‘Flow’ wins animated feature Academy Award, delivering Latvia its first Oscar

LOS ANGELES (AP) — “Flow,″ a wordless cat parable, won the Oscar for animated feature at Sunday’s 97th Academy Awards. The win gives Latvian filmmaker Gints Zilbalodis his first Academy Award.

“Flow” was made with Blender, a free, open-source graphics software tool using computer generated animation. The result is a dreamy aesthetic paired with a peaceful, yet post-apocalyptic, fable about a black cat, dog, capybara, ring-tailed lemur and secretary bird trying to survive a catastrophic flood. The film has no dialogue and forces viewers to be mesmerized by the unlikely relationship and understanding between the species trying to escape the rising waters.

“I think you can express a lot more without words. Some of these emotions and ideas I couldn’t articulate with words but with music, sound, movement and editing, I can say a lot more,” he said backstage. “Those are my favorite kinds of films and favorite scenes and are very cinematic and transcend cultural boundaries.”

It's only Zilbalodis' second animated film as a director.

"Thank you to my mom and dad. Thank you to my cats and dogs. I’m really, moved by the warm reception our film has had. I hope this will open of doors to independent animation filmmakers around the world," said Zilbalodis. "This is the first time a film from Latvia has ever been nominated. So it really means a lot to us. We are very inspired and we hope to be back soon.”

The film's win was celebrated in Latvia, which released a special stamp commemorating the film in recent days.

“This is a great and historic day for Latvia! And we will all need time to understand what happened, because something big and beautiful occurred!” Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs wrote on X following the win.

Prime Minister Evika Siliņa, in her congratulations on X to the filmmakers, added, “the cat continues to capture the hearts of people worldwide!”

Zilbalodis' unexpected Oscar contender — and now winner — has been welcomed with open arms this award season. The win Sunday adds to an already impressive resume for the new director, which includes a best animated feature win at the Golden Globe Awards and nominations from Critics Choice Awards, Annie Awards and British Academy Film Awards.

The success of the film is shared with producers Matīss Kaža, Ron Dyens and Gregory Zalcman. The Latvian, French and Belgian co-production was also nominated for best international feature film, and is the first Latvian film to be nominated at the Academy Awards.

The film beat another atmospheric story in "The Wild Robot,” as well as “Inside Out 2,” Disney’s highest-grossing movie last year, and Claymation films “Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl” and “Memoir of a Snail.”

Iranian filmmakers Shirin Sohani and Hossein Molayemi also earned their first Academy Award for animated short film for “In the Shadow of the Cypress."

It was the second Iranian animated or live-action short film nominated at the Oscars and the first to win.

“In the Shadow of the Cypress” takes a creative approach to the relationship between a father, an old former captain who is dealing with PTSD, and his daughter.

“It's a very long story and it's not feasible to explain all of it at this moment. We are living on sanctions. Our national currency is devaluing and shrinking every day. The most important thing is the economic crisis,” Molayemi said.

“We have always been interested in making a featured animated movie,” Sohani said on what the pair is working on next.

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