In Hollywood there are those who see the industry as a show of red carpets, golden awards and carefully rehearsed speeches. Then it is Cate Blanchettwho seems to have understood that cinema is not only about illuminating perfect faces on the big screen, but also lighting realities that many prefer to ignore. For a long time, the Australian actress has used her prestige to open spaces to those who do not usually find a seat at the cinematographic power table.
First it was Proof of Concepta program that launched less than a year ago to boost films with a female look or starring trans and non -binary characters. Now, Blanchett redouble the bet with the Displacement Film Funda background destined to finance short filmmakers of refugees or artists who have dedicated their work to portray forced displacement stories. The initiative, which was released on January 28, is the result of an alliance with the Rotterdam International Film Festival (IFF) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), an agency with which Blanchett collaborates as a good will ambassador.
Cinema as a territory of belonging
“The great virtue of cinema is that it immerses you in the life of another person as no other form of art“Blanchett said in the official statement. It is not a random phrase. The actress has traveled refugee camps, has heard firsthand the stories of those who have lost their home and have seen how cold statistics hide millions of individual stories behind .When someone is forced to flee, he loses access to the most basic, but he is an artist, he also loses the means to create. And art is more necessary than ever at that time“He adds.
He Displacement Film Fund It is not just an act of well -intentioned charity. It is a project with a vocation of continuity and with a solid structure behind. In this first stage, five scholarships of 100,000 euros will be awarded to creators who may finally tell their stories with the appropriate resources.
A jury of prestige and an ambitious goal
To ensure that the chosen voices really represent the diversity of the migrant experience, Blanchett has summoned a selection committee that could rival any jury of prestige festival. Among its members are the actress Cynthia ErivoSyrian documentary driver You al-katebthe Afghan activist Aisha khurram And the Franco-Polaca filmmaker Agnieszkain addition to the Danish filmmaker Jonas Poher Rasmussenwho in 2022 directed Flee, a heartbreaking animation about the odyssey of a homosexual Afghan refugee.
A Amin Nawabi also participates in the committee, a fictional name that protects the identity of an asylum applicant from the LGBTQIA+community, whose history inspired Flee. If anyone knows firsthand what it means to lose everything and rebuild in others, it is him.
The selection process will be carried out in two stages and will culminate in May with the official announcement of the winners at the Cannes Festival. A year later, the resulting short films will see the light in Rotterdam, thus closing a cycle that seeks to convert cinema into a refuge as real as any reception roof.
Hollywood beyond tinsel
That a Cate Blanchett caliber star embark on projects. Among the mountains of sequelae and films designed by algorithms, there are still spaces for the cinema to do what he knows best: to tell stories that matter.
Forced displacement has been a recurring theme on the big screen, but rarely from the perspective of those who live it. With this background, Blanchett not only delivers a microphone to those narrators, but gives them the means for their voice to be heard with the quality and dignity it deserves.
Rotterdam is just the first step. If the project grows, if the stories find their audience, if one of those films manages to shake someone’s conscience with real power, perhaps Blanchett will have shown that cinema, in addition to entertainment, can be an act of justice.
