The actor Cate Blanchett is to lead a new grant scheme for refugee film-makers, offering up to €100,000 (£84,000) each to five people to create short works focusing on the experiences of displaced people.
The initiative will launch as a pilot scheme but is planned to evolve into a long-term project, headed by Blanchett, a two-time Oscar winner and a goodwill ambassador for the UN refugee agency (UNHCR).
The Displacement Film Fund, backed by the International Film Festival Rotterdam with the UNHCR as a strategic partner, will support displaced film-makers or those with experience in refugee storytelling.
It comes amid a global crisis, with 122.6 million people forcibly displaced due to war, persecution or human rights abuses, according to the UN’s 2024 figures. This amounts to one in 67 people worldwide, with 71% of displacements occurring in low- and middle-income nations.
“Film can drop you into the texture and realities of someone’s life like no other art form,” Blanchett said.
“Working with UNHCR I have engaged in both the largescale 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 touch points.”
A longlist will be drawn up in the coming months, with the final recipients chosen by a selection committee chaired by Blanchett, which includes the British actor Cynthia Erivo, Syrian journalist Waad al-Kateab, and Afghan activist Aisha Khurram.
The selected film-makers will be announced at the Cannes film festival in May.
Majid Adin, an Iranian refugee film-maker said he was “thrilled” to hear about the fund. He arrived in the UK in 2016, in the back of a refrigerated van, and the next year won a competition to produce a music video for Elton John’s song Rocket Man.
“Refugee film-makers face a unique set of challenges in bringing their stories to the screen. Society and the film industry often fail to recognise them as capable creative artists, limiting their opportunities to take on leadership roles like directing,” he said. “Instead, there’s a tendency to see them as subjects in front of the camera rather than as creative forces behind it.”
