Nominated for the Oscars for Best International Feature, Best Animated Feature and Best Documentary, Flee documents the harrowing journey of the pseudonymous Amin Nawabi, who travelled as a child refugee from Afghanistan to Denmark, where he now lives with his fiancé. Harbouring a painful secret ready to be revealed after 20 years, Amin’s story, told through animation to director Jonas Poher Rasmussen, is one of deep emotion, vivid memory, and ultimately uplifting celebration despite all odds. You can watch Flee on Amazon.
Best documentaries to watch on Disney+:
**Light & Magic **
If it’s a cheat to include a documentary series here, so be it—if you’re one of the untold millions who’ve thrilled to the Star Wars saga from A New Hope to Andor, or any of the countless special-effects-driven films that followed in the wake of George Lucas’ genre-redefining saga, this doc about the pioneering special-effects house Industrial Light and Magic is essential viewing. And even if you’re not a Star Wars head, the series is still a warm and engaging celebration of human creativity, and an era when a bunch of shaggy Bay Area hippies got together and reinvented cinema by building spaceships out of Styrofoam and old kit-model parts. The first season, directed by Star Wars legend Lawrence Kasdan, ends with Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park and the dawn of the CGI era; the newly-released Season Two, directed by Captain America: The First Avenger‘s Joe Johnston, picks up where the original left off, as George Lucas returns to ILM to make the Star Wars prequels and reinvent the wheel yet again. You can watch Light and Magic on Disney+.
Howard
When it was announced that Disney+ would be removing some of its output from its streaming service, one of the films people were most incensed about losing was Howard, the story of Howard Ashman, a songwriter responsible for songs in Little Shop of Horrors, The Little Mermaid and Aladdin. Considered one of the pioneers of the Disney musical renaissance, Ashman lost a battle with AIDs when he was just 40 years old. Disney has since announced that the film will stay on its platform, so go and watch the history of one of the silent figureheads of cinema as we know it. You can watch Howard on Disney+.
The Beatles: Get Back
Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, and George Harrison in THE BEATLES: GET BACK. Photo courtesy of Apple Corps Ltd.© 2021 Apple Corps Ltd. All Rights Reserved.