Sundance-Winning Doc ‘Flee’ Will Open In US Theaters On December 3

Flee, the much-hyped animated refugee documentary, has a North American release date: Neon and Participant will release it in theaters on December 3.

Directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Flee is based on the testimony of Amin (a pseudonym), who fled Afghanistan as a child and is now living in Denmark as an openly gay man. The film, a European co-production, interweaves limited animation and archive footage to tell his tale of trauma and secrecy.

Flee has been a wild success on the festival circuit, earning an official selection at last year’s cancelled Cannes. Premiering at Sundance, it won the festival’s world cinema grand jury prize, then added two awards at Annecy — including the top feature prize — to its haul.

We recently identified it as a contender for next year’s Oscar. A December 3 release paves the way for qualification for the award. Its hopes will be bolstered by the presence of two star executive producers: actors Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal) and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Black Hawk Down), who also voice characters in the English dub.

Monica Hellström and two-time Oscar nominee Signe Byrge Sørensen produced the doc via Final Cut for Real, and the co-producers are animation studio Sun Creature (Denmark), Vivement Lundi! (France), Mostfilm (Sweden), Mer Film (Norway), Arte (France), and Vpro (Netherlands).