Cate Blanchett to bring five Displacement Fund shorts to Tokyo for Japan premieres
Cate Blanchett will travel to Tokyo for the 39th Tokyo International Film Festival with five short films backed by the Displacement Film Fund she co-founded, Variety reported on 16 September.
The five titles will receive their Japan premieres at the festival. The festival runs 26 October to 4 November and is hosted by Unijapan.
The line-up is Sense of Water directed by Mohammad Rasoulof, Super Afghan Gym directed by Shahrbanoo Sadat, Allies in Exile directed by Hasan Kattan, Rotation directed by Maryna Er Gorbach and Whispers of a Burning Scent directed by Mo Harawe. Each film runs as a short, a format usually under 40 minutes made for festivals and specialist screenings.
Blanchett will join Rasoulof and Sadat for a question-and-answer session after the Tokyo screening. The discussion will focus on the films and the directors behind them.
The Displacement Film Fund supports displaced film-makers and film-makers with a record of telling authentic stories rooted in the experience of displaced people. It was announced at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in January 2025. The Rotterdam festival's Hubert Bals Fund acts as managing partner, with UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency, as strategic partner.
Uniqlo is a founding partner of the fund. The SP Lohia Foundation joined as a major partner when the second edition of the fund was confirmed at IFFR 2026.
The Tokyo festival began in 1985 as Japan's first major film festival, according to Fast Retailing. It is the only competitive feature-film festival in Japan accredited by FIAPF, the International Federation of Film Producers Associations, which regulates festival accreditation worldwide. It takes place each autumn in the Hibiya-Yurakucho-Marunouchi-Ginza area of Tokyo.
It will be a busy week in Japan for Blanchett. She is also due to receive the Praemium Imperiale Award during the same week as the festival visit. Her feature Father Mother Sister Brother won the Golden Lion at the 82nd Venice Film Festival and is scheduled for Japanese cinema release on 20 November.
The five shorts are the first batch produced through the programme. They received their world premieres at IFFR 2026, where Blanchett welcomed the screenings, Variety reported in January. The pilot scheme awarded production grants to Rasoulof, Sadat, Kattan, Gorbach and Harawe, according to IFFR. A panel on the fund was later held as part of the Cannes Film Festival's official programme.
For audiences in Tokyo, this means a rare chance to see all five films together and hear directly from two of the directors alongside Blanchett.
