Filmmakers from Iran, Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia and Ukraine are the five recipients of the pilot version of the Displacement Film Fund, the short film grant scheme from Cate Blanchett and the International Film Festival Rotterdam’s (IFFR) Hubert Bals Fund.
The Displacement Film Fund was established to champion and fund the work of displaced filmmakers, or filmmakers with a proven track record in creating authentic storytelling about the experiences of displaced people. It was announced by Blanchett, a UNHCR ambassador, during Rotterdam this year.
In this pilot version of the Fund – which is backed film industry execs, creatives, business leaders and philanthropists – each of the nominated filmmakers will receive a production grant of €100,000. The completed projects will have their world premieres at IFFR 2026.
The five recipient filmmakers and their projects are:
- Ukrainian filmmaker Maryna Er Gorbach, who previously won the directing award in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival for her film Klondike. Her project Silk Road (w/t) is a Ukraine–Europe road movie about a young Ukrainian woman whose family has been torn apart by war: while her children live in Europe, she and her husband remain in Kyiv, working in a children’s hospital as the war goes on.
- Somali-Austrian filmmaker Mo Harawe whose debut feature film, The Village Next to Paradise, played in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard in 2024. His project Whispers of a Burning Scent (w/t) is set on the day of a pivotal court hearing, where a quiet man faces the unraveling of his marriage and the judgment of his stepchildren, while searching for solace in what once gave his life meaning.
- Syrian filmmaker Hassan Kattan, who is co-director of Last Men in Aleppo, which was shortlisted for the Academy Awards and secured the Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. His project Allies in Exile (w/t) is about two Syrian filmmakers, bound by a 14-year friendship forged in war, who document their shared exile in the UK asylum system – until one is granted refuge and the other returns to a changed Syria, reflecting the impossible choices refugees face today.
- Iranian independent filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof was forced to flee to a safe house in Germany after being sentenced by the Islamic Republic to eight years in prison, following the selection of his film The Seed of the Sacred Fig in the main competition at the 2024 Cannes. The film went on to be nominated for an Academy Award. His as-yet-unamed project is set after the death of an exiled writer, whose family try to fulfill his wish to be buried according to his will – but honouring his request leads to unexpected complications.
- Afghan filmmaker Shahrbanoo Sadat recently fled to Germany from Kabul. Her debut film Wolf and Sheep won the top award in the 2016 Directors’ Fortnight section at Cannes. Her project is Female Fitness of Kabul (w/t). Inside a crumbling Kabul gym, its walls covered with oiled muscle men and doors open to women for only a few hours each day, Afghan housewives in scarves and long dresses reclaim not just their bodies, but also their spirits, their bonds, and their sense of self.
Blanchett said: “Displacement may disrupt careers, but for artists it doesn’t diminish the drive to tell urgent, human stories. In a time of growing division, film offers a powerful counterforce to remind us of our shared humanity. I can’t wait to see what these exceptional filmmakers bring to life – whether addressing displacement directly, or exploring the universal threads that unite us.”
Clare Stewart, managing director IFFR, and Tamara Tatishvili, head of the Hubert Bals Fund, said: “The Displacement Film Fund responds to the urgency of a growing global crisis, and is underpinned by a belief that film continues to be a force for positive change.”
Stewart will host a panel discussion on the Displacement Film Fund to be held as part of the Cannes Film Festival’s official programme on May 23. The panel will feature Cate Blanchett alongside grant recipients Maryna Er Gorbach and Mo Harawe, and Rajendra Roy, chief curator of film at the The Museum of Modern Art (NY).
Thierry Frémaux, general delegate at Cannes Film Festival, added: “The Cannes Film Festival is proud and honoured to host the Displacement Film Fund panel, giving voice to artists whose journeys have been marked by exile and displacement. By embracing their perspectives, the Festival reaffirms – more than ever – its role as a refuge: a home for those who see cinema as a free and universal act, one that transmits, resists, and bears witness to the world around us.”
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