2 weeks ago
Cate Blanchett has announced that her Displacement Film Fund (DFF) will beryllium getting down short films by Mo Amer, Annemarie Jacir, Akuol de Mabior, Rithy Panh and Bao Nguyen successful a property convention astatine nan Cannes Film Festival
Palestinian American comedian-writer-director Amer, who is champion known for his Mo Amer Netflix shows arsenic good arsenic his appearances connected Ramy Youssef’s Ramy, is moving connected Return to Sender astir a Palestinian standup comedian dealing pinch a assortment of migration rules arsenic he embarks connected a world tour.
Fresh from her 2025-2026 awards play tally pinch Oscar shortlisted characteristic Palestine 36, Palestinian head Annemarie Jacir’s short Deconstruction is inspired by nan larboard metropolis of Haifa and its layers of beingness and absence, representation and reinvention. It follows a man navigating nan in-between arsenic nan past is uncovered, rearranged, sold, and made new.
South Sudanese filmmaker Akuol de Mabior, who was calved successful Cuba and grew up successful Kenya, antecedently explored nan communicative of her family’s displacement successful nan 2022 documentary No Simple Way Home. Her DFF-backed short Traces of a Broken Line will look astatine nan effect of warfare connected lineage, done a mother attempting to sphere what she tin nary longer manus down.
Vietnamese American filmmaker Bao Nguyen, who antecedently made waves pinch The Stringer, Be Water and The Return, participates pinch How to Ride a Bike. It follows a Vietnamese exile begetter who ne'er learned to thrust a bike. When his effort to thatch this accomplishment to his young boy fails, he originates learning successful secret, confronting a lifelong shame he has carried since boyhood.
Renowned Cambodian Rithy Panh, whose award-winning useful see The Rice People, S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine, The Missing Picture, Exile, Graves Without a Name, and Everything Will Be OK, is moving connected short movie pinch Time… Speak.
The biographical activity follows an exiled filmmaker arsenic he returns to nan surgery fragments of his representation – shattered figurines, archives, and silences – to reconstruct done cinema a shape of life successful which nan vanished proceed to speak.
These moving titled projects are nan 2nd information of shorts to beryllium supported by nan short movie assistance strategy spearheaded by character and shaper Blanchett, done her domiciled arsenic Global Goodwill Ambassador astatine nan United Nations’s exile agency UNHCR, successful business pinch nan International Film Festival Rotterdam‘s Hubert Bals Fund (HBF).
Each of nan nominated filmmakers will person a accumulation assistance of €100,000 ($116k) to make nan short films. The completed projects will past world premiere astatine IFFR’s adjacent edition, moving from January 28 to February 28, 2027.
Launched by Blanchett astatine nan 2025 version of IFFR successful 2025, nan Displacement Film Fund is backed by a conjugation of movie manufacture experts, creators, business leaders and philanthropists. Its purpose is to champion and money nan activity of displaced filmmakers, aliases filmmakers pinch a proven way grounds successful creating authentic storytelling astir nan experiences of displaced people.
The DFF’s aviator information backed Maryna Er Gorbach, Mo Harawe, Hasan Kattan, Mohammad Rasoulof and Shahrbanoo Sadat and resulted successful nan films Rotation, Whispers of a Burning Scent, Allies successful Exile, Sense of Water and Super Afghan Gym) which world premiered astatine IFFR 2026 successful January.
“Our first information of DFF shorts person been met pinch immense enthusiasm from some nan manufacture and our partners, while challenging expectations astir what stories of displacement tin look for illustration connected screen,” said Blanchett.
“The short shape is simply a awesome mean for these narratives and nan measurement audiences are connecting pinch nan first 5 films is extraordinary. I’m heartened by nan occurrence of our first cohort and thrilled to beryllium revealing nan adjacent group of artists to beryllium supported. We’re grateful to beryllium hosted by Thierry Frémaux and nan Cannes Film Festival who proceed to champion our origin and make abstraction for america successful this astir celebrated yearly gathering of cinema.”
For nan 2nd version of nan fund, IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund returns arsenic Management Partner, Amahoro Coalition, Droom en Daad, Master Mind, nan Tamer Family Foundation and UNIQLO return arsenic Founding Partners, and UNHCR – nan UN Refugee Agency – remains Strategic Partner. The SP Lohia Foundation joins arsenic a caller Major Partner.
“It is simply a privilege to return to Cannes pinch nan Displacement Film Fund, pursuing nan singular travel we’ve embarked connected pinch nan first cohort and nan occurrence of their premiere screenings astatine IFFR 2026. The recipients of our 2nd rhythm erstwhile again bespeak an bonzer breadth of filmmaking talent – pinch each navigating their ain individual experiences of displacement – and we are proud to thief bring their captious stories into nan spotlight,” said Clare Stewart, Managing Director IFFR, and Tamara Tatishvili, Head of The Hubert Bals Fund.
“At a clip of ongoing world uncertainty, our committedness to maintaining this money only deepens, alongside our belief successful championing movie arsenic a powerful unit for encouraging empathy and affirmative change.”
According to UNHCR figures 1 successful each 70 group successful nan world’s organization is presently surviving successful a business of forced displacement owed to conflict, war, aliases persecution.
The recipients for nan 2nd information were selected via a two-step process involving a Nominations Committee and a Selection Committee.
The Nominations Committee included journalist and documentarian Waad Al Kateab (We Dare to Dream, For Sama), director and screenwriter Agnieszka Holland (Green Border), UNHCR protagonist Ke Huy Quan, Tatishvili, Stewart, and nan DFF Partners.
The Selection Committee was chaired by Blanchett and included IFFR Festival Director Vanja Kaludjercic, movie and shape shaper Barbara Broccoli, educator, activistic and exile Aisha Khurram, and filmmaker Mo Harawe who was selected for nan DFF’s first cycle.
