Cate Blanchett, Cynthia Erivo, ‘For Sama’ and ‘Flee’ Directors Join Selection Committee of New Refugee-Focused Film Fund

variety.com:

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Cate Blanchett, who is a Goodwill Ambassador for refugee agency UNHCR, and Intl.

Film Festival Rotterdam’s Hubert Bals Fund have launched a refugee-focused short film grant program called the Displacement Film Fund.

The fund, which will give up to five production grants of €100,000 ($104,200) each in its pilot phase, aims to champion and fund the work of displaced filmmakers, or filmmakers with a track record of creating “authentic storytelling on the experiences of displaced people.” The selection committee for the fund will be chaired by Blanchett and includes actor and musician Cynthia Erivo, Oscar-nominated for “Wicked” and “Harriet”; Oscar-nominated “For Sama” director Waad Al-Kateab; “Green Border” director Agnieszka Holland, an Oscar nominee with “Europa Europa”; IFFR festival director Vanja Kaludjerci; educator, activist and refugee Aisha Khurram; Oscar-nominated “Flee” filmmaker Jonas Poher Rasmussen; and Amin Nawabi, which is an alias for the LGBTQ+ asylum seeker who was Poher Rasmussen’s inspiration for the story of “Flee.” Blanchett said: “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.” She continued, “It is this aim of creating personal, intimate touchpoints that the Displacement Film Fund is driven by.