Latvian animation ‘Flow’ wins animated feature Academy Award

 It’s Latvian that wins its first Oscar.

Flow, an independently produced animation feature which beat ‘Inside Out 2’ and ‘The Wild Robot’,  from powerhouses Disney and DreamWorks won Academy Award of Best Animated Feature

Directed by Gints Zilbalodis, “Flow” follows a brave cat awash in a world overrun with water, who teams up with a capybara, a lemur, a bird, and a dog to navigate a boat in search of dry land, learning all about trust, courage, and wits on their journey to survive the aquatic planet.“Flow” was made with Blender, a free, open-source graphics software tool using computer generated animation. This production choice highlights the rise of Blender in animated cinema.

“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,” he said, noting that he hoped Flow’s success would “open a lot of doors to independent animation filmmakers around the world”. Zilbalodis said, “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.”