Flee

Amin steps back into his own history, not as a single figure but as a collage of places, people, and fragile moments. He was a child who fled a war torn homeland, a displacement that shaped who he would become in cities far from home. The telling unfolds mostly through animation, a strategy that keeps his face private while letting memories breathe in color and motion. We witness dusty streets, crowded camps, and quiet rooms as the film traces how years of being uprooted accumulate into a sense of self. In the margins, a secret from twenty years ago disturbs the frame, quietly guiding every memory that appears. Time shifts between ages, letting memory accumulate.

Directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Flee is a hybrid documentary that blends interviews with expressive animation to tell Amin Nawabi's true story as a former Afghan refugee. The film uses Amin's testimony and input from collaborators while keeping him veiled.

The film earned critical acclaim and secured an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature, signaling a rare fusion of personal memoir and formal innovation. It was praised for its restrained honesty, architectural storytelling, and the way animation protects identity while revealing truth. Its recognition sparked conversations about safe documentary form.

Flee expanded conversations around refugee experiences and the challenges of coming out under constant threat. Its animation technique, which conceals Amin's face while rendering intimate moments, became a reference point for personal documentaries. Viewers and critics praised its humane, restrained approach. The film helped expand ideas about documentary ethics globally.

Critical responses highlight the film's balance of memory and honesty, its portrayal of resilience, and the choices behind telling a sensitive life story. The film probes how secrecy reshapes relationships and how belonging can be renegotiated across borders. It sparked discussions about memory, trauma, and the ethics of revealing stories.