Akuol de Mabior Selected for Cate Blanchett’s Displacement Film Fund

South Sudanese filmmaker Akuol de Mabior has been announced as one of the recipients of Cate Blanchett’s Displacement Film Fund (DFF) at the ongoing Cannes Film Festival. The DFF de Mabior and other recipients. 

de Mabior was born in Cuba and grew up in Kenya. No Simple Way Home, her 2022 documentary, explored the story of her family’s displacement. Her DFF-backed short, Traces of a Broken Line, will examine the impact of war on lineage through a mother who attempts to preserve what she can no longer hand down.

The selected DFF-funded projects are the second round of shorts to be supported by the short film grant scheme spearheaded by actor and producer Blanchett, through her role as Global Goodwill Ambassador at the United Nations’s refugee agency UNHCR, in partnership with the International Film Festival Rotterdam‘s Hubert Bals Fund (HBF).

Each of the nominated filmmakers will receive a production grant of €100,000 ($116k) to make the short films. The completed projects will then world premiere at IFFR’s next edition, running from January 28 to February 28, 2027. 

Launched by Blanchett at the 2025 edition of IFFR in 2025, the Displacement Film Fund is backed by a coalition of film industry experts, creators, business leaders, and philanthropists. Its aim is to champion and fund the work of displaced filmmakers, or filmmakers with a proven track record in creating authentic storytelling about the experiences of displaced people.

The DFF’s pilot round backed Maryna Er Gorbach, Mo Harawe, Hasan Kattan, Mohammad Rasoulof, and Shahrbanoo Sadat, and resulted in the films Rotation, Whispers of a Burning Scent, Allies in Exile, Sense of Water, and Super Afghan Gym, which world premiered at IFFR 2026 in January.

The recipients for the second round were selected via a two-step process involving a Nominations Committee and a Selection Committee. The Nominations Committee included journalist and documentarian Waad Al Kateab (We Dare to Dream, For Sama), director and screenwriter Agnieszka Holland (Green Border), UNHCR supporter Ke Huy Quan, Tatishvili, Stewart, and the DFF Partners.

The Selection Committee was chaired by Blanchett and included IFFR Festival Director Vanja Kaludjercic, film and stage producer Barbara Broccoli, educator, activist, and refugee Aisha Khurram, and filmmaker Mo Harawe, who was selected for the DFF’s first cycle.