Cate Blanchett Brings Displacement Film Fund Shorts to Tokyo Fest

Cate Blanchett will attend the 39th Tokyo International Film Festival for the Japan premieres of five short films backed by the Displacement Film Fund, the initiative she co-founded to support displaced filmmakers and stories rooted in forced migration. Deadline reported that Uniqlo is a founding partner of the fund and that a post-screening Q&A will include Blanchett alongside directors Mohammad Rasoulof and Shahrbanoo Sadat.

Variety detailed the partnership architecture: the fund was announced at International Film Festival Rotterdam in January 2025 with IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund as managing partner, UNHCR as strategic partner, and additional backers including the Amahoro Coalition, Master Mind, the Tamer Family Foundation, Uniqlo, and Droom en Daad, with the SP Lohia Foundation joining as a major partner for the fund’s second edition at IFFR 2026.

The Tokyo slate includes Rasoulof’s Sense of Water, Sadat’s Super Afghan Gym, Hasan Kattan’s Allies in Exile, Maryna Er Gorbach’s Rotation, and Mo Harawe’s Whispers of a Burning Scent — shorts spanning Syria, Ukraine, Iran, Afghanistan, and Somalia networks of production. Blanchett said displaced filmmakers should not have to abandon their creativity and that their stories can feel “even more urgent.”

Her Tokyo visit coincides with the Praemium Imperiale Award during the same festival week. TIFF runs Oct. 26–Nov. 4. Blanchett recently wrapped Alice Birch’s Sweetsick and is developing a Martha Stewart project with Janicza Bravo; her Venice Golden Lion winner Father Mother Sister Brother is set for Japanese theatrical release Nov. 20.

For the festival circuit, the program packages awards-season prestige with a concrete distribution moment for displacement-focused shorts that often struggle for theatrical windows outside specialized showcases.