A year after launching the Displacement Film Fund at the 2025 Rotterdam International Film Festival, Oscar-winning actor Cate Blanchett will return to the Dutch film festival to present the first batch of short films resulting from this ground-breaking program. The titles, including a new short film from director Mohammad Rasoulof of “The Sacred Fig Seed” and helmer Marina El Gorbach of “Klondike,” are scheduled to be shown in Rotterdam on January 30th. The full selection of movies can be found below.
Ahead of the festival, Blanchett spoke exclusively with Variety and said she “couldn’t be more excited” to share the film with the world. “The story and the filmmakers’ approach to the displacement experience is deeply personal and heartbreaking, with some moments of the absurd. They are as diverse and exciting as I expected.”
Blanchett, who is also a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, launched the Displaced Persons Film Fund last year to support and fund the work of displaced filmmakers and filmmakers with a proven track record of authentic storytelling based on the experiences of displaced people. The Fund is supported by Founding Partners Mastermind, Uniqlo, Dloom Andard, Tamer Family Foundation, Amahoro Coalition, Hubert Valls Foundation as Managing Partner, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as Strategic Partner.
“Forced evictions are a global problem,” the actor says. “We have strong men and criminals who seek to enshrine themselves in history through force and flagrant inhumanity, but this only exacerbates the collective challenges and suffering surrounding displaced people. At some point, we as an industry need to welcome these displaced perspectives into our narratives and tablets.”
For the actor-turned-producer, the work of displaced filmmakers offers a “huge opportunity” that the industry is currently missing out on by “sidelining” stories that are “non-mainstream.” “For a healthy industry, the more perspectives we have, the more vibrant, vibrant and relevant the industry will be.”
“The Sense of Water” (provided by IFFR)
Blanchett spoke passionately about how quickly the initiative and project delivery came together. This was a priority for her and her team, who deeply understood the element of urgency that often comes with stories by displaced creators. Making all projects short films directed by experienced filmmakers also capitalized on this need for speed, with a “rigorous two-step process” established by the Nomination and Selection Committee. “We were deeply involved as the Hubert Bals Foundation helped manage the budget and everything came together quickly. Everything was very transparent.”
The selection committee consisted of Blanchett, Wicked star Cynthia Erivo, Green Border director Agnieszka Holland, Runaway director Jonas Porher Rasmussen, IFFR festival director Vanja Karjelčić, For Sama director Waad Al Kateb, activist and refugee Aisha Fram, and inspirational LGBTQ+ asylum seeker Amin Nawabi (pseudonym). “Run!”
The “TÁR” actor says it was a “privilege” to work with and get to know the selection committee. “Every member of the committee, whether it’s Cynthia or Jonas, comes from different cultures, but displacement has affected them. Displacement has affected all of our lives, and I think some of us have been sold a fear-based narrative around it. Working together is a huge energy booster in these dark times.”
Working on this project also gave Blanchett “invaluable” insight into European and international funding structures. She recalled that many years ago, Father Mother Sister Brother director Jim Jarmusch told her, “How do you put together your own movie?”
“That was well over 10 years ago, and he had already received funding from Japan, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands to maintain creative freedom,” she added. “He broadened his perspective from having to deal with funding coming from all these different cultures. It’s the same thing. Sometimes the form of something reflects the content, and given that displacement is a global challenge, the challenge of funding these short films was global.”
Looking ahead, Blanchett said she is very grateful for the “willingness of the private sector” to support initiatives like the Migrant Film Fund, adding that it is now the fund’s “responsibility and challenge” to ensure that films move to other festivals. “We know this is a difficult time for the wider film industry. Even if you have the time, money, access and name, that doesn’t necessarily mean your work will get noticed.”
The actor emphasizes that the shorts not only exist on their own, but also as a cohort. “It became clear that there was a thread of experience.” Blanchett’s “dream” is for people to experience the film together, she says. “Ultimately, once you have passionate partners, it would be great if they could exist as a group, because seeing the intersections between them is the most rewarding thing for me.”
Displacement Film Fund filmmakers, from left to right: Hasan Kattan, Marina El Gorbach (Credit: Rafal Nowak), Mohammad Rasoulof, Sharbanou Sadat, Mo Haraowe
See the full list of Displacement Film Fund’s first batch of films below.
Director of “Allies in Exile”. Hasan Kattan (UK)
Trapped in a British asylum hotel, Syrian filmmakers Hassan Kattan and Fadi al-Halabi document a new chapter shaped not by bombs but by waiting, bureaucracy and exile. As anti-refugee hostility grows, they turn their cameras inward to explore friendship, displacement, and how filming itself becomes an act of survival when the future is so uncertain.
“Rotating” directory Marina El Golbach (Ukraine, Türkiye)
“Rotation” is a therapeutic hypnosis ritual experienced by a young Ukrainian woman who transitioned from civilian life to military service. She needs support to adapt to the uprooted reality in which she now lives.
Director of “The Sense of Water.” Mohammad Rasoulof (Iran, Germany)
In the cold of exile, Iranian writers are faced with a foreign language. In order to write again, one must rediscover love, anger, joy, and sadness in that language. His quest to regain the power to write becomes an inner journey between memory and forgetting, between lost and new languages, where humans, emotions, and meanings must be remade anew.
Director of “Super Afghan Gym”. Sharbanu Sadat (Germany)
At a gym in downtown Kabul, a group of housewives meet during a women-only time of the day. They train behind closed doors during lunch breaks and discuss body norms and daily life.
Director of “Whisper of Burning Scent.” Mo Harawe (Somalia, Austria, Germany)
On the day of a crucial court hearing and an important wedding performance, a quiet wedding musician finds his private life exposed to public scrutiny. Accused of exploiting his marriage, he moves between courtrooms, streets, and stages, carrying the weight of judgment, loyalty, and implicit guilt. The film observes a man torn between commitment, dignity, and loss as he is forced to make a restraining but irreversible decision and his inner truth remains elusive.
The 2026 Rotterdam Film Festival will run from January 29th to February 8th.
