You can watch and really listen. Coming on board was a no-brainer.. Copenhagen-based Sun Creature Studio, one of the films producers, then animated Nawabis side of the conversation. Listen to Amins voice. } }, 10); The voice of Amin Nawabi. That voice takes us through his childhood in Afghanistan in the 1980s, vivid memories of listening to A-Has Take on Me full blast on his Walkman as he danced in the streets in a sisters nightgown. captainformCustomVars['772605'] = ''; It explores the trauma of being forced to leave your home and the difficult circumstances faced by refugees. Its someplace safe. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Review: In the animated doc Flee, a moving portrait of one refugees journey to confront the past, Flee: One mans story of escape from Afghanistan, one filled with danger and secrets, Jena Malone says Hunger Games co-worker sexually assaulted her: a traumatic event, Review: The gorgeous new movie Pacifiction will hypnotize you. id: "captainform_js_global_vars", I feel that the act of telling a story itself is a hopeful act. But glaring gaps remain. Amins father Akhtar Nawabi was a pilot, but he died tragically. The wonderfully expressive animation also conveys the emotions of the characters. Written and directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen, the animated documentary depicts the life of Amin Nawabi, who had to leave his country, Afghanistan, after the rise When I saw it, it blew my mind, Ahmed recalls. }); }, true); var captainformCustomVars = {}; var append_element = append_element || function(e){if(void 0==e)return!1;if(! And things continued to get worse for them. Amin Nawabi's character in the animated documentary Flee. Since its release the film has only grown in relevance to current events and how refugee experiences are humanized, or not, in media narratives. But here, because you are not exposed to a human face, because its animation, I think it makes it possible to take it in. This fulfills the highest calling of storytelling, which is to remind us through the force of its imagination that there is no us and them, only us. , Says Rasmussen, This is a refugee story, and I know we are exposed to so many of these kinds of stories I see them all the time on TV, in the newspapers, in my feeds, and Im like the rest: I tend to block them out, because when you see a human face of someone whos struggling and you cant do anything to help, it can be too much to cope with. Flee is less about the exploration of truth than it is about persistence. } And one day, Amin showed up in town. var popupParams = { }, 10); With voting set to open soon to determine the Oscar documentary shortlist, Flee continues to make a very strong case for recognition. His voice alone should be the strongest component.. if(typeof cfJsHost != 'undefined'){ But it would take him decades to feel comfortable enough to share the circumstances that forced him to flee. This episode was produced by Mia Venkat and Michael Levitt. captainformDomReady(function() { not have a license - please But Amins voice remains the same. resize77260563ffe3583dcbe(wrapper); var popupTrigger = jQuery("#captainformForm772605EmbedPopup63ffe3583dcbe"); Sometimes we could be very specific, like when his sisters arrive in Sweden on a container ship, says Rasmussen. Variety is a part of Penske Media Corporation. I was always curious about his past, his story, but as a 15-year-old boy you dont really go into these things, says Rasmussen. Somewhere you know you can stay, and you dont have to move on. Birthplace: Not Available. Theres a part of the story where Amin confesses that in order to get through certain national borders, he had to lie and say that all of his immediate family members are dead. 2023 Deadline Hollywood, LLC. jQuery(wrapper).css('top', jQuery(window).height() * 0.4 + wrapper.width() + wrapper.css('padding').replace('px', '') * 2); captainformDomReady(function() { At the same time, however, maybe this is to be expected. Rithy Panhs Cambodian-French 2013 mixed-media documentary The Missing Picture also scored a foreign language nomination but, like Bashir, missed out on additional nods. While Rasmussen experiments with traditional animation and charcoal sketches to convey more distant memories, the digital character animation which makes up the majority of the movie has a markedly low frame-rate. "Flee" tells the story of Amin Nawabi, a gay Danish citizen and former Afghan refugee who has become a succesful academic. Flee opens with a scene of Amin as he lies on his bed, closes his eyes and begins his story. Rendering interviews and memories in 2-D color and abstract animated sequences, the format also affords anonymity to Nawabi, who is credited as co-writer and appears using a pseudonym. With the animation, we could go more into showing the fear than trying to be realistic to what actually happened. Accepting the Gotham Award, Rasmussen noted it was an eight-year process to make the film. He did not want to appear on camera for the documentary, and he did not want to use his real name, out of lingering fear that he and his family members would be targeted for persecution. Home? says Amin. Amin's character in the animated documentary Flee. Its Amins voice warm and intimate but also hesitant and fearful that pulls us in as he tells his old friend Jonas the secrets of his past. captainformThemeStyle['772605'] = ''; Before meeting Nawabi, he wondered if the process of sharing his story brought the Denmark-based academic, who is credited as co-writer, some catharsis. It is a tale not of bravery or even glorified courage, but about acceptance. var append_element = append_element || function(e){if(void 0==e)return!1;if(! The character Amin in the animated documentary Flee escaped from Afghanistan when the Mujahideen laid siege to the nations capital, Kabul, in the early 1990s. So we needed to make sure he was well dressed. captainform_preload_form_popup(popupParams); And also I feel that my friends, they know me for who I am because they know the stories that they didn't know back then.". The film opens a Pandoras box of suppressed trauma, uncovering wounds smothered by lies for the sake of self-preservation. }, 50); It took more than a decade, but Nawabi would become comfortable enough to have his childhood friend make his story into a documentary. Animation allowed the filmmakers to visualize scenes never captured on film and events that Amin heard about but didnt witness himself. Its a pseudonym and for the Flee could make Oscar history. Signup for Breaking News Alerts & Newsletters. It was a busy and dynamic city where he could be "a little different.". So I tried to get out of the way of that and use my music to emphasize the feelings that Amin cant or wont express.. captainForm772605PreloadInterval63ffe3583d2ea = setInterval(function(){ Rasmussen and Nawabi's friendship would grow in their small town in Denmark. var popupTrigger = jQuery("#captainformForm772606EmbedPopup63ffe3583d0a3"); if (document.getElementById('captainform_js_global_vars') == null) { Flee cost 3.5 million euros ($4 million), making it, says Hellstrm, a high-budget documentary film but a super-low-budget animation film., Notes Ladekjaer, There is a technique where you take the hand-drawn frames and get a computer to do the transitions, so you have a smooth movement, but it leaves an uncanny feel, a digital handprint, and just removes a bit of that empathy for the character., There are elements of Amins story that he struggles to remember or that he only remembers in fragments, and where theres ambiguity, it was important that the images are honest about that. Variety and the Flying V logos are trademarks of Variety Media, LLC. Nawabi and Kasper were also looking for a new place to live in Copenhagen. He describes being the youngest child in his family and being raised by a loving and attentive mother. jQuery(wrapper).find('a').removeAttr('href'); Thank you to Amin for his bravery in sharing his extraordinary journey and giving us the privilege to share it. Other names have been changed to protect peoples privacy and identities. But then, three months later, he disappeared and was never seen alive again. He fears that this lie will come back to haunt him and might affect his current immigration status. Flee, which would have premiered at Cannes last year had the coronavirus not capsized the festival, is an original artistic exploration of the way that trauma impacts ones sense of self. var wrapper = jQuery('#captainformForm772606EmbedPopup63ffe3583da98'); Nawabi was smuggled out of Afghanistan as a teenager by human traffickers and eventually made his way to Denmark where he sought refuge. contractors online are twice as likely to be happy at the end of their Culture Audience:Flee will appeal primarily to people who are interested in unconventional and emotionally impactful movies about the Afghan refugee crisis. 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He also says that his mother told him that Ahktar was one of 3,000 people who were rounded up in a day raid and imprisoned. I cant cope with taking everything in, Rasmussen says. captainformThemeStyle['772606'] = ''; It felt detached from reality. WebSeveral years ago, Amin Nawabi sat for a series of interviews with friend and filmmaker Jonas Poher Rasmussen with a caveat: in telling his story, his identity would remain Ahmed plays Amin and Coster-Waldau plays Rasmussen, asking questions of his friend. popupTrigger.css('visibility', 'visible'); We collect and match historical records that Ancestry users have contributed to their family trees to create each persons profile. I prefer to cover animated film, Korean film, and first features (especially women directors). And because he was born in Afghanistan, we can also anticipate that his difference will be a source of tension. Neon released Flee in select U.S. cinemas on December 3, 2021. var captainformCustomVars = {}; else if ('' == 'right') We initially took out the section when he was in prison in Estonia, because it was so dramatic, so extreme, we thought it was too much, but he insisted we put it back in, says Rasmussen. renovation of cellar as per plans filed herewith. function resize77260663ffe3583d0a3(wrapper){ ("elementType"in e))return!1;var n=null;if(n=e.following?e.following.parentElement:e.inside?e.inside:e.replacing?e.replacing.parentElement:"script"==e.elementType?document.head:document.body,null==n)return!1;var l=document.createElement(e.elementType);delete e.elementType,l=jQuery.extend(l,e),e.replacing?n.replaceChild(l,e.replacing):n.appendChild(l)}; Several years ago, Amin Nawabi sat for a series of interviews with friend and filmmaker Jonas Poher Rasmussen with a caveat: In telling his story, his identity would remain private to the world, freeing him to speak openly about his harrowing experiences as a child refugee escaping war-torn Afghanistan in the 1990s. By subscribing, I agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Though the movie allows Amin to revise particulars as he gradually unveils his past, it never misleads for effect. report high rates of satisfaction, and homeowners who research Culture Mix Survey In interviews spanning several years, Nawabi shares how the death of his father led to his familys escape from Afghanistan, and how his long and arduous journey to resettlement took him to Moscow and eventually Europe. Ahmed spent hours video chatting with Amin to match his style and tone. For so long his past and present had been disconnected, and he felt like he needed to share it, said Rasmussen. The rest of Amins story is a painful and horrifying account of long family separations; living in poverty; and being detained, shunned or incarcerated for being refugees. Get our latest storiesin the feed of your favorite networks. Out of ten entries, three this year in the World Cinema: Documentary section concerned the plight of refugees. (document.removeEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",d),window.removeEventListener("load",d)):(document.detachEvent("onreadystatechange",d),window.detachEvent("onload",d))},d=function(){t||!document.addEventListener&&"load"!==event.type&&"complete"!==document.readyState||(t=!0,n(),e())};if("complete"===document.readyState)e();else if(document.addEventListener)document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",d),window.addEventListener("load",d);else{document.attachEvent("onreadystatechange",d),window.attachEvent("onload",d);var o=!1;try{o=null==window.frameElement&&document.documentElement}catch(a){}o&&o.doScroll&&!function c(){if(!t){try{o.doScroll("left")}catch(d){return setTimeout(c,50)}t=!0,n(),e()}}()}}; ', Super Mario Bros. 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Contact Us Art director Jess Nicholls deliberately avoided watching animated documentaries like the 2008 Oscar-nominated Waltz With Bashir so as to not accidentally end up copying them. Instead, she says, she read books about street life in 1980s Kabul, scrolled through archive footage of Moscow in the early 1990s and pored over maps and building schematics. captainform_create_form_popup(popupParams); }, 10); Many of the voice actors in the cast are listed as Anonymous in the end credits. It also helped solve the problem of how to depict sequences from his past, things we couldnt film in a normal documentary.. Amin Nawabi is not the real name of the Afghan refugee introduced in the Sundance movie Flee, nor is that his real face, which has been distorted by animation to protect his identity. He also talks about what it was like to live in a country for the first time where he didnt have to worry about being arrested for being gay. Then there are more chaotic recollections after the mujahideen seize power in Kabul. id: "captainform_js_global_vars", }); } Join Facebook to connect with Evan Amin and others you may know. What are the colors of the wall? Like all these things, Rasmussen says. Now Hollywood Shuffle is a classic, Remember that Harry Styles Spitgate drama? id: "captainform_js_global_vars", The film has Afghan refugee Amin Nawabi telling his story for the first time, and while it is as harrowing as one might expect, it is not without its humanity and nuance. We are incredibly proud to be working with all of you.. (document.removeEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",d),window.removeEventListener("load",d)):(document.detachEvent("onreadystatechange",d),window.detachEvent("onload",d))},d=function(){t||!document.addEventListener&&"load"!==event.type&&"complete"!==document.readyState||(t=!0,n(),e())};if("complete"===document.readyState)e();else if(document.addEventListener)document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",d),window.addEventListener("load",d);else{document.attachEvent("onreadystatechange",d),window.attachEvent("onload",d);var o=!1;try{o=null==window.frameElement&&document.documentElement}catch(a){}o&&o.doScroll&&!function c(){if(!t){try{o.doScroll("left")}catch(d){return setTimeout(c,50)}t=!0,n(),e()}}()}}; Nawabis own self-reflections give the documentary a more human investigation into his chaotic debut into puberty and in so doing, a more personalized picture of his character. if ('' == 'left') Sharing his experience at last has benefitted his friend, Rasmussen says. An ex-boyfriend once threatened to report Amin to the authorities after he discovered the pretext on which hed requested asylum was a lie, and ever since, Amin has closeted that part of himself from others. It is wonderful that Amins story has touched so many people, and we hope it will continue to touch the hearts of audiences around the world. On the other hand, the deliberately bare-bones, low-budget approach avoids aestheticizing Nawabis memories. Ahmed a 2021 acting Oscar nominee for Sound of Metal and this year up for his second career nomination for the live action short The Long Goodbye was brought onto the project in 2020 by Suroosh Alvi of Vice Studios. [Like] when his father is taken away or when the sisters are in the container of the ship. var readyStateOverflowInterval; Passion and obsession intertwine in Fire of Love, With characters wise and reassuring, animated short The Boy, the Mole comforts, The prosecutor, and the actor who plays him, on taking down Argentinas military regime. Now an adult and identified by an alias to protect him and his family, Amin Nawabi reveals a painful secret about his childhood journey to Denmarka secret he has told almost no one.The film opens with the question: "What does the word 'home' mean to you? Then there is his story of flight, first to Russia, then via unscrupulous human traffickers to Estonia a particularly grim period in a squalid asylum center and finally to Denmark, where he is granted refugee status and where, at 15, in a Danish village, he meets Rasmussen on the bus to school. V logos are trademarks of variety Media, LLC looking for a place... 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