During a panel discussion at the Cannes Film Festival on Monday, Cate Blanchett revealed the five winners and their projects in the second cycle of the Displacement Film Fund’s Short Film Grant Programme, including Bao Nguyen, Mohamed “Mo” Amer, Palestine 36 Director Anne-Marie Jacir.
Rethy Banh and Akol Di Mabior complete the list of winners in the second round. Blanchett, a star, producer and Global Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, launched the program in collaboration with the Hubert Pals Fund of the Rotterdam International Film Festival.
The Doha Future Foundation, supported by a coalition of film industry experts, creatives, business leaders and philanthropists, was established in 2025 to “support and fund the work of displaced filmmakers, or filmmakers with a proven track record of creating authentic narratives about displaced experiences.”
The shortlisted filmmakers will each receive a €100,000 ($116,350) production grant, with their completed projects having their world premiere at IFFR 2027, which takes place from January 28-February. 7.
For the first edition of the Dubai Film Festival 2025, Muhammad Rasoulof, Marina Er Gorbach, Mo Haraway, Hassan Kattan, and Shahrbano Sadat received production grants. Their movies Water sensation, rotation, Whispers of a burning smell, Allies in exile, and Super afghan gym They made their world debut at IFFR 2026.
During Cannes, where Japan was the 2026 Country of Honor for the film market, the Dubai Film Festival Foundation also revealed that its opening batch of films will be screened at the Tokyo International Film Festival in October. Additionally, a theatrical screening at the New York Film Forum in the fall has been confirmed, which will qualify the five films for Oscar consideration.
Blanchett, co-founder and president of the Dubai Film Festival Foundation, said: “The short format is a great vehicle for these narratives, and the way audiences have connected with the first five films is extraordinary. I am thrilled by the success of our first collection and excited to unveil the next group of artists who will be supported.”
Claire Stewart, Director General of IFFR, and Tamara Tatishvili, Chair of the Hubert Bals Fund, added: “It is a great honor to return to Cannes with the Displacement Film Fund, after the incredible journey we embarked on with the first collection and the success of their premieres at IFFR 2026. The beneficiaries of our second edition once again reflect an extraordinary breadth of filmmaking talent – each navigating their own personal experiences of displacement, and we are proud to help highlight their vital stories. At a time of continuing global uncertainty, our commitment to preserving this fund deepens, along with our belief in supporting film as a powerful force for encouraging empathy and positive change.
See more details about the five grant recipients in the second cycle of the Grant Fund and their projects:
Muhammad “Mo” Amer
The award-winning Palestinian-American comedian/writer/director is a Netflix star montha semi-autobiographical series.
project: Return to sender (Working title) (Palestine/United States)
“After receiving a refugee travel document, a Palestinian comedian sets off on the world tour of his dreams, but each new country faces increasingly absurd immigration hurdles that test his emotional and mental resolve.”
Anne Marie Jacir
The Palestinian director, writer and producer has seen her four feature films selected as Oscar nominees in Palestine.
project: Disassembly (Work title) (Palestine)
The events of the short film take place in Haifa, a city built on layers of presence and absence, memory and renewal Disassembly It follows a man navigating the middle as the past is revealed, rearranged, sold and made new.
Acol de Mabior
The South Sudanese director grew up in Kenya and was born in Cuba. There is no simple way home (2022), her first feature film, was the first South Sudanese film to be screened at the Berlin International Film Festival.
project: Traces of a broken line (Working title) (South Africa/South Sudan)
“War breaks a line, and forces the mother to preserve what she can no longer inherit.”
Bao Nguyen
The Vietnamese-American director and co-founder of East Films, is known for his directorial works, including Stringer, Be water, The greatest night in pop and BTS: Back.
project: How to ride a bike (Working title) (United States/Vietnam)
“A Vietnamese refugee father, who has never learned to ride a bike, tries to teach his young son, and when he fails, he begins learning in secret, facing a lifelong shame he has carried since childhood.”
Reethi banh
The acclaimed Cambodian director, writer and producer has explored memory, trauma and the legacy of the Khmer Rouge regime in his films, including Rice people, Missing photo, Graves without a nameand Everything will be fine. Missing photo It won the Un Certain Regard award at Cannes and received an Academy Award nomination.
project: Time…speak (Working title) (France/Germany)
“An exiled filmmaker returns to the fractured fragments of his memory—broken statues, archives, silence—to reconstruct a form of life through cinema, where the disappeared continue to speak.”
