lastly, We stand with them in the efforts to give displaced filmmakers vital support and to raise awareness for stories of displacement.”

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Published by HOLR Magazine

Sources:  The Aviator, Elizabeth, Thor: Ragnarok, UNHCR, International Film Festival Rotterdam

Image Credit: BANG SHOWBIZ