Flee (2021) (with Cristina Formenti)

The acclaimed animated documentary Flee (Jonas Poher Rasmussen, 2021), which tells the story of Amin Nawabi and his journey from from Afghanistan to Denmark as a refugee, is the subject of Episode 103 of the podcast that reflects on the shared ability of animation, fantasy and the documentary format to ‘reveal.’ Joining Chris and Alex for this instalment is Dr Cristina Formenti, Assistant Professor in Film Studies at the University of Udine in Italy, and author of a number of books on animation and documentary, including Il mockumentary: la fiction si maschera da documentario (2013), and her latest book The Classical Animated Documentary and Its Contemporary Evolution (2022). Cristina is also the editor of the volumes Mariangela Melato tra cinema, teatro e televisione (2016) and Valentina Cortese: un’attrice intermediale (2019), while her work has appeared in various national and international journals, such as Studies in Documentary Film, Alphaville, and Horror Studies. She is currently the co-editor of the journal Animation Studies and serves on the Board of the Society for Animation Studies. Listen as they discuss the value of animated reconstruction, fictionalisation, and the authenticating use of live-action footage within Flee’s predominantly animated aesthetic style that potentially ‘corrects’ its cartoonal qualities; the role of memory and the subjectivity of experience; connections between imagination, emotion and trauma; shifts in the animated style of Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s film between raw nightmarish impressionism and heightened visual detail; the ‘fable’ and ‘sober’ as useful ways to categorise the historical trajectory and stylistic approaches of the animated documentary; the experiential effects of subjective narration and the film’s intimate interview style, and what happens when vocal recordings in the documentary have to be falsified; and how Flee offers a narrative of reconciliation that mirrors animation’s own creative combination with certain recognisable documentary conventions. **Fantasy/Animation theme tune composed by Francisca Araujo**