Directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen
Denmark | 2021 | Animated Documentary | 89 min | English
Film Source: Neon
Sponsors: Arnie Malina
Virtual available | Geoblocked to VT
*This is one of three films selected by the Film and Media Culture Department at Middlebury College in partnership with VTIFF to screen in the Hirschfield International Film Series.
“Amin” is an Afghan refugee who arrived in Denmark over twenty years ago as an unaccompanied minor seeking asylum. Even now as a successful academic, he has to hide the true story of his life and family in order to maintain his immigration status. To protect his identity, Flee is told mostly through animation. Amin relates the harrowing events that forced him and his family to desert their home and the dangerous obstacles they faced in seeking a new one. Some of the more dramatic events are spliced with real-life news footage, bringing the weight of historical trauma to bear on Amin’s story of personal tragedy. This absorbing documentary is inventively told and sheds needed light on the lives of those forced to keep in the shadows. ~Travis Weedon