Blanchett Funds Displaced Voices in Film

Actress Cate Blanchett has announced the second cohort of filmmakers to receive support from her Displacement Film Fund (DFF) at the Cannes Film Festival. The fund, established in partnership with the International Film Festival Rotterdam's Hubert Bals Fund, aims to empower filmmakers displaced from their homes.

This year's recipients, including Mo Amer, Annemarie Jacir, Akuol de Mabior, Bao Nguyen, and Rithy Panh, will each receive a €100,000 production grant to create short films. These completed works are slated for their world premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, scheduled from January 28 to February 28, 2027.

Blanchett described the initiative as a means to showcase the "human face" and the "incredible stories of resilience, humor and invention" of these filmmakers, asserting that the fund seeks to counteract the politicization of displacement narratives. The discussion at Cannes also touched upon the challenges faced by artists with certain political viewpoints, with filmmaker Annemarie Jacir highlighting an "unnamed blacklist" affecting those not in celebrity status. Jacir stressed the importance of telling Palestinian stories to assert memory and identity without external control.