We are proud to support UNHCR and IFFR’s Displacement Film Fund, a fund established in 2025 at the UNHCR’s Global Refugee Forum 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. At a Displacement Film Fund panel held at Cannes Film Festival, Global Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR, Cate Blanchett, together with International Film Festival Rotterdam’s (IFFR) Hubert Bals Fund, announced five recipient filmmakers, Mohammed Amer, Annemarie Jacir, Akuol de Mabior, Bao Nguyen, and Rithy Panh, to receive the DFF short film grant. The discussion was moderated by IFFR’s Managing Director, Clare Stewart, and also addressed the evolution of the fund as it enters its second cycle, the recipient filmmakers and their projects, and wider industry actions in support of displaced filmmakers.
The Displacement Film Fund was first initiated at UNHCR’s Global Refugee Forum, the world’s largest gathering dedicated to addressing challenges faced by refugees and their host communities, and was officially established last year. “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 Fund is backed by a coalition of leading film industry experts, creators, business leaders, and philanthropists, and each of the nominated filmmakers will be bestowed with a production grant of €100,000, with their completed projects having their World Premieres at IFFR 2027, running 28 January – 7 February. Last week’s announcement marked the second cycle of the DFF short film grant scheme.
More information about the DFF and the new grant recipients and their projects can be found here.