Latvian Film Flow Wins Oscar for Best Animated Feature

Gints Zilbalodis' Flow makes history as Latvia's first Oscar-winning animated feature film.

Latvian director Gints Zilbalodis received the Oscar for Best Animated Feature at the 97th Academy Awards for his silent film “Flow”. It is Zilbalodis' first Academy Award and a historic one, as it is the first-ever Latvian film to be nominated for an Oscar. Flow is a visually engaging, post-apocalyptic story rendered without words and featuring a motley crew of animals—a black cat, dog, capybara, ring-tailed lemur, and secretary bird—that attempt to outrun a flood of catastrophic proportion. The animation was produced utilizing Blender, the free, open-source animation platform, and the film's otherworldly looks are enhanced with forceful music, sound, and motion.

Zilbalodis, himself in his second animated feature film as director, spoke of the conviction that deep emotions and conceptions can be conveyed wordlessly, with visuals to cross linguistic boundaries. The film's success has been warmly celebrated in Latvia, with President Edgars Rinkēvičs calling it "historic" and Prime Minister Evika Siliņa sharing congratulations on X, praising the film's cat character as a global favorite.

Apart from the Oscar victory, Flow has won numerous awards this award season, among them a Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature. Zilbalodis spoke of his appreciation for the kind welcome the film has enjoyed and hopes that the award would create opportunities for independent animators across the globe.

The win of the movie is another impressive achievement for it, being a Best International feature film nomination in its hands along with producers Gregory Zalcman, Ron Dyens, and Matīss Kaža. The victory of Zilbalodis puts Latvian film industry on the map worldwide and creates inspiration for coming generations of movie makers.