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.