Danish filmmaker Jonas Poher Rassmusen on making a personal film with Oscar-nominated ‘Flee’
The Hindu
Filmmaker Jonas Poher Rasmussen on the journey that was ‘Flee’, an animated documentary which secured three nominations at the 2022 Oscars
Somewhere in the Baltic sea, a dilapidated boat ferrying fleeing Afghans crosses paths with a Norwegian cruise ship.
As the refugees heave a sigh of relief, the onlookers document their plight by whipping out cameras.
Amin Nawabi remembers feeling embarrassed and ashamed. This scene, midway through Flee, is nothing short of heartbreaking: a personal memory retold and visualised in succinct detail, it crystallises the glaring contrast between people in need and people with privilege.
The animated documentary, which has made waves with a triple nomination for the 2022 Oscars, follows its protagonist Amin Nawabi. A refugee who escaped war-torn Kabul in the ‘80s, to the Soviet Union. Amin later tried to seek asylum in Scandinavia.
Made originally in Danish by filmmaker Jonas Poher Rassmusen, this is a story that Jonas has a lot of personal investment in: Amin (not his real name) happens to be his friend.
Over a Zoom call from Copenhagen, Jonas narrates, “To go back, all of this really started when I met Amin 25 years ago. He showed up all by himself in my little sleepy Danish hometown. He came from Afghanistan and stayed in foster care with a family just around the corner from where I live.” Amin learned Danish quickly. And soon, they started meeting every morning to go to school together.
Thus started a kinship that has not lost its sheen to this day. “Already back then, I was curious about how and why he had come, but he really didn’t want to talk about it. This story kind of became a ‘black box’ within him and our friendship,” Jonas continues. And they moved on. They travelled together, weathered heartbreak together and spent every New Year’s Eve together. “But there has always been an elephant in the room.”