Cate Blanchett, IFFR’s Hubert Bals Launch Displaced Filmmakers Fund

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Two-time Academy Award-winning actress Cate Blanchett is joining forces with the Hubert Bals Fund of the Rotterdam Film Festival to establish a fresh initiative aimed at aiding filmmakers who have been forced to flee their homes due to conflicts or natural disasters.

At this year’s Rotterdam festival, the Displacement Film Fund – an initiative spearheaded by Blanchett, a global Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR – will be unveiled. This fund is designed to offer financial support to filmmakers who have been displaced, enabling them to create short film projects.

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The Displacement Film Fund, which Blanchett, a global Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR, will introduce at the Rotterdam festival this year, aims to provide funding for filmmakers who have been displaced to produce short films.

Or:

Blanchett, as a global Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR, is launching the Displacement Film Fund at the Rotterdam festival this year. This fund will offer financial aid to filmmakers who were displaced, allowing them to create short films.

All three versions convey the same information but are phrased slightly differently for variety and readability.

The pilot initiative is providing €100,000 ($104,000) in individual funding to five filmmakers who have been displaced, enabling them to create unique short movies of their own.

Blanchett will lead the group responsible for choosing filmmakers, with Cynthia Erivo from “Wicked,” Jonas Poher Rasmussen and Waad Al-Kateab, directors of “Flee” and “For Sama” respectively, Agnieszka Holland of “Green Border,” Vanja Kaludjercic, director of the Rotterdam Film Festival, Aisha Khurram, an activist and refugee, and Amin Nawabi, who was the inspiration for the Oscar-nominated “Flee” and goes by [alias], joining her in this committee.

Blanchett stated that movies uniquely immerse you into someone’s life experiences unlike any other artistic form. When individuals are displaced from their homes, they not only lose essential resources, but as creators, they also lose the tools to express themselves at a time when artistic expression is critically important.

A panel will pick a group of potential directors to receive financial support, with the top five being chosen by Blanchett and her team. These chosen filmmakers will be revealed during this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Their completed films will have their first screenings at the Rotterdam festival next year.

Al-Kateab stated that this project provides a chance to magnify seldom heard perspectives and is crucial in helping filmmakers express their tales of fortitude, self-awareness, and optimism.

A coalition of prominent figures in the movie industry, including experts, artists, entrepreneurs, and philanthropists, are launching a new fund at the Rotterdam festival on February 1st. The concept for this project originated from the UNHCR’s Global Refugee Forum, yet it aligns perfectly with the Hubert Bals Fund, named after the initial director of the Rotterdam festival. Since its inception in 1988, this fund has supported numerous projects hailing from regions with undeveloped or nonexistent film industries.

A group of influential people in the movie world are starting a new fund at the Rotterdam festival on Feb 1st. This idea came from the UNHCR’s Global Refugee Forum, but it fits well with an existing fund called the Hubert Bals Fund, which has been helping film projects from underdeveloped regions since 1988.

Approximately 1 out of every 67 individuals worldwide is a refugee, forced to flee their home as a result of conflict, war, or persecution, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

If the pilot project turns out to be effective, its organizers aim to make it a permanent part of the international film funding scene, providing a platform for displaced filmmakers to tell their stories to worldwide viewers.

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2025-01-28 17:25