Now that Pride Month has wrapped up, corporate giants have shed their yassified rainbow exteriors and reverted to their standard-issue selves. For them, Pride has always been another trend to exploit for a quick buck, a fleeting act of tokenism. So, in the spirit of authenticity, I thought it’d be fitting to recommend some truly unforgettable queer films that seemed to have been forgotten somewhere along the line, on the cusp of glory.
In many ways, Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s Flee feels as if Persepolis and Waltz with Bashir had a brilliant, queer baby. It’s a one-of-a kind animated documentary that chronicles the harrowing journey of Amin Nawabi, a pseudonym for a gay Afghan refugee. What really made Flee so special was the animation’s ability to release Amin of his inhibitions and allow him to stay true to his shifting identities, in his own words.
The film made history as the first to be nominated under Animated Feature, Documentary Feature as well as the International Feature categories. A still from Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s ‘Flee’ It’s the most curious thing how memory plays such an integral part in shaping one’s identity; the same idea won Japanese auteur Hirokazu Kore-eda the Queer Palme at Cannes last year for his psychological thriller, Monster . The film revolves around a mother who notices her son Minato’s disturbing behaviour and learns he claims to have been hit by his teacher.
A tale of misperceptions and misunderstandings, all’s not what it se.
