Gints Zilbalodis, Matiss Kaza, Ron Dyens and Gregory Zalcman pose with the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film for Flow in the Oscars photo room at the 97th Academy Awards in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, March 2, 2025.
Credit: Reuters Photo
Los Angeles: The independent film Flow won the best animated feature film Oscar on Sunday, securing the first Academy Award for Latvia and its Latvian director Gints Zilbalodis.
Flow follows a cat that finds refuge on a boat along with other animals that join together after a flood destroys their homes.
The movie stood out in 2024, having been rendered on a free and open-source software platform called Blender and having no dialogue.
Flow rode a tidal wave into the Oscar race after big studio films like Inside Out 2, Moana 2 and The Wild Robot, which all had higher box office numbers, lost the Golden Globe to the small independent film.
The Flow team also transformed its smaller budget into a nominee for the best international film Oscar, achieving rare recognition for an animated film in two major categories and making history with the first Oscar nominations for the Northern European country ever.