By agreeing to become a goodwill ambassador for the High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), Cate Blanchett was not taking on a compositional role: the Australian-American actress in fact called, Monday May 20, 2024, at the Cannes Film Festival , to produce “more films about refugees”.
“I’m still perplexed as to why so few films talk directly – or indirectly – about refugees,” said the star of Carol, Blue Jasmine, The Lord of the Rings and many others, during a conference entitled “UNHCR: stories of the displaced”.
“To exclude is to make different”
“Among the refugees I met (…) their stories are so incredible and inspiring, their sense of humor, their resilience and their courage (…) The more we exclude these voices from our stories, the more we make them different” , she estimated.
“I would love for directors and writers to make a list of people who don’t look like them, who haven’t had the same experiences as them, to see what stories they would like to tell,” she suggested. Because the old studio “system” always tells the same stories made by the same people, the same teams; and it kills him.”
A game worth the effort
“It’s a deadly thing,” added Cate Blanchett, adding that she has already experienced it with broadcasters: “You pitch them a story and they say ‘oh, we love it, we’re connected, we’re so touched… but that is not part of our mandate!” “.
Our “Cate Blanchett” file
On this difficulty of producing stories relating to refugees, the actress mentioned the Australian series Stateless, which she herself created, produced (and in which she stars), ensuring that it took “six years to complete”; but that the game had been worth it since it had then “won all the prizes in Australia”… and that Netflix had bought it.