As Managing Director of International Film Festival Rotterdam, which also manages the Hubert Bals Fund, Clare Stewart wholeheartedly endorses the mission of the Displacement Film Fund she helps to organize and run.
Filming Displacement. Interview with Clare Stewart, Operating Partner of the Displacement Film Fund
Nov 26, 2025
NEWS
Please tell us the goal of the Displacement Film Fund and how the Hubert Bals Fund ended up being the Management Partner.
The concept for the Displacement Film Fund was born out of discussion among attendees at the Global Refugee Forum held by UNHCR. The impetus was to support filmmakers driven from their homes or homelands and filmmakers with a track record of depicting the experiences of refugees and displaced people.
For thirty years, International Film Festival Rotterdam has been managing the Hubert Bals Fund (HBF), which supports filmmakers facing challenges like the lack of access to production infrastructure, difficulty fundraising in countries without public funders, or political adversity as they attempt to tell their stories.
I heard about the concept for the Displacement Film Fund through Cate Blanchett, a UNHCR Global Goodwill Ambassador and one of the fund’s founders. The project resonates with our activities and philosophy, and as we already had a support system and structure in place, we decided to collaborate.
(From left to right) Koji Yanai, Fumiko Kashiwa, Clare Stewart and Hasan Kattan at World Expo
What is the core emphasis of the Displacement Film Fund?
A core concept of this fund, as Hasan mentions in his interview, is to use film to deepen and broaden understanding towards refugees and displaced people. It’s about amplifying stories of displacement, taking them from the periphery into the spotlight. We believe that this can cultivate empathy and that has the power to make the world a better place. It is essential to build and maintain a fund that can support these stories and share them with the world.
What sort of contribution do you expect from UNIQLO?
UNIQLO is a global brand with the ability to reach people around the world. Part of what makes our partnership with UNIQLO so incredibly important is the potential it brings for increasing and broadening the fund’s visibility. Centering on direct appeals from figures in the film world while involving all kinds of international philanthropic organizations and companies, this fund is an unprecedented effort. I think the unique composition of the fund is a sign of the widespread recognition that its mission is both necessary and urgent.
How did the selection process go for the inaugural awards?
This was the pilot round of the Displacement Film Fund. The Nominations Committee determined a longlist of filmmakers who have experienced being refugees or have been forcibly displaced, as well as artists who engage passionately with these themes. Selection was based on each candidate’s track record as a filmmaker. The fund also made an effort to include a mix of nominees that represent different regions of the world where refugees or displaced persons have a presence. The five selected filmmakers are informed of their nomination and asked to submit a project proposal. The selection was finalized based on the merits of the proposals submitted.
Displacement Film Fund filmmakers, from left to right: Hasan Kattan, Maryna Er Gorbach (credit: Rafal Nowak), Mohammad Rasoulof, Shahrbanoo Sadat, Mo Harawe
Are the supported works going to be screened just at the festival in Rotterdam or is streaming a possibility?
This is an important question. As mentioned before, the purpose of this fund is to help bring displacement stories from the periphery into the spotlight, so that a greater number of people can see them. The current plan is for the films supported by the fund to have their world premiere at International Film Festival Rotterdam, but as far as what comes after that, we can think of many possibilities.
It’s important to note that the intellectual property of all work created with help from the fund is retained by the filmmakers. This means they reserve the right to bring their films into the world. We’re also exploring the best ways to help their work reach an even greater audience.
What made us focus the Displacement Film Fund on supporting short films was firstly they can address urgent topics with a more rapid response time, and secondly because they have greater flexibility for sharing, for example via streaming on a variety of platforms. This opens the door for more and different kinds of audiences in the future. We hope that you’ll stay tuned for what comes next from the Displacement Film Fund.
About Displacement Film Fund
The Displacement Film Fund is established to champion and fund the work of displaced filmmakers, or filmmakers with a proven track record in creating authentic storytelling on the experiences of displaced people. The pilot short film funding scheme, which was launched at IFFR 2025 by Cate Blanchett, is supported by Master Mind, UNIQLO, Droom en Daad, the Tamer Family Foundation and Amahoro Coalition as Founding Partners, the Hubert Bals Fund as Management Partner and UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, as Strategic Partner.
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