Danish writer-director Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s Flee is a powerful memoir of personal struggle and self-discovery.

The innovative docu mixes hand-drawn animation with archival footage in offering a chronicle of an Afghan man hiding from his past for decades since he was granted political asylum in Copenhagen as a child.

The film originally was slated to premiere at Cannes in 2020 and bowed in the World Documentary Competition at Sundance with the support of Riz Ahmed and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who signed on as executive producers and will voice the lead roles in a forthcoming English-language version.

Flee also presents a queer love story, showing how acceptance of one’s troubled identity helps to find real love.

A product of Russian Jewish refugees family, Rasmussen met Amin Nawabi in high school. Amin had arrived from Afghanistan as a boy and was living in a foster home.

After marrying his partner Kasper, Amin opened up to Rasmussen about his past, revealing facts he had not shared even with his fiancé.