Damn These Heels Closing Night Centerpiece.
This film was programmed in partnership with Sundance Institute.
“FLEE had an incredible premiere at the Sundance Film Festival 2021 and we are so proud to have partnered with our longtime friends at Sundance to bring it back for Utah audiences as our closing night film and part of the For The Locals Sundance Institute Community Program.” – Ash Hoyle, Director of Programming, Damn These Heels Film Festival
Flee uses archival footage and a beautiful, animated style to tell this powerful documentary executive produced by Riz Ahmed (The Night Of, Sound of Metal) and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Game of Thrones) and is written and directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen. This hand-drawn illustrated feature is gorgeous and haunting and it is bolstered by a superb score of iconic 80’s hits. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize for International Documentary Competition at Sundance Film Festival in 2021, this harrowing tale is heartbreaking, empowering, and a reminder of the empathy and action required from all of us to end wars, and support asylum seekers, and immigrant storytelling.
Think animation is not for you? Think again! This remarkable documentary tells the terrifying and true story of Amin, a refugee who recounts for the first time his brave escape of war torn Kabul and his concealed past. He is a gay Afghan whose life and family is torn apart and scattered across Europe by war. Compelled by fear to keep his story veiled, finally safe in Denmark, Amin meets up with a high school friend to tell his story: of how a young boy in Kabul with a crush on action star Jean-Claude Van Damme turns into a man fleeing his country, an arranged marriage, and certain death. This film renders his journey to self-acceptance and defies genre with an unconventional queer love story.
– Jade Velazquez, Damn These Heels programming committee member
