Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof and Afghan-born director Shahrbanoo Sadat pushed back on the idea of a standalone Oscar category for exiled filmmakers, speaking at the Tokyo International Film Festival as Cate Blanchett’s Displacement Film Fund gave its first five short films their Japan premiere.
The question followed the Academy’s recent rule change making exiled filmmakers eligible for the Oscars, with the Academy’s top leadership present at the festival this week. Rather than a separate lane, the two filmmakers argued their work should compete on equal footing.
Cate Blanchett with the Displacement Film Fund shorts (Credits: Variety)
Oscar Exiled Filmmakers Category: Why Rasoulof and Sadat Said No
Rasoulof was forced to flee to a safe house in Germany after the Islamic Republic sentenced him to eight years in prison, following the selection of his film The Seed of the Sacred Fig in the main competition at Cannes 2024. The film went on to be nominated for an Academy Award.
Sadat, who recently fled Kabul for Germany, echoed the sentiment that displacement should not become a defining label. Blanchett, herself a passionate advocate for the cause, summed up the view: “These filmmakers happen to be displaced, but that is not the defining characteristic of their work.”
Cate Blanchett Displacement Film Fund Premieres Five Shorts in Tokyo
The five shorts that screened at the 39th Tokyo International Film Festival are Rotation by Maryna Er Gorbach, Sadat’s Super Afghan Gym, Allies in Exile by Hasan Kattan, Mo Harawe’s Whispers of a Burning Scent, and Rasoulof’s Sense of Water.
Rasoulof’s Sense of Water follows an exiled Iranian writer struggling to pick up the language in his new adopted home, while Sadat’s Super Afghan Gym follows Afghan housewives in Kabul who gather at a local gym during the only hour of the day reserved for women. Blanchett, the two-time Oscar winner, joined the filmmakers for a post-screening Q&A — with a surprise appearance by Godzilla Minus One director Takashi Yamazaki.
Blanchett launched the fund in 2025 with the Rotterdam Film Festival’s Hubert Bals Fund as management partner; each of the five filmmakers in the pilot round received a production grant of €100,000. Her trip to Tokyo also included receiving Japan’s prestigious Praemium Imperiale award for lifetime achievement in theatre and film.
Also Read: Darren Aronofsky to Receive Director’s Award at 34th Camerimage Film Festival in Poland
Also Read: Pippa Harris and YouTube UK Boss Alison Lomax Join Board of National Film & Television School
Source: Variety — read the full story there.
