Cate Blanchett, Shahrbanoo Sadat & Mohammad Rasoulof Bring Displacement Film Fund to Tokyo With Help From ‘Godzilla’ Filmmaker Takashi Yamazaki

The Tokyo Film Festival hosted the world premiere of the first five short films produced under Cate Blanchett’s Displacement Film Fund, with Blanchett, fund directors Shahrbanoo Sadat and Mohammad Rasoulof, and acclaimed ‘Godzilla’ filmmaker Takashi Yamazaki attending the screening and Q&A. The films—including Maryna Er Gorbach’s Rotation and Sadat’s Super Afghan Gym—explore stories of displacement, exile, and resilience, reflecting the fund’s mission to support filmmakers who have been forcibly uprooted. Blanchett, a two-time Oscar winner, launched the initiative to provide resources and visibility to displaced artists, and the Tokyo showcase marks its first major public presentation. The presence of Yamazaki, one of Japan’s most commercially successful directors, underscores the growing international solidarity within the film community for displaced voices. The fund’s debut at a major festival signals a new model for humanitarian film funding—one that pairs high-profile advocacy with direct artistic production. As global displacement reaches record levels, the Displacement Film Fund aims to turn personal stories of upheaval into universal cinema, potentially reshaping how the industry responds to one of the defining crises of our time.