FlowThe cat -free cat that became the first Latvian film to win the Academy Award has encouraged a sleepless night for many Latvians who celebrated historical recognition.
The film was won by an Oscar for animated features at the 97th Academy of Los Angeles, which was aired starting on Monday at 2am for Latvians who watched from their homes. Made with an open code software and a budget of less than $ 4 million, Flow Ripped up the main prize in upset due to major budget films such as Dreamworks animations’ Wild robotand Disney and Pixar’s Box Office Smash, Inside 2.
After thanking his cats and dogs – one of which served as a character model in the film – during his accepting speech, filmmaker Gints Zilbalodis admitted the important nature of his victory.
“I’m really touched by a warm reception that our movie had. I hope this will open the door to independent animation filmmakers around the world,” Zilbalodis told Los Angeles to the audience. “This is the first time a movie from Latvia has ever been nominated. So that really means a lot to us.”
The film-torn “Straume” in Latvian-is accepted for the use of a blender, a free open code animation software that can be launched on most laptops, to create a feature film. The result is a dreamy aesthetics paired with a quiet, yet post -apocalyptic, fairy tale about black cat, dog, Kapybari, lemur with a ring tail and secretary Bird trying to survive a catastrophic flood.
The film has no dialogue, using their visual views and only music to make viewers in a unlikely likely relationship and understanding between species trying to escape from water waters.
“I think you can express a lot more without a word. Some of these emotions and ideas I couldn’t articulate in words, but with music, sound, movement and editing, I can say a lot more,” Zilbalodis said in Backstage. “These are my favorite types of movies and favorite scenes, and are very cinema and transcend cultural borders.”
‘Great and Historic Day for Latvia’
The Oscar Statue is the latest source of pride in his hometown for the Baltic Land of nearly 1.9 million people who accepted Flow In the crowd from the world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2024. The Latvia National Film Center, which was one of the film supports, called the movie “An unprecedented phenomenon in the history of Latvian cinema”.
More than 320,000 people watched him in cinemas across Latvia, a audience greater than any other film shown in the country in the last 30 years, the center is said. More than 15,000 people visited the Latvian National Museum of Arts over 10 days to see the Golden Globe Globe Award – also the first Latvia – on a public view in January.
In order to pay tribute to the movie, Latvia posted a special brand in marking, a few days before the Oscar ceremony.
In the center of the capital, the artistic installation set in February still writes “Rig” FlowThe central black cat is located at the top “A” to ensure equally Latvians and tourists – including Latvian President Edgar Rinkēvic, who Took off the photo With him on Monday – he can pose with a famous cat.
“This is a great and historic day for Latvia!” Rinkēvičs wrote in a post on X celebrating victory. “And we all take time to understand what happened, because something big and beautiful happened!”
Prime Minister Evil Siliņ, in her congratulations on the X filmmaker, added: “The cat continues to capture the hearts of people around the world!”
Flow Is only Zilbalodis’s second animated film as a director. Was the only animator on his first feature film, 2019 Far.
The victory on Sunday adds the already impressive CV for the director, which includes the best animated list of Golden Globus awards, the main prize at the Ottawa International Animation Festival and the Critics Choice Awards, Annie Awards and British Academy Film Awards.
The success of the film is shared with the producers of Matīss Kazom, Ron Dyens and Gregory Zalcman. Latvian, France and Belgian co -production is also nominated for the best international feature film at the Academic Awardwith.
Tim celebrated his victory in style after the ceremony. In the Instagram post, Zilbalodis shared Photos of yourself Un-out, still thrown out in a suit, a burger in his hand and his reward sitting on the table.
It was a night to make history for more than one international production I’m still here achieved the best international feature film, became the first Brazilian movie to ever win in that category.
