The Business
‘Flee’: Using animation to protect an Afghan’s identity
Documentarian Jonas Poher Rasmussen long wanted to tell the story of his friend, who fled Afghanistan as a child and ended up alone in a Danish town. But that friend didn’t want his identity revealed, and there was no footage of his journey.
By Kim Masters • • 28m ListenDocumentarian Jonas Poher Rasmussen long wanted to tell the story of his friend, who fled Afghanistan as a child and ended up alone in a Danish town. But that friend didn’t want his identity revealed, and there was no footage of his journey. The answer was animation — but it wasn’t cheap.
“In the beginning, when we started doing the financing, we had a lot of people saying, ‘Well this sounds wonderful!” Rasmussen says. “Then they saw the budget and they said, ‘Well, this can’t be done.’ So it was really a long time of slowly finding more and more funds.”
Rasmussen tells KCRW about his years-long journey to document his friend’s incredible story. And explains how he hopes his movie “Flee” — Denmark’s submission to the Oscars this year — can offer some perspective on the current refugee crisis in Europe.
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Read the story7 min'Flee’: Director used animation to protect his Afghan friend’s identity
Early in the new animated documentary “Flee,” Danish director Jonas Poher Rasmussen asks his friend Amin to close his eyes and take a deep breath.
Read the story20 min
