Latest news with #DisplacementFilmFund
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Uniqlo and Cate Blanchett to Support Displaced Directors Through Film Fund
CANNES, France — Uniqlo is stepping in to support films made by refugees from around the world. The Japanese brand is donating 100,000 euros to support the newly launched Displacement Film Fund. The initial round will support five filmmakers from across the globe, with their films set to debut at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2026. More from WWD Uniqlo Parties On at Tate Modern Best Dressed Guests at the 2025 Chelsea Flower Show Roger Federer and Clare Waight Keller Discuss First Uniqlo Collection Each filmmaker will receive up to 100,000 euros from the fund to produce a film under one hour that explores the experience of being displaced. 'The growing human displacement is one of the great challenges facing us as a species, but yet somehow, like climate change, it's off the mainstream conversation, and I always find that quite bewildering,' said Cate Blanchett during a press conference and panel discussion opened by Cannes Film Festival artistic director Thierry Frémaux. Blanchett, who has served as an ambassador for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees since 2016, said the program aims to support filmmakers who can reach audiences 'perhaps outside of their comfort zone and break down the stigmatization of those stories.' Displaced people are defined as those forced to flee their homes due to conflict, persecution, violence, or human rights violations. The idea for the project originated 18 months ago, and the team acted quickly to bring partners on board. 'There was a broad coalition of the willing coming at it from many different angles — private philanthropy, the corporate sector, and, of course, artists attached to cultural institutions and festivals,' said Blanchett. The fund uses the term 'displaced artists' rather than 'refugee,' as the latter word 'becomes almost a ghettoizing, stigmatizing and stereotypical label that prevents the word 'artist' coming front and center,' she added. A selection committee including actress Cynthia Erivo and director Agnieszka Holland oversaw a two-step selection process. The first round of participants includes Ukrainian filmmaker Maryna Er Gorbach, Somali filmmaker Mo Harawe, Syrian filmmaker Hasan Kattan, Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof and Afghan filmmaker Shahrbanoo Sadat. Koji Yanai, group senior executive officer at Uniqlo parent company Fast Retailing, said he met Blanchett at the UNHCR-organized Global Refugee Forum in 2023. 'We connected over the desire to give a platform to displaced people and raise awareness about their stories through movies,' he told WWD. The initiative is being launched as a pilot program, though 'we expect the project [to] continue,' said Yanai. Blanchett added that they had considered a larger program with up to 20 films, but the team recognized the need to act quickly and selected a smaller cohort of directors with plans to expand. 'As we gain more backers, the program will expand and may take on new formats,' said Yanai. Blanchett described the Cannes launch as 'a call to arms' for the industry. 'We need those streaming platforms. We need those distributors and exhibitors to say, 'We're going to put these in front of [an audience],' she said. 'Those conversations are very much on our mind.' Yanai hinted that Uniqlo will put its worldwide retail reach behind those efforts. 'We would like to consider utilizing Uniqlo's global network to connect these stories to engage with global audiences in future,' he added. Best of WWD Model and Hip Hop Fashion Pioneer Kimora Lee Simmons' Runway Career Through the Years [PHOTOS] Salma Hayek's Fashion Evolution Through the Years: A Red Carpet Journey [PHOTOS] How Christian Dior Revolutionized Fashion With His New Look: A History and Timeline
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Cate Blanchett, Afghan, Syrian Creators on Fund for Displaced Directors Backing 'Surprising Narratives'
Five filmmakers from Iran, Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia and Ukraine are the recipients of the inaugural Displacement Film Fund, a short film grant scheme recently unveiled by Cate Blanchett and the International Film Festival Rotterdam's (IFFR) Hubert Bals Fund, and the star was in Cannes on Friday to celebrate the recipients, who include Iranian auteur Mohammad Rasoulof (The Seed of the Sacred Fig), and raise awareness. The recently unveiled fund is designed to 'champion and fund the work of displaced filmmakers, or filmmakers with a proven track record in creating authentic storytelling on the experiences of displaced people.' More from The Hollywood Reporter 'A Private Life' Review: A Delightfully Paired Jodie Foster and Daniel Auteuil Escape Injury in a Messy but Pleasurable Genre Collision Prince William Launches 'Guardians' Docuseries on Rangers on BBC Earth Digital Platforms Cannes: Hasan Hadi's 'The President's Cake' Wins Directors' Fortnight Audience Award Blanchett was joined for the Cannes event by IFFR managing director Clare Stewart, grant recipients Maryna Er Gorbach, the Ukrainian director known for Klondike, and Somali-Austrian filmmaker Mo Harawe (The Village Next to Paradise), along with Rajendra Roy, chief curator of film at The Museum of Modern Art in New York. 'It's a pilot program to allow a more mainstream audience access to the work of the five recipients of the grant,' Blanchett shared as she took time in between a busy Cannes schedule to talk to THR on Friday via Zoom. 'Part of being here in Cannes is a call to arms to the rest of the industry to help to find mainstream platforms to get these voices out, because it's potentially an incredibly exciting form of storytelling for a wider audience.' Joining Blanchett in the Zoom conversation were Stewart, Syrian filmmaker Hasan Kattan (Last Men in Aleppo) and Afghan filmmaker Shahrbanoo Sadat, who fled to Germany and whose debut film Wolf and Sheep won the top award in the 2016 Directors' Fortnight program at Cannes. The two filmmakers weren't in attendance at Cannes. 'We're doing short films with full production funding because of that urgency, that desire to get films out there, to make a profile for the need of the industry to galvanize around this,' explained Stewart, echoing the notion of the fund as 'a call to action.' She also highlighted that Roy's presence is key given his role as 'co-chair of the international award at the Oscars, and they have just made a change to the regulations there to support refugee and displaced filmmakers to be able to participate more fully in the awards process.' Sadat shared with THR insight into her grant-receiving project with the working title Female Fitness of Kabul and the experience of earnings the grant. 'Inside a crumbling Kabul gym, its walls covered with oiled muscle men and doors open to women for only a few hours each day,' reads a synopsis of her film. 'Afghan housewives in scarves and long dresses reclaim not just their bodies, but also their spirits, their bonds, and their sense of self.' When she found out about the grant, 'I was like, 'This is amazing. I'm the most perfect candidate',' she recalled. 'This is my life. I was born in Iran to an Afghan refugee family, and the very first ID card that I ever received was a refugee card. It means I was born a refugee, even if it doesn't make sense. Until I was 11, I was living in Iran, and I was always called 'Afghan,' which is more of an insult. And then when we moved to Afghanistan, I was called Iranian there. I never really felt like I was in the right place.' Then she evacuated with her family to Germany. 'I didn't even know about the word 'displacement',' she shared. 'I thought this more and less how everyone feels. Of course, I connected displacement to land, but also to gender. I also connect displacement to women issues, because it's kind of like double exile, being a woman in a society that you're not really accepted in.' How does that feel? 'The more you try, the more you get rejected. And you don't even feel at home under your own skin,' Sadat explained. 'I was thinking about this idea for a very long time, and then I thought this is the perfect platform for me to explore this idea through this gym in Kabul.' Her film features 'a group of housewives who are going there, and they do fitness. And they experience this in a little gym in Kabul with all these posters of men with exaggerated muscles and oily bodies, and these women trying to fit themselves in. I thought it would be interesting to also look at displacement from another point of view.' Meanwhile, Kattan discussed his project with the working title Allies in Exile, for which he earned a Displacement Film Fund grant. 'Two Syrian filmmakers, bound by a 14-year friendship forged in war, document their shared exile in the U.K. asylum system – until one is granted refuge and the other returns to a changed Syria, reflecting the impossible choices refugees face today,' reads a synopsis for the film. 'Last year was so difficult for me because I ended up here in the U.K. as an asylum seeker, and I was inside the asylum process, every day facing the system from inside and feeling the disappointment,' Kattan told THR. 'I started from the zero point again. And through this experience and the revolution in Syria, documenting everything, telling a story feels like it's the only way that we can scream or express our feelings.' He added: 'When I heard about and saw this grant and fund, I thought, 'Oh my God, this is really, really what I need.' Because I was having no hope to make this film, because finding money in this time and my situation – how do I express this? When you live this experience, you lose any hope around you. You start to feel hopeless. When I saw this grant, it was a big hope for me to bring light to this project, to this film, because I see it as helping me in my personal perspective and reflecting the situation of the asylum seeker.' Concluded Kattan: 'It's not just about fleeing war, it's not about the journey. It's about the daily struggle and the human struggle in daily life. I hope I can make this project, this film, [create] a wide conversation about asylum seekers and refugees.' Rasoulof was awarded his grant for a so far unnamed project with this plot description: 'After the death of an exiled writer, his family tries to fulfill his wish to be buried according to his will – but honoring his request leads to unexpected complications.' Harawe's project with the working title Whispers of a Burning Scent is pitched this way: 'On the day of a pivotal court hearing, 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.' Er Gorbach's Silk Road, also a working title, is described as 'a timely 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.' The Displacement Film Fund pilot program is offering grants of €100,000 ($104,000) each to the five displaced filmmakers to make original shorts. Blanchett headed up the selection committee, joined by Wicked star Cynthia Erivo, documentarians Jonas Poher Rasmussen (Flee) and Waad Al-Kateab (For Sama), director Agnieszka Holland (Green Border), Rotterdam festival director Vanja Kaludjercic, activist and refugee Aisha Khurram, and Amin Nawabi [alias], the LGBTQ+ asylum seeker who was Rasmussen's inspiration for the Oscar-nominated Flee. 'The numbers of people outside their their country of origin around the world has just ballooned and continues to grow,' Blanchett told THR. 'I'm a global Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR, and when I started working with them 10 years ago, the numbers were around 60 million, and it's now over 120 million. And while people are displaced, they don't stop being mothers, brothers, uncles, cousins, nor do they stop being filmmakers and artists. And given that it's one of the great challenges that we're facing as a species, it's always bewildered me why these incredible stories, heartbreaking sometimes, yes, but inspiring and having more points of connection to people's lives who are not displaced, why they don't get told more frequently. So that was part of the DNA of the idea.' She lauded 'a real coalition of the willing' for making the fund happen quickly. The five short films will have their world premieres at IFFR next year but Blanchett and Stewart 'and others who are coalescing around the fund are also very committed to indeed [figuring out] what the lives of the films will be' beyond that, the Stewart said. 'That's what we are here to sort out,' Blanchett concluded. And the star highlighted that the stories told by displaced creatives will be able to surprise audiences. 'There are so many surprising narratives that emerge, often heartbreaking, but also full of resilience and transformation,' Blanchett said. 'Part of the DNA of the fund in its pilot stage is to sort of reject and challenge the stereotypes and the categorizations that swirl around the discourse about what it means to be displaced. These might be genre-driven or romantic or surprising stories that really speak to the breadth of that experience and entertain an audience. And then they happen to find out that the filmmaker is displaced or that there's much more connective tissue between their experience and their own.' Concluded Blanchett: 'It's a wonderful beginning, in that way, to really allow the audience to go through some sort of revelatory transformation as much as perhaps the filmmakers getting a chance to pick up the pieces of their amazing careers that they had to leave behind when they left their countries.' 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Euronews
30-01-2025
- Entertainment
- Euronews
Cate Blanchett launches €100,000 grant for refugee filmmakers amid Trump's immigration crackdown
Oscar-winner Cate Blanchett is leading a new grant initiative, the Displacement Film Fund, to support refugee filmmakers with up to €100,000 each for short films that explore the experience of being displaced. The project, which will begin as a pilot scheme, is intended to evolve into a long-term programme in partnership with the International Film Festival Rotterdam and the UNHCR. "Film can drop you into the texture and realities of someone's life like no other art form. Working with UNHCR I have engaged in both the large-scale 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" says the Tár and Blue Jasmine star in a statement. She adds: "It is this aim of creating personal, intimate touch-points that the Displacement Film Fund is driven by. When people are forced to leave their homes, they lose access to the most basic support, but as artists they also lose access to the means to make work at a time when it is more vital than ever." A longlist will be created in the coming months, with the final recipients selected by a committee chaired by Blanchett, featuring British actor Cynthia Erivo, Syrian journalist Waad al-Kateab, and Afghan activist Aisha Khurram. The chosen film-makers will be revealed at the Cannes Film Festival in May. The Displacement Film Fund is a response to a growing global crisis: with one in every 67 people on Earth forcibly displaced, according to the UNHCR, meaning they have been forced to flee their homes due to conflict, persecution, violence, or human rights violations. The initiative comes at a pivotal moment, as newly re-inaugurated President Donald Trump intensifies his crackdown on migrants. Following his announcement on Monday (20 January) to suspend the nation's refugee resettlement program, Trump shocked many by revealing that even individuals previously approved for travel to the US would see their plans abruptly cancelled. The decision has sent US advocacy groups into turmoil, though it came as little surprise. This week, Trump also signed the so-called Laken Riley Act into law, mandating that undocumented immigrants arrested for theft or violent crimes be detained in jail until their trial. Additionally, he recently ordered the construction of a new migrant detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, which he claims would have the capacity to hold up to 30,000 people.
The Guardian
29-01-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Cate Blanchett launches fund for refugee film-makers
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.'
