After Oscar nominee Flee, 12 great animated documentary films to watch, from Waltz with Bashir to Tower and Nuts!
- Flee was nominated for best international feature, best animated feature and best documentary feature at the 2022 Academy Awards
- Here are some of the world’s best animated documentaries, from Victory Through Air Power from 1943 to 2020’s My Favorite War
Earlier this year, Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s animated documentary Flee made history at the Academy Awards, when it achieved the unprecedented feat of being nominated for best international feature, best animated feature and best documentary feature.
For many years, animation was simply too expensive to risk on something as financially risky as a documentary. But in recent years, many of those obstacles have been removed. Digital technology has made filmmaking, and animation in particular, far more affordable.
Simultaneously, the increasing prevalence of streaming platforms have provided far more distribution options for documentary feature films.
Animation also provides a cheaper, and in some cases, safer way of telling stories set in far-flung or war-torn regions of the world, and in the case of Flee, providing a veneer of anonymity for those unwilling to appear on camera.
As Flee finally arrives in Hong Kong cinemas this week, we look back at some of the best animated documentary feature films from around the world.
