‘Flee’ Director Jonas Poher Rasmussen on animating memory

In this VIFF podcast episode, we’re featuring a special talk from the 2021 Vancouver International Film Festival with Jonas Poher Rasmussen, the writer & director behind the Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winning film, Flee.Blurring the line between documentary and narrative filmmaking styles, Flee tells the personal story of pseudonymous Amin Nawabi (a longtime friend of Rasmussen’s) and his harrowing journey as a child refugee from Afghanistan.Using a blend of animation and archival footage as both an aesthetic choice and an ethical necessity (to hide Amin’s true identity), the film is an illuminating and heartrending true story about the importance of personal freedom in all its meanings.Speaking to Brishkay Ahmed, writer/director of In the Rumbling Belly of Motherland, Rasmussen discusses how he employed a technique he learned when working in radio to elicit descriptive memories from Amin, his unique editing process and how Riz Ahmed came on board as a co–executive producer.This conversation was recorded on October 6, 2021. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––This podcast is brought to you by the Vancouver International Film Festival.Presented on the traditional and unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) nations.The Greater Vancouver International Film Festival Society is a not-for-profit cultural organization that operates the internationally acclaimed Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF), the year-round programming of the theatres at the VIFF Centre and the online streaming platform, VIFF Connect. See what's playing now.As a nonprofit cultural organization, VIFF relies on community support to help make everything we do possible.  You can show your love of cinema by making a tax-deductible gift to VIFF. goviff.org/donateThis podcast is brought to you by the Vancouver International Film Festival.Presented on the traditional and unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) nations.