CANNES, France — Uniqlo is stepping in to support films made by refugees from around the world.
The Japanese brand is donating 100,000 euros to support the newly launched Displacement Film Fund. The initial round will support five filmmakers from across the globe, with their films set to debut at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2026.
Each filmmaker will receive up to 100,000 euros from the fund to produce a film under one hour that explores the experience of being displaced.
“The growing human displacement is one of the great challenges facing us as a species, but yet somehow, like climate change, it’s off the mainstream conversation, and I always find that quite bewildering,” said Cate Blanchett during a press conference and panel discussion opened by Cannes Film Festival artistic director Thierry Frémaux.
Blanchett, who has served as an ambassador for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees since 2016, said the program aims to support filmmakers who can reach audiences “perhaps outside of their comfort zone and break down the stigmatization of those stories.”
Displaced people are defined as those forced to flee their homes due to conflict, persecution, violence, or human rights violations.
The idea for the project originated 18 months ago, and the team acted quickly to bring partners on board. “There was a broad coalition of the willing coming at it from many different angles — private philanthropy, the corporate sector, and, of course, artists attached to cultural institutions and festivals,” said Blanchett.
The fund uses the term “displaced artists” rather than “refugee,” as the latter word “becomes almost a ghettoizing, stigmatizing and stereotypical label that prevents the word ‘artist’ coming front and center,” she added.
A selection committee including actress Cynthia Erivo and director Agnieszka Holland oversaw a two-step selection process. The first round of participants includes Ukrainian filmmaker Maryna Er Gorbach, Somali filmmaker Mo Harawe, Syrian filmmaker Hasan Kattan, Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof and Afghan filmmaker Shahrbanoo Sadat.
Koji Yanai, group senior executive officer at Uniqlo parent company Fast Retailing, said he met Blanchett at the UNHCR-organized Global Refugee Forum in 2023.
“We connected over the desire to give a platform to displaced people and raise awareness about their stories through movies,” he told WWD.
The initiative is being launched as a pilot program, though “we expect the project [to] continue,” said Yanai.
Blanchett added that they had considered a larger program with up to 20 films, but the team recognized the need to act quickly and selected a smaller cohort of directors with plans to expand.
“As we gain more backers, the program will expand and may take on new formats,” said Yanai.
Blanchett described the Cannes launch as “a call to arms” for the industry.
“We need those streaming platforms. We need those distributors and exhibitors to say, ‘We’re going to put these in front of [an audience],” she said. “Those conversations are very much on our mind.”
Yanai hinted that Uniqlo will put its worldwide retail reach behind those efforts.
“We would like to consider utilizing Uniqlo’s global network to connect these stories to engage with global audiences in future,” he added.