For a festival traditionally not keen on animation, Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s “Flee” has surprisingly garnered remarkable accolades. The Danish-French-Swedish-Norwegian production marked the first acquisition of Sundance (sold to Neon for seven figures!), and eventually closed out as the winner of this year’s World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary. At the same time, however, maybe this is to be expected. Out of ten entries, three this year in the World Cinema: Documentary section concerned the plight of refugees. “Flee” truly stands out here, as it tells a story beyond refugee status.
“Flee” is screening at Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema
“Flee” recounts the years-long journey of an anonymous gay Afghan refugee (hereon referred to as Amin Nawabi). Nawabi seems to have it all. He is an accomplished academic with a postdoc waiting for him at Princeton University; his significant other is madly in love with him; and now,...
“Flee” is screening at Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema
“Flee” recounts the years-long journey of an anonymous gay Afghan refugee (hereon referred to as Amin Nawabi). Nawabi seems to have it all. He is an accomplished academic with a postdoc waiting for him at Princeton University; his significant other is madly in love with him; and now,...
- 3/4/2023
- by Grace Han
- AsianMoviePulse
Styx (2018).When another imminent lockdown is announced, I rush to the cinema to catch Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s animated documentary Flee (2021). Sitting in the dark theater, unsure when I’ll have this luxury again, I’m hit with a pang of anxiety, as if I’m about to lose home once again. The film, which recounts Amin Nawabi’s escape from Afghanistan and eventual arrival in Denmark as an unaccompanied minor, strikes a chord, reminding me of my own refugee displacement. Specifically, I’m drawn to Amin’s charismatic persona, imbued with melancholic introspection. His remembrances, which constitute the narrative content, are at turns harrowing, bittersweet, and heartwarming. It is undeniable that Flee is well-crafted and genuinely moving.Yet, I also felt unease with the film’s confessional framing, or how Amin’s story is told. While the film has been acclaimed for pushing the bounds of documentary, it is...
- 6/23/2022
- MUBI
Updated for March 15: The race has tightened with “The Mitchells vs. The Machines” winning best feature at the 49th annual Annie Awards on March 12. In fact, “The Mitchells” dominated with eight prizes, while “Encanto” earned three for character animation, music, and storyboarding. However, despite the impressive outpouring of support for “The Mitchells” by the animation community, “Encanto” has garnered too much adulation and buzz to be denied the Oscar this late in the season.
Updated for February 8: The Oscar nominations are out and Disney dominated with “Encanto” and “Raya and the Last Dragon,” and Pixar’s “Luca.” This marks the first time that Disney has had two in contention since 2016 and the first time it’s had three since 2012. The other two slots were taken by “The Mitchells vs. The Machines” (Netflix/Sony), and the acclaimed documentary “Flee” (Neon/Participant), which also scored historic noms in the doc and international categories.
Updated for February 8: The Oscar nominations are out and Disney dominated with “Encanto” and “Raya and the Last Dragon,” and Pixar’s “Luca.” This marks the first time that Disney has had two in contention since 2016 and the first time it’s had three since 2012. The other two slots were taken by “The Mitchells vs. The Machines” (Netflix/Sony), and the acclaimed documentary “Flee” (Neon/Participant), which also scored historic noms in the doc and international categories.
- 3/15/2022
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
Look through the list of this year’s Oscar nominees in the animated feature category and you’ll find each hero’s journey hinges on the same thing — family. They’re either struggling to break free, trying to find their place in the world or looking back on a mystery. In every case, it’s messy.
Most of the filmmakers leaned into their own experiences with family and mined tidbits for their films. The result is movies that hits specific notes but play well for larger audiences who see themselves in the families on screen.
“One of the goals of the movie is to get kids and parents to kind of see each other and see the world through each other’s perspectives,” says Michael Rianda, helmer of “The Mitchells vs. the Machines.”
“Because, when I was a teenager, I was a little brat and later I realized [my parents] cooked for...
Most of the filmmakers leaned into their own experiences with family and mined tidbits for their films. The result is movies that hits specific notes but play well for larger audiences who see themselves in the families on screen.
“One of the goals of the movie is to get kids and parents to kind of see each other and see the world through each other’s perspectives,” says Michael Rianda, helmer of “The Mitchells vs. the Machines.”
“Because, when I was a teenager, I was a little brat and later I realized [my parents] cooked for...
- 3/10/2022
- by Karen Idelson
- Variety Film + TV
With his film Flee, which recently scored a historic trifecta of Oscar nominations in the categories of Animated Feature, Documentary Feature and International Feature, Jonas Poher Rasmussen cleverly fused two cinematic mediums to help his longtime friend tell a painful, personal story that for decades he kept to himself, while maintaining his anonymity.
The writer-director first met the friend, referred to in the film as Amin Nawabi, when he was just 15 years old. “I grew up with in very small, rural Danish village, and one day, Amin arrived all by himself from Afghanistan, and stayed in foster care with a family just around the corner from where I lived,” Rasmussen explained during Neon and Participant Media’s panel at Deadline’s Contenders Film: The Nominees. “I was, of course, already back then curious about how and why he came, but he didn’t want to talk about it, and I of course respected that.
The writer-director first met the friend, referred to in the film as Amin Nawabi, when he was just 15 years old. “I grew up with in very small, rural Danish village, and one day, Amin arrived all by himself from Afghanistan, and stayed in foster care with a family just around the corner from where I lived,” Rasmussen explained during Neon and Participant Media’s panel at Deadline’s Contenders Film: The Nominees. “I was, of course, already back then curious about how and why he came, but he didn’t want to talk about it, and I of course respected that.
- 3/5/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Updated with quotes from winners and IDA executive director Rick Pérez: Flee and Summer of Soul divided honors at the 37th annual IDA Awards tonight, with Flee claiming Best Feature Documentary, and Summer of Soul capturing three awards, including best director for Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson [full winners list below].
Flee, the animated story of a gay Afghan youth who fled his homeland for life in the West, bested nine other contenders for Best Feature, including rivals Summer of Soul, and fellow Oscar nominee Writing With Fire (the latter title earned the Courage Under Fire Award for directors Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh).
Flee director Jonas Poher Rasmussen, who first met the subject of his film, Amin Nawabi, when they were teenagers in Denmark, accepted the night’s top award.
“First of all, I want to thank Amin, the subject of the film, for your generosity and...
Flee, the animated story of a gay Afghan youth who fled his homeland for life in the West, bested nine other contenders for Best Feature, including rivals Summer of Soul, and fellow Oscar nominee Writing With Fire (the latter title earned the Courage Under Fire Award for directors Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh).
Flee director Jonas Poher Rasmussen, who first met the subject of his film, Amin Nawabi, when they were teenagers in Denmark, accepted the night’s top award.
“First of all, I want to thank Amin, the subject of the film, for your generosity and...
- 3/5/2022
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
When Danish filmmaker Jonas Poher Rasmussen set out to make animated documentary 'Flee', the story of an old school friend Amin Nawabi, he envisioned it as a small project - perhaps a 20-30 minute short. Now it's nominated for three Oscars.
The post ‘Flee’ director Jonas Poher Rasmussen unpacks the art of animated documentary appeared first on If Magazine.
The post ‘Flee’ director Jonas Poher Rasmussen unpacks the art of animated documentary appeared first on If Magazine.
- 3/4/2022
- by Jackie Keast
- IF.com.au
(Welcome to The Daily Stream, an ongoing series in which the /Film team shares what they've been watching, why it's worth checking out, and where you can stream it.)
The Movie: "Flee"
Where You Can Stream It: Hulu
The Pitch: In 1996, at the age of 15, Danish filmmaker Jonas Poher Rasmussen met Amin Nawabi, an Afghani boy who was unlike just about anyone else in his small hometown. Where the few other immigrants that Rasmussen has crossed paths with up to that point did their best to avoid...
The post The Daily Stream: Flee Reminds Us That Realism In Animation Is Overrated appeared first on /Film.
The Movie: "Flee"
Where You Can Stream It: Hulu
The Pitch: In 1996, at the age of 15, Danish filmmaker Jonas Poher Rasmussen met Amin Nawabi, an Afghani boy who was unlike just about anyone else in his small hometown. Where the few other immigrants that Rasmussen has crossed paths with up to that point did their best to avoid...
The post The Daily Stream: Flee Reminds Us That Realism In Animation Is Overrated appeared first on /Film.
- 2/22/2022
- by Sandy Schaefer
- Slash Film
A long, hard journey from Kabul to Copenhagen is relived in Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s ultimately uplifting film – a deserving awards contender
The Danish French film-maker Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s animated documentary, in which a middle-aged academic living in Denmark relives his flight from Afghanistan as a boy, is shaping up as a major awards contender. Within the past fortnight, it has been nominated for best animated feature and best documentary at both the Baftas and Oscars, with an additional Academy Award nod for best international feature. It’s easy to see why the film has touched a nerve. Addressing difficult subject matter in a manner that is at once emotionally engaging and stylistically adventurous, Flee follows in the footsteps of Ari Folman’s 2008 animated awards-winner Waltz With Bashir, about his experiences and memories of the 1982 Lebanon war, proving once again that genuinely “true life” storytelling requires as much artistry and invention as any drama.
The Danish French film-maker Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s animated documentary, in which a middle-aged academic living in Denmark relives his flight from Afghanistan as a boy, is shaping up as a major awards contender. Within the past fortnight, it has been nominated for best animated feature and best documentary at both the Baftas and Oscars, with an additional Academy Award nod for best international feature. It’s easy to see why the film has touched a nerve. Addressing difficult subject matter in a manner that is at once emotionally engaging and stylistically adventurous, Flee follows in the footsteps of Ari Folman’s 2008 animated awards-winner Waltz With Bashir, about his experiences and memories of the 1982 Lebanon war, proving once again that genuinely “true life” storytelling requires as much artistry and invention as any drama.
- 2/13/2022
- by Mark Kermode, Observer film critic
- The Guardian - Film News
After winning the grand jury prize at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, "Flee" is once again receiving critical acclaim. On Feb. 8, the Danish animated film made history with its three Oscar nominations for best animated feature, best documentary feature, and best international feature film, making it the first film to ever receive nods in all three categories.
In the best animated feature category, "Flee" is up against "Encanto," "Luca," "The Mitchells vs. the Machines," and "Raya and the Last Dragon." Meanwhile, "Ascension," "Attica, "Summer of Soul," and "Writing With Fire" are also up for best documentary feature. And in the best international feature film category, "Flee" is nominated alongside "Drive My Car," "The Hand of God," "Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom," and "The Worst Person in the World."
Related: After Months of Oscars Buzz, Lady Gaga Is Snubbed by the Academy
Directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen, "Flee" tells the story...
In the best animated feature category, "Flee" is up against "Encanto," "Luca," "The Mitchells vs. the Machines," and "Raya and the Last Dragon." Meanwhile, "Ascension," "Attica, "Summer of Soul," and "Writing With Fire" are also up for best documentary feature. And in the best international feature film category, "Flee" is nominated alongside "Drive My Car," "The Hand of God," "Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom," and "The Worst Person in the World."
Related: After Months of Oscars Buzz, Lady Gaga Is Snubbed by the Academy
Directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen, "Flee" tells the story...
- 2/8/2022
- by Monica Sisavat
- Popsugar.com
The 2022 Oscar nominations were good for “Flee,” which was nominated three times: Best Documentary Feature, Best International Feature, and Best Animated Feature. Though a couple of films in recent years had been nominated in two of those categories, no film had ever swept all three until now. Check out the complete list of Oscar nominations here.
“Flee” follows Amin Nawabi, who fled Afghanistan as a refugee and settled in Denmark. It premiered at Sundance in 2021 more than a year ago before hitting the fall festival circuit and then opening to audiences on December 3. Before the Oscar nominations the film had already received myriad awards and/or nominations from the European Film Awards, the Gotham Awards, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the New York Film Critics Circle, the Producers Guild, the Critics Choice Awards, and the Annie Awards.
Receiving nominations across those categories never happened for most of Oscar history.
“Flee” follows Amin Nawabi, who fled Afghanistan as a refugee and settled in Denmark. It premiered at Sundance in 2021 more than a year ago before hitting the fall festival circuit and then opening to audiences on December 3. Before the Oscar nominations the film had already received myriad awards and/or nominations from the European Film Awards, the Gotham Awards, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the New York Film Critics Circle, the Producers Guild, the Critics Choice Awards, and the Annie Awards.
Receiving nominations across those categories never happened for most of Oscar history.
- 2/8/2022
- by Daniel Montgomery
- Gold Derby
When the Oscar nominations are announced on Feb. 8 Flee could pull off an unprecedented trifecta—becoming the first film nominated as Best Documentary Feature, Best International Film and Best Animated Feature.
Not bad for a project that began with modest ambitions.
“It started out with me wanting to do a short animated doc about a friend of mine,” director Jonas Poher Rasmussen says. “In the beginning I just thought it would be like 20 minutes, and then from there it grew and grew.”
The film resulted from a bond between Rasmussen and Amin Nawabi forged a quarter century ago when a teenage Amin arrived as an Afghan refugee in the small Danish town where Rasmussen grew up. Flee is Denmark’s official entry in the International Film category, and in December it made that category’s shortlist.
“I think it’s the first documentary that’s a Danish entry, so it...
Not bad for a project that began with modest ambitions.
“It started out with me wanting to do a short animated doc about a friend of mine,” director Jonas Poher Rasmussen says. “In the beginning I just thought it would be like 20 minutes, and then from there it grew and grew.”
The film resulted from a bond between Rasmussen and Amin Nawabi forged a quarter century ago when a teenage Amin arrived as an Afghan refugee in the small Danish town where Rasmussen grew up. Flee is Denmark’s official entry in the International Film category, and in December it made that category’s shortlist.
“I think it’s the first documentary that’s a Danish entry, so it...
- 1/31/2022
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
In today’s high-tech world, there are as many ways to make an animated film as there are film genres. Each year’s top animated features span everything from family fare to real-life documentaries and everything in between, and today’s animation directors have as many, or as few, tools at their disposal to tell their stories as they want.
For Sony Pictures Animation’s “The Mitchells vs. the Machines,” a comedy about a dysfunctional family battling a robot apocalypse, directors Mike Rianda and Jeff Rowe saw the irony in using top-notch tools to tell a cautionary tale about technology.
“We were making a movie about technology and the only way we could contact our mom or see our friends was over the computer,” says Rianda of working during the pandemic lockdown. “It’s a wonderful time for animation right now. I would love to see people from all walks of life telling stories.
For Sony Pictures Animation’s “The Mitchells vs. the Machines,” a comedy about a dysfunctional family battling a robot apocalypse, directors Mike Rianda and Jeff Rowe saw the irony in using top-notch tools to tell a cautionary tale about technology.
“We were making a movie about technology and the only way we could contact our mom or see our friends was over the computer,” says Rianda of working during the pandemic lockdown. “It’s a wonderful time for animation right now. I would love to see people from all walks of life telling stories.
- 1/29/2022
- by Paul Plunkett
- Variety Film + TV
The following review was originally posted on December 2, 2021
This weekend sees the release of a new documentary concerning a subject that’s been covered extensively in the news over the last several years: the refugee crisis in the Middle East. Yes, it’s been part of the political debate, and countless reports have flooded the news outlets, not to mention feature-length and short-subjects “docs”. And yet this one feels fresh and immediate. Perhaps that’s due of the medium as this is an animated feature, proving that that said medium (it’s not a genre) can be used to tell all sorts of stories. Plus it’s a most intimate tale as it’s a coming of age saga related by a man whose later lifestyle would leave him no choice but to Flee.
This true story of the now-adult Amin (voice of Riz Ahmed) commences in present-day Copenhagen as...
This weekend sees the release of a new documentary concerning a subject that’s been covered extensively in the news over the last several years: the refugee crisis in the Middle East. Yes, it’s been part of the political debate, and countless reports have flooded the news outlets, not to mention feature-length and short-subjects “docs”. And yet this one feels fresh and immediate. Perhaps that’s due of the medium as this is an animated feature, proving that that said medium (it’s not a genre) can be used to tell all sorts of stories. Plus it’s a most intimate tale as it’s a coming of age saga related by a man whose later lifestyle would leave him no choice but to Flee.
This true story of the now-adult Amin (voice of Riz Ahmed) commences in present-day Copenhagen as...
- 1/28/2022
- by Jim Batts
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
After they won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2019 for their thrilling Free Solo, directors Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin went underground—in a manner of speaking.
They tunneled into the true-life story of kids trapped in a flooded cave in Thailand for their filmmaking follow up, The Rescue, a documentary that has put the married couple back in contention for an Oscar nomination.
Free Solo posed enormous cinematic challenges—capturing every angle of climber Alex Honnold’s daring ascent of Yosemite’s El Capitan rock face without aid of ropes. But if anything, The Rescue presented even greater obstacles.
“So often in documentaries you come across people with tons of footage and no story,” Vasarhelyi says. “We had a great story and no footage. Period.”
A team of amateur cave divers from Britain and Australia assembled in 2018 to try to save the stranded children—members of...
They tunneled into the true-life story of kids trapped in a flooded cave in Thailand for their filmmaking follow up, The Rescue, a documentary that has put the married couple back in contention for an Oscar nomination.
Free Solo posed enormous cinematic challenges—capturing every angle of climber Alex Honnold’s daring ascent of Yosemite’s El Capitan rock face without aid of ropes. But if anything, The Rescue presented even greater obstacles.
“So often in documentaries you come across people with tons of footage and no story,” Vasarhelyi says. “We had a great story and no footage. Period.”
A team of amateur cave divers from Britain and Australia assembled in 2018 to try to save the stranded children—members of...
- 1/27/2022
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
With 92 features to watch, the Academy’s International Feature Film Committee, drawn from various branch members willing to watch an assigned slate of 12 films, selected a shortlist of 15. Any voter who watches all 15 can pick the final five.
What will they be? We hazard an educated guess based on festival awards, critics’ groups, and other anecdotal gleanings of Academy favorites. These films are among the year’s best. Check them out in all their glory in theaters if you can; some won’t be available at home for a few more weeks. (Read: How to Watch the 2022 Oscar Contenders at Home.)
Festival heavyweights include major Cannes standouts like Austria’s “Great Freedom,” Mexico’s “Prayers for the Stolen,” Asghar Farhadi’s “A Hero,” Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s animated documentary “Flee,” and Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s three-hour meditation on Chekhov, “Drive My Car,” which is gaining so much acclaim that people are...
What will they be? We hazard an educated guess based on festival awards, critics’ groups, and other anecdotal gleanings of Academy favorites. These films are among the year’s best. Check them out in all their glory in theaters if you can; some won’t be available at home for a few more weeks. (Read: How to Watch the 2022 Oscar Contenders at Home.)
Festival heavyweights include major Cannes standouts like Austria’s “Great Freedom,” Mexico’s “Prayers for the Stolen,” Asghar Farhadi’s “A Hero,” Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s animated documentary “Flee,” and Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s three-hour meditation on Chekhov, “Drive My Car,” which is gaining so much acclaim that people are...
- 1/25/2022
- by Anne Thompson, Eric Kohn and David Ehrlich
- Thompson on Hollywood
Years ago, you wouldn’t have looked to the international feature category — or foreign-language film, as it was more insularly named back then — for much in the way of reflecting the modern world. World War II history and heartwarming child’s-eye family portraits were for a long time the staple diet of an award that shied away from more nervy topics. This year’s shortlist, however, sees a number of global filmmakers tackling more resonant, contemporary subject matter — with matters of gender and sexuality woven through a number of them.
Germany’s entry, “I’m Your Man,” even strays into science fiction, a genre rarely given much attention in this category. Maria Schrader’s witty, philosophical romantic comedy begins as a battle of wills between Alma (Maren Eggert), an independent, career-oriented academic, and Tom (Dan Stevens), the android boyfriend tailored directly for her needs in a lab — though it seems he...
Germany’s entry, “I’m Your Man,” even strays into science fiction, a genre rarely given much attention in this category. Maria Schrader’s witty, philosophical romantic comedy begins as a battle of wills between Alma (Maren Eggert), an independent, career-oriented academic, and Tom (Dan Stevens), the android boyfriend tailored directly for her needs in a lab — though it seems he...
- 1/22/2022
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
What brings documentaries to life? For an increasing number of them, it’s colorful characters — literally. Animation is making docs more accessible to a wider audience, allowing filmmakers to dramatize scenes that can’t be shown with footage and bringing them into once-unimagined awards categories.
No film has demonstrated this more clearly than Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s refugee saga “Flee.” The Neon/Participant release made Oscar shortlists for both documentary feature and international feature film, won a Gotham Award for documentary and Sundance Film Festival’s World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary. But it also scored a Golden Globe nom and Boston, Chicago and Detroit critics group award wins for animated feature, paving the way for an Academy Award nomination in that category as well.
The critical success of this Danish/French/Swedish/Norwegian co-production is igniting interest in other animated docs at the upcoming Sundance Film Festival, but this...
No film has demonstrated this more clearly than Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s refugee saga “Flee.” The Neon/Participant release made Oscar shortlists for both documentary feature and international feature film, won a Gotham Award for documentary and Sundance Film Festival’s World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary. But it also scored a Golden Globe nom and Boston, Chicago and Detroit critics group award wins for animated feature, paving the way for an Academy Award nomination in that category as well.
The critical success of this Danish/French/Swedish/Norwegian co-production is igniting interest in other animated docs at the upcoming Sundance Film Festival, but this...
- 1/21/2022
- by Gregg Goldstein
- Variety Film + TV
The 2022 Oscar shortlists were good for “Flee,” which was cited twice: Best Documentary Feature and Best International Feature, in addition to the film also being eligible for Best Animated Feature. Though a couple of films in recent years have been nominated in two of those categories, no film has ever swept all three. And judging from our early odds in those races, this will be the film to do it.
“Flee” tells the true story of Amin Nawabi, who fled Afghanistan and settled in Denmark as a refugee. It premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival almost a year ago before hitting the Toronto and New York fests in the fall and opening in theaters on December 3. Thus far, the film has already received a wide range of awards and nominations, including the European Film Award for Best European Documentary, the Gotham Award for Best Documentary, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Animation,...
“Flee” tells the true story of Amin Nawabi, who fled Afghanistan and settled in Denmark as a refugee. It premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival almost a year ago before hitting the Toronto and New York fests in the fall and opening in theaters on December 3. Thus far, the film has already received a wide range of awards and nominations, including the European Film Award for Best European Documentary, the Gotham Award for Best Documentary, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Animation,...
- 1/2/2022
- by Daniel Montgomery
- Gold Derby
When the academy announced qualifiers for the Documentary, Animated and International features awards, one title made all three lists: the haunting hybrid Danish documentary “Flee.” The animated/live action documentary examines displacement and self-discovery through the eyes of Amin Nawabi.
Though he’s now an academic living in Copenhagen with his boyfriend, Nawabi had a harrowing, grueling childhood, and adolescence. His father was taken away by the Communist government and never seen again. They escaped the worn-torn country in 1989 and ended up isolated and illegal in post-Communist Russia with outdated immigration papers before enduring even more dangerous journeys to find a home in Denmark with a foster family
Directed and co-written by Nawabi’s longtime friend, Jonas Poher Rasmussen, “Flee” is one of the top contenders for Oscar nominations in all three categories. It won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize this past January and has received numerous critics’ honors including...
Though he’s now an academic living in Copenhagen with his boyfriend, Nawabi had a harrowing, grueling childhood, and adolescence. His father was taken away by the Communist government and never seen again. They escaped the worn-torn country in 1989 and ended up isolated and illegal in post-Communist Russia with outdated immigration papers before enduring even more dangerous journeys to find a home in Denmark with a foster family
Directed and co-written by Nawabi’s longtime friend, Jonas Poher Rasmussen, “Flee” is one of the top contenders for Oscar nominations in all three categories. It won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize this past January and has received numerous critics’ honors including...
- 12/22/2021
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Flee is the story of middle-aged Amin Nawabi, a scholar from Afghanistan who grapples with a 20-year-old secret. Director Jonas Poher Rasmussen helps Amin tell his story so it doesn’t derail the life he has built for himself and his soon-to-be husband. Told through first-person interviews, Flee is animated to protect Amin’s identity and to refresh the “queer refugee” story that has verged on becoming a trope. In Flee, Amin tells his story about being a child refugee from Afghanistan for the first time.
With the film now in theaters, The Film Stage spoke with director Jonas Poher Rasmussen about designing Amin’s appearance in the film, how Amin laying down for his interviews gives the appearance of therapy when it’s really an old radio documentary technique, and the Afghan people’s grim future after the Taliban took over the country last summer.
The Film Stage: Flee...
With the film now in theaters, The Film Stage spoke with director Jonas Poher Rasmussen about designing Amin’s appearance in the film, how Amin laying down for his interviews gives the appearance of therapy when it’s really an old radio documentary technique, and the Afghan people’s grim future after the Taliban took over the country last summer.
The Film Stage: Flee...
- 12/9/2021
- by Joshua Encinias
- The Film Stage
While working on animated documentary “Flee,” on the forefront of art director Jess Nicholls’ mind were questions of the camera.
She had no use for a real one, of course, but that didn’t stop her from thinking very specifically about where she may have placed one or what kinds of lenses she’d hypothetically use to capture the kinds of scenes her team was animating. Directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen and focused on the story of a gay Afghan refugee known as Amin Nawabi, “Flee” heavily utilizes techniques of both live-action and animated filmmaking. While the entire film is animated save for some archival footage that appears here and there, Rasmussen’s background as a live-action documentarian informed much of “Flee’s” visual language — in fact, the use of animation only entered the equation when he realized it was necessary to keep Nawabi’s identity anonymous.
In the early stages of the process,...
She had no use for a real one, of course, but that didn’t stop her from thinking very specifically about where she may have placed one or what kinds of lenses she’d hypothetically use to capture the kinds of scenes her team was animating. Directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen and focused on the story of a gay Afghan refugee known as Amin Nawabi, “Flee” heavily utilizes techniques of both live-action and animated filmmaking. While the entire film is animated save for some archival footage that appears here and there, Rasmussen’s background as a live-action documentarian informed much of “Flee’s” visual language — in fact, the use of animation only entered the equation when he realized it was necessary to keep Nawabi’s identity anonymous.
In the early stages of the process,...
- 12/6/2021
- by Selome Hailu
- Variety Film + TV
Aleem Khan’s directorial debut “After Love” dominated the British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs) with six wins.
The film, in which a recently widowed woman comes to terms with a shocking secret about her husband’s life won the award for Best British Independent Film, presented by Kate Beckinsale. Khan won three more BIFAs – Best Director, The Douglas Hickox Award for Best Debut Director and Best Screenplay, with Joanna Scanlan winning Best Actress and Talid Ariss Best Supporting Actor for their performances in the film.
Adeel Akhtar won Best Actor for his role in Clio Barnard’s story of forbidden love, “Ali & Ava,” which also saw Connie Farr and Harry Escott scoring the Best Music award.
The Best Supporting Actress award went to Vinette Robinson for her work in Philip Barantini’s single-take restaurant kitchen drama “Boiling Point,” which also received awards for Carolyn McCleod for Best Casting, Matthew Lewis...
The film, in which a recently widowed woman comes to terms with a shocking secret about her husband’s life won the award for Best British Independent Film, presented by Kate Beckinsale. Khan won three more BIFAs – Best Director, The Douglas Hickox Award for Best Debut Director and Best Screenplay, with Joanna Scanlan winning Best Actress and Talid Ariss Best Supporting Actor for their performances in the film.
Adeel Akhtar won Best Actor for his role in Clio Barnard’s story of forbidden love, “Ali & Ava,” which also saw Connie Farr and Harry Escott scoring the Best Music award.
The Best Supporting Actress award went to Vinette Robinson for her work in Philip Barantini’s single-take restaurant kitchen drama “Boiling Point,” which also received awards for Carolyn McCleod for Best Casting, Matthew Lewis...
- 12/5/2021
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
While the years following 2016’s “Moonlight” have been surprisingly fruitful for high-quality queer film, one might not know it from glancing at Oscar nominations from years past. Last year, Céline Sciamma’s luminous period romance “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” was not even selected as France’s official entry for Best International Feature, despite provoking universal critical reverence. “Parasite” rightfully swept the 2019 ceremony, its double win for Best Picture and Best International left no hope for Pedro Almodóvar’s semi-autobiographical “Pain and Glory.” The year before that was a bit of an anomaly, with three queer films earning Best Picture nominations, “The Favourite,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and “Green Book,” that year’s controversial winner. In 2017, we had the magical lush gift of “Call Me by Your Name,” and the world seemed open to us forever.
Of course, before “Moonlight” changed the game in so many ways — for Black films, queer films,...
Of course, before “Moonlight” changed the game in so many ways — for Black films, queer films,...
- 12/3/2021
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
This weekend sees the release of a new documentary concerning a subject that’s been covered extensively in the news over the last several years: the refugee crisis in the Middle East. Yes, it’s been part of the political debate, and countless reports have flooded the news outlets, not to mention feature-length and short-subjects “docs”. And yet this one feels fresh and immediate. Perhaps that’s due of the medium as this is an animated feature, proving that that said medium (it’s not a genre) can be used to tell all sorts of stories. Plus it’s a most intimate tale as it’s a coming of age saga related by a man whose later lifestyle would leave him no choice but to Flee.
This true story of the now-adult Amin (voice of Riz Ahmed) commences in present-day Copenhagen as he is interviewed by a former classmate and...
This true story of the now-adult Amin (voice of Riz Ahmed) commences in present-day Copenhagen as he is interviewed by a former classmate and...
- 12/3/2021
- by Jim Batts
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
With voting set to open soon to determine the Oscar documentary shortlist, Flee continues to make a very strong case for recognition.
The Neon release from director Jonas Poher Rasmussen won the Gotham Award for Best Documentary Feature on Monday, burnishing an awards run that began with the top prize for international documentary at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year.
The story, told mostly through animation, centers around Amin Nawabi (a pseudonym used to protect the identity of the real person), who grew up a gender non-conforming kid in Afghanistan. His father was seized as the Mujahideen took over Kabul after the Soviet exit in 1989. The rest of the family attempted to flee to the West, and Amin became separated from his mother and siblings, making it eventually to Denmark as a gay teenager, alone, speaking no Danish.
Accepting the Gotham Award, Rasmussen noted it was an eight-year process to make the film.
The Neon release from director Jonas Poher Rasmussen won the Gotham Award for Best Documentary Feature on Monday, burnishing an awards run that began with the top prize for international documentary at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year.
The story, told mostly through animation, centers around Amin Nawabi (a pseudonym used to protect the identity of the real person), who grew up a gender non-conforming kid in Afghanistan. His father was seized as the Mujahideen took over Kabul after the Soviet exit in 1989. The rest of the family attempted to flee to the West, and Amin became separated from his mother and siblings, making it eventually to Denmark as a gay teenager, alone, speaking no Danish.
Accepting the Gotham Award, Rasmussen noted it was an eight-year process to make the film.
- 12/1/2021
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
The origins of the new animated documentary “Flee” date back almost 25 years. That’s when filmmaker Jonas Rasmussen first met the man known in the film as Amin Nawabi, a pseudonym to protect the identity of Rasmussen’s real friend. As high school classmates in Denmark, Rasmussen always knew Nawabi, a refugee from Afghanistan, had more of a story to tell than he initially revealed.
“A while back I asked if I could do a radio documentary about his story and he said no, he wasn’t ready to tell his story,” Rasmussen says in a new interview with Gold Derby. But after Rasmussen explored the idea of mixing animation with interview footage as a way to keep Amin’s identity a secret, his friend agreed to speak on the record about his life. The result is the new film “Flee,” which had been set to debut at the Cannes...
“A while back I asked if I could do a radio documentary about his story and he said no, he wasn’t ready to tell his story,” Rasmussen says in a new interview with Gold Derby. But after Rasmussen explored the idea of mixing animation with interview footage as a way to keep Amin’s identity a secret, his friend agreed to speak on the record about his life. The result is the new film “Flee,” which had been set to debut at the Cannes...
- 11/29/2021
- by Christopher Rosen
- Gold Derby
Southern Spain’s annual showcase of standout recent European auteur cinema, the Seville European Film Festival, wrapped its 18th edition Saturday, Nov. 13 with a slew of prizes scattered among its various contenders, with the top prize, the Giraldillo de Oro, going to Sebastian Meise’s “Great Freedom” and its lead, Franz Rogowski, nabbing the best actor award. The Andalusian screenwriters association, Asecan, also chose the drama as the best film in the festival’s official selection.
Set in post-war Germany, “Great Freedom” has been racking up rave reviews and prizes across the festival circuit, starting with its Cannes Un Certain Regard jury prize and most recently in Athens and Sarajevo where it topped their awards. In it, Hans, played by Rogowski, is imprisoned repeatedly for being gay. The only constant in his life is his cellmate, Viktor, a convicted murderer, with whom his initial repulsion turns to something akin to love.
Set in post-war Germany, “Great Freedom” has been racking up rave reviews and prizes across the festival circuit, starting with its Cannes Un Certain Regard jury prize and most recently in Athens and Sarajevo where it topped their awards. In it, Hans, played by Rogowski, is imprisoned repeatedly for being gay. The only constant in his life is his cellmate, Viktor, a convicted murderer, with whom his initial repulsion turns to something akin to love.
- 11/14/2021
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
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