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flee sundance film festival

2021 Sundance Film Festival Review – Flee February 2, 2021 by Shaun Munro Flee, 2021. We are so excited that Flee by Jonas Poher Rasmussen has been selected for the international documentary programme at Sundance Film Festival.. Music: Uno Helmersson But one refreshing aspect of Flee from an LGBTQ perspective is Amin's relatively relaxed admission that he was comfortable about being "a little different" and knew he was attracted to men from a young age. In present day Copenhagen, Denmark we meet 36… The emergence of a much older brother who had fled to Stockholm years earlier also sheds new light. The following years are then told in pieces: fearful encounters with corrupt Russian police, desperate attempts to smuggle the family bit by bit to Europe and Amin realising, then hiding his burgeoning sexuality as a gay teen, fearful of the consequences of being open. There are sequences of almost unbearable suspense, as Amin tries to find safety, and infuriating injustice, as traffickers and officials take advantage, but also poignant liberation, as Amin steps into his first gay club, a scene of joyous comfort, the safest haven after so much strife. FACEBOOK Flee is screening at the Sundance film festival with a release date later this year, Passing review – Rebecca Hall's elegant but inert directorial debut, n what’s proving to be a rather sub-par Sundance (an understandable blip given the unusual nature of this year’s virtual festival), it’s a genuine thrill to encounter a film as exciting and immediate as Flee, a much-needed jolt of energy now reverberating on laptop screens across the country. Animation producer: Charlotte De La Gournerie by He then goes back even earlier to 1984, when he was 3 or 4, pumping A-ha's "Take on Me" through his Walkman as he dances through those same streets in his sister's nightgown, feeling free and unafraid. The film will screen online and at selected venues across the US from 28 January through 3 … It certainly struck the Sundance Film Festival jury this way, winning the World Cinema Documentary Grand Jury Prize. Amin is an Afghan refugee, now living with his fiance in Denmark, who agrees to share how he made his way from war-torn Kabul in the 80s to now, living a settled, open life as a gay man, one he’d never thought was possible. Terms of Use | Flee is a powerful, gripping, stunning documentary that is bound to be one of the best movies I see at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. In what’s proving to be a rather sub-par Sundance (an understandable blip given the unusual nature of this year’s virtual festival), it’s a genuine thrill to encounter a film as exciting and immediate as Flee, a much-needed jolt of energy now reverberating on laptop screens across the country. The emotional expressiveness of the images, darkening during the more alarming interludes into disturbing visions, is complemented by the sorrowful strains of Uno Helmersson's string score. The World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary was presented to: Jonas Poher Rasmussen, for Flee / Denmark, France, Sweden, Norway (Director: Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Producers: Monica Hellström, … It's a powerful and poetic memoir of personal struggle and self-discovery that expands the definition of documentary. Flee a Mile in your Neighbor’s Shoes: Ramussen’s Refugee Doc Is A Journey Worth Taking Evocative animation, first-person pain and a strong dose of hope bring Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s fourth documentary feature into unforgettable focus. He struggles to translate an entry about the mujahideen seizing power in Afghanistan, kidnapping his sister and killing his father, mother and brother. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/flee-film-review-sundance-2021 Movie Reviews Great Movies Collections TV/Streaming Features ... “Flee” unfolds by way of Amin’s hybrid interview-therapy session. Editor: Janus Billeskov Jansen It’s a nakedly personal film and we feel honoured being allowed in the room with them, albeit in an animated version, intimately observing a story that up until now had been mostly repressed. EMAIL ME. Amin’s life has involved so much suppression, both as an immigrant and as a gay man, that his identity has become such a confusing construct. David Rooney Director: Jonas Poher Rasmussen He remembers the tenderness of his gray-haired mother, the absence of his father, the stories of his sister and flying a kite off the roof of their house with Saif, the older brother he adores. But conflicting memories soon cast doubt over that account, as hazy fragments coalesce to recall his flight to multiple destinations, his agonizing limbo in Russia, his first harrowing attempt to travel to Sweden shepherded by unscrupulous human traffickers, his time in a squalid asylum center in Estonia and his eventual hard-won deliverance. AdChoices Jonas Poher Rasmussen's remarkable Flee world premiered at Sundance 2021, winning the festival's World Cinema Grand Jury Prize for Documentary. His story shifts a few times in the film, as he sifts through what’s real and what he’s had to train himself to believe about himself and his past in order to survive. Two animation films, Souvenir, Souvenir (Bastien Dubois) and Flee (Jonas Poher Rasmussen) win at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. Flee is a remarkably humanising and complex film, expanding and expounding the kind of story that’s too easily simplified. The world premiere of Flee animation documentary by Jonas Poher Rasmussen at Sundance Festival brought its first victory. On three films from the World Documentary program of the Sundance Film Festival. And the ending suggests the almost Rohmer-esque influence of nature as Amin's story of flight becomes one of love, chance and emancipation from the brutalities of the past. | Do Not Sell My Personal Information film-forward.com/star-reviews/flee-sundance-film-festival-2021 Sundance Film 'Flee' Sells to Neon for Seven Figures - Variety https://www.indiewire.com/2021/01/sundance-day-one-coda-sales-1234613040 It’s impossible to recall a refugee story told with such devastating efficacy as well as such specific nuance, showing us the horrors Amin experienced but also, importantly, how they stuck to him in the years after and still do. One of the most illuminating aspects of the film, which Rasmussen co-wrote with Amin, is its insight into the ways in which emotional development can be hindered by the humiliation and shame of the refugee experience, and by the necessary deceptions and false narratives dictated by traffickers. Only much later upon arrival in Copenhagen does the stigma of coming from a repressive culture (homosexuality does not officially exist in Afghanistan, where there's not even a word for it) reveal itself when Amin asks a Red Cross social worker for access to meds to "cure" him. Sales: 30West, Cinephil Whichever form of storytelling had been settled on, the staggering details of Amin’s life would have been undeniable, but in animating his interviews with him and the various events being recalled, Rasmussen finds an unusually immersive way to pull us in even closer, one that’s both emotionally involving and artfully realised. 89 minutes. Courtesy of Sundance Institute. Even in a traditional year, it’s the kind of audacious and uniquely told story that would have attendees excitedly buzzing around Park City, urging others to seek out, and despite the fractured nature of this year’s edition, a swell of digital support has helped it nab a seven-figure deal with Neon (helped also perhaps by its star producers Riz Ahmed and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), this year’s first big sale, a well-earned reward for what’s likely to be the best film of the festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute. An hour before the first of the Sundance Film Festival’s online premieres began Thursday evening, ... And with Neon making the first deal of the festival for “Flee” just hours after it aired There's a sad undertow in the simple fact that it seems easier for Amin to describe his affection for a boy whose name he can't remember, with whom he traveled in the back of a truck out of Russia listening to Roxette, than to express his feelings for the kind, loving, patient man who wants to marry him. Written and directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen. As part of his adjustment process, he was required to keep a journal of his thoughts during those early years in Denmark, but difficulty reading his handwriting and his rusty command of Dari make that an unreliable source. There’s also an unimaginable burden, a feeling that he must always prove his worth, a responsibility to his family to succeed, an obsession with his career that we see causing tensions in his relationship. "Flee" Is The Best Thing To Emerge From Sundance 2021 | them. A still from Flee by Jonas Poher Rasmussen, an official selection of the World Cinema Documentary Competition at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute. Flee received the prestigious Cannes label in June and now, the film is ready for its first screening as part of the prestigious American film festival.. Instead, there's a kind of spontaneous purity to the storytelling, built on the empathetic connection established between the filmmaker and his subject. Executive producers: Riz Ahmed, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Danny Gabai, Natalie Farrey, Jannat Gargi, Hayley Pappas, Matt Ippolito, Philippa Kowarsky Flee is an 2021 internationally co-produced animated documentary film, directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen, written by Poher Rasmussen and Amin. Production companies: Final Cut for Real, Sun Creature Studio, Vivement Lundi!, Mostfilm, Mer Film, VICE Studios, Left Handed Films, RYOT Films, Arte France Amin’s childhood, as with many others like him, was interrupted in the late 80s as conflict forced him and his family to escape their home, finding their way to Moscow. One of the most exciting international discoveries of last year's Sundance festival was His House, which explored the cultural dislocation of the refugee experience through a genuinely nerve-rattling horror prism. He describes Saif as "a real boy," who gets his hands dirty, breeds pigeons and is an ace volleyball player. There's a comparable genre-defying boldness to Danish writer-director Jonas Poher Rasmussen's Flee, which mixes mood-driven, hand-drawn animation with archival footage to trace the harrowing history and lasting psychological scars of an Afghan man hiding from his past for the two decades since being granted political asylum in Copenhagen as a child. Framed through interview sessions with Rasmussen, Amin's recollections glance back to his childhood in Kabul, beginning with black and white charcoal drawings of figures running through the streets of a falling city. Neon acquired the film after its Sundance … Sitemap | It follows the story of a man named Amin, who shares his hidden past for the first time, of fleeing his country. 8:40 PM PST 1/28/2021 Privacy Policy | | EU Privacy Preferences. Originally scheduled to release at the 2020 Cannes Film Festival before it was canceled, Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s Flee is perhaps the stealthiest (and best) Sundance … Flee Photo: Sundance Film Festival A more practical obscuring of identity lies at the center of another Sundance triumph, the documentary Flee. Flee by Jonas Poher Rasmussen, an official selection of the World Cinema Documentary Competition at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. | California Privacy Rights As the film opens a caption tells us that this a true story and that some of the names have been changed to protect the subjects' anonymity. Art director: Jess Nichols Flee tracks the 20-year struggle of an Afghani refugee—pseudonym, Amin Nawabi—and, frankly, it’s riveting. Casting: Gro Therp Rasmussen, who comes from a family of Russian Jewish refugees, first met and became friendly with the protagonist, Amin Nawabi (a pseudonym; names and locations have been changed to protect those involved), in high school. Animation director: Kenneth Ladekjær Perhaps prompted in part by his impending marriage to his partner Kasper, Amin chose to open up to Rasmussen about his past, disclosing painful details he had not shared even with his fiancé. Although the interviews function almost like therapy, there's nothing didactic here, nothing clinical or overtly analytical. Striking animation and vivid archival footage are composed to allow let an Afghan man finally open up about his childhood as a refugee in the documentary 'Flee' (screening at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival). While Rasmussen animates the majority of the film, there are also interspersed montages of archival footage, deftly informing us of the basics of the political chaos that surrounds Amin’s life in both Afghanistan and Russia. The captivating, at times almost child-like simplicity of much of the animation provides a poignant counterpoint to the wrenching story of a displaced family, hiding from authorities eager to exploit their statelessness and their precarious financial situation and safety. A thrilling documentary made with a blend of animation and archive footage tells an immensely powerful tale of a gay Afghan survivor, Last modified on Sun 31 Jan 2021 23.51 GMT. Venue: Sundance Film Festival (World Documentary Competition) All rights reserved. Amin had arrived from Afghanistan around age 11 and was living in a foster home at the time, with little known about the journey that brought him to Denmark. Flee is a remarkably humanising and complex film, expanding and expounding the kind of story that’s too easily simplified. 15 Standouts From the 2021 (Virtual) Sundance Film Festival From Together Together to The Sparks Brothers , Flee , CODA and beyond, here are some of our critic's favorite Sundance … 28 January - 3 February 2021 (Sundance Film Festival) When Danish documentary filmmaker Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s Flee ends, it truly feels like there’s nothing left to say. This is amusingly manifested early on in a MMA fantasy fueled by a Bloodsport poster and Amin's crush on Jean-Claude Van Damme. https://smashcutreviews.com/flee-documentary-sundance-movie-review In addition to its value as a perceptive examination of the lasting trauma imprinted on the minds of vulnerable young refugees, Flee also stands out as an unconventional queer love story, revealing how complete acceptance of one's own troubled identity is essential in order to find love, marriage and stability. Screenwriters: Jonas Poher Rasmussen, “Amin” A still from Flee by Jonas Poher Rasmussen, an official selection of the World Cinema Documentary Competition at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. Even in a traditional year, it’s the kind of audacious and uniquely told story that would have attendees excitedly buzzing around Park City, urging others to seek out, and despite the fractured nature of this year’s edition, a swell of digital support has helped it. On three films from the World Documentary program of the Sundance Film Festival. TWITTER A unique escape from the prison of buried memory. All photos are copyrighted and may be used by press only for the purpose of news or editorial coverage of Sundance Institute programs. Rasmussen and ace editor Janus Billeskov Jansen (The Hunt, The Act of Killing) interweave newsreels of Communist Party ceremonies, political speeches from the Mohammad Najibullah government and the death and destruction of the Afghan Civil War to contextualize Amin's tortured memories in hard fact. The film, a co-production between Denmark, France, Sweden and Norway) tells the story of Amin. https://www.cbr.com/sundance-2021-flee-review-animated-documentary Rasmussen’s friend, known in the film as Amin but whose real identity is being kept confidential, has an untold backstory that he only revealed to him years into their friendship. Producers: Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen Rasmussen has created a loving and unsparing tribute to his friend, a brave survivor whose story I’ll find impossible to forget. The impact of all that on Amin's relationship with Kasper, compromising his ability to feel complete trust or connection with another person, let alone accept the notion of a permanent home, is explored with affecting intimacy. The true story at its centre is one that’s tailor-made for some form of cinema, a harrowing and suspenseful refugee narrative of loss and resilience, and director Jonas Poher Rasmussen could have brought it to the screen in many ways, almost all of them more conventionally easier than the one he finally chose. Amin, a thirtysomething … THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER is a registered trademark of The Hollywood Reporter, LLC. There’s a natural rhythm and sense of discovery to these recollections, as if he’s working so much of it out for himself still as he talks, the conversations between him and Rasmussen feeling therapeutic rather than exploitative. © 2021 The Hollywood Reporter, LLC. 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