Cate Blanchett set to welcome world premieres of Displacement Film Fund films at IFFR 2026

Cate Blanchett, actor, producer and Global Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, together with IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund, will host the world premiere of the Displacement Film Fund’s inaugural slate of films during IFFR’s upcoming 55th edition (29 January – 8 February).

The screening and premiere event will take place at Oude Luxor at 17.00 on Friday 30 January, and will include a Q&A session with the fund’s recipient filmmakers Maryna Er Gorbach, Mo Harawe, Hasan Kattan, Mohammad Rasoulof and Shahrbanoo Sadat, alongside Cate Blanchett who returns to IFFR to support the launch of the films. Fenix, Rotterdam’s new art museum on migration, will host the press conference on the day of the event. 

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 on the experiences of displaced people. The pilot scheme was announced at the 2025 edition of the Festival and IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund is the Management Partner. Five short film production grants of €100,000 each were bestowed to Maryna Er Gorbach (Ukraine), Mo Harawe (Somalia-Austria), Hasan Kattan (Syria), Mohammad Rasoulof (Iran) and Shahrbanoo Sadat (Afghanistan). 

Allies in Exile dir. Hasan Kattan (United Kingdom) 40 min 

For 14 years, Syrian filmmakers Hasan Kattan and Fadi Al-Halabi have journeyed together through war and storytelling. Confined inside a UK asylum hotel, Hasan and Fadi document a new chapter shaped not by bombs, but by waiting, bureaucracy, and exile. Amid rising anti-refugee hostility, they turn the camera inward exploring friendship and displacement and how filming itself becomes an act of survival when the future is so uncertain.

Rotation dir. Maryna Er Gorbach (Ukraine, Turkey) 12 min

‘Rotation’ is a therapeutic hypnosis ritual experienced by a young Ukrainian woman who shifted from civilian life to military service. She needs support to adapt to the displaced reality she now lives in.

Sense of Water dir. Mohammad Rasoulof (Iran, Germany) 40 min

In the chill of exile, an Iranian writer confronts a foreign language – a language in which he must rediscover love, anger, joy and sorrow in order to write again. His quest to reclaim the power of writing becomes an inner journey between memory and forgetting, between a lost language and a new one, where human emotion and meaning must be recreated anew.

Super Afghan Gym dir. Shahrbanoo Sadat (Germany) 14 min 

In a gym in downtown Kabul, a group of housewives gather during the only hour of the day reserved for women. They train at lunchtime behind closed doors, talking about body norms and their daily life.

Whispers of a Burning Scent dir. Mo Harawe (Somalia, Austria, Germany) 27 min 

On the day of a decisive 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 courtroom, city streets and stage, carrying the weight of judgment, loyalty, and unspoken guilt. Forced to make a restrained but irreversible decision, the film observes a man whose inner truth remains elusive, caught between devotion, dignity and loss.

Cate Blanchett said: “I’ve been so moved by the short films from each of these filmmakers – these are beautiful, important, and vibrant stories which speak to the often surprising experiences of displacement, and just as importantly, to themes which will strike a chord with any audience: friendship, family, belonging, how to navigate our world together, and alone. I’m immensely grateful for the support of all the partners for taking this project from a hopeful idea to a fully realised fund which has enabled these compelling works – and of course above all, to these wonderful artists we’re backing. I very much hope these films will gain the exposure they merit.” 

Clare Stewart, Managing Director IFFR, and Tamara Tatishvili, Head of the Hubert Bals Fund, said: “Empowering filmmakers who work in complex and often fragile conditions has long been at the heart of HBF’s mission. These five short films reflect that commitment in action. As Management Partner of DFF we are proud to have accompanied these filmmakers from idea to completion and to see their work contribute meaningfully to wider conversations on displacement, belonging and resilience.”

The Founding Partners of the Displacement Film Fund’s pilot scheme are MASTER MIND, UNIQLO, Droom en Daad, the Tamer Family Foundation and Amahoro Coalition whose generous contributions enabled the scheme. HBF is the Management Partner and UNHCR is Strategic Partner. 

With one in every 70 people on earth forcibly displaced due to conflict, war, or persecution, the global community is witnessing an unprecedented crisis. The Displacement Film Fund was first initiated at the Global Refugee Forum, hosted by UNHCR and the world’s largest gathering dedicated to addressing challenges faced by refugees and their host communities. Cate Blanchett joined fellow UNHCR supporters Ke Huy Quan, Echo Quan, Ayman Tamer, Koji Yanai, and Isaac Kwaku Fokuo to develop the idea at the event. To deepen the insights, expertise and reach of the Fund, Blanchett sought out and recruited a wider group of film industry experts and creatives, all of whom have a personal connection and/or strong interest in the issue of forced displacement – and established the Fund with a mission of giving visibility and bringing to the mainstream stories of displacement, while highlighting the diversity of displacement-related life experiences.

Contact: press@IFFR.com