Posted on Mar 21, 2022
'Flee' creators on being a refugee: It's not an identity, it's a circumstance of life
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https://www.npr.org/2022/03/21/ [login to see] /flee-film-documentary-oscars-sundancefilmfestival-refugees
The film Flee opens with a question: "What does the word 'home' mean to you?"
Amin Nawabi's childhood home was Kabul, Afghanistan. It was a busy and dynamic city where he could be "a little different."
In the opening scenes of the film, you see an animated version of the young Nawabi, unafraid of wearing his sister's dress while carelessly running through the streets, blasting music through headphones.
This picture of a charming childhood changed when the mujahideen took over Afghanistan, forcing Nawabi to run.
The film Flee opens with a question: "What does the word 'home' mean to you?"
Amin Nawabi's childhood home was Kabul, Afghanistan. It was a busy and dynamic city where he could be "a little different."
In the opening scenes of the film, you see an animated version of the young Nawabi, unafraid of wearing his sister's dress while carelessly running through the streets, blasting music through headphones.
This picture of a charming childhood changed when the mujahideen took over Afghanistan, forcing Nawabi to run.
'Flee' creators on being a refugee: It's not an identity, it's a circumstance of life
Posted from npr.org
Movies
Video
Afghanistan
Home
Refugees
Posted 2 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."The documentary has made history as the first film to be nominated for Best Animated Feature, Best Documentary Feature and Best International Feature Film.
It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival last year and was awarded the top Grand Jury Prize for World Cinema in the documentary category.
But before all the acclaim and accolades was Nawabi's desire to simply share his story and bring a sense of humanity to the refugee experience. But it would take him decades to feel comfortable enough to share the circumstances that forced him to flee.
In high school, he would meet Flee director Jonas Poher Rasmussen, and the pair would become close friends.
"Growing up in a very small village with like 500 people in it and then suddenly have someone who was kind of your own age and who stood out, was like, OK, this is interesting," Rasmussen said.
Rasmussen and Nawabi's friendship would grow in their small town in Denmark. Rasmussen would also become one of the few people Nawabi would trust.
It took more than a decade, but Nawabi would become comfortable enough to have his childhood friend make his story into a documentary.
Rasmussen said the film was "a story about the importance of sharing and listening and how the stories that people have within them affect them in every day of their life and how much people can carry around."
Nawabi is carrying a little less around. He says the film has given him a sense of freedom.
"I think it's quite limiting to not be able to disclose intimate information about yourself to your friends," he said. "Now I am able to talk about these things. 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 documentary has made history as the first film to be nominated for Best Animated Feature, Best Documentary Feature and Best International Feature Film.
It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival last year and was awarded the top Grand Jury Prize for World Cinema in the documentary category.
But before all the acclaim and accolades was Nawabi's desire to simply share his story and bring a sense of humanity to the refugee experience. But it would take him decades to feel comfortable enough to share the circumstances that forced him to flee.
In high school, he would meet Flee director Jonas Poher Rasmussen, and the pair would become close friends.
"Growing up in a very small village with like 500 people in it and then suddenly have someone who was kind of your own age and who stood out, was like, OK, this is interesting," Rasmussen said.
Rasmussen and Nawabi's friendship would grow in their small town in Denmark. Rasmussen would also become one of the few people Nawabi would trust.
It took more than a decade, but Nawabi would become comfortable enough to have his childhood friend make his story into a documentary.
Rasmussen said the film was "a story about the importance of sharing and listening and how the stories that people have within them affect them in every day of their life and how much people can carry around."
Nawabi is carrying a little less around. He says the film has given him a sense of freedom.
"I think it's quite limiting to not be able to disclose intimate information about yourself to your friends," he said. "Now I am able to talk about these things. 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."
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