Flow by Gints Zilbalodis wins the Oscar
Among the expected glamour-puss excess of the Academy Awards it was Flow by Gints Zilbalodis that proved to be the cat who got the cream, winning best Animated Feature Film.
Flow
Flow is the second feature film by Zilbalodis, whose debut film Away premiered in 2019 to critical success, winning the Contrechamp Award at Annecy Festival. Flow itself won the Jury Award and Audience Award for a Feature Film at Annecy 2024 as well as winning at Ottowa and Manchester Animation Festival. In a tradition started when he won the Golden Globe earlier in the year, Zilbalodis took to Instagram posing at In and Out Burger, in tribute to Paul Giamatti.
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In the Shadow of the Cypress by Shirin Sohani and Hossein Molayemi, another dialogue free animated film, took home the Best Animated Short Film Award. The Iranian short about a tumultuous father and daughter relationship was completed in spite of the challenges Iranian artists find themselves living under, with a devalued currency and punishing economic sanctions. You can read our interview with the directors here
In the Shadow of the Cypress © Barfak Studio
Elsewhere the Denis Villeneuve directed Dune: Part Two won the award for Best Visual Effects.
Whist it is usual for a film like Flow to win big on the festival circuit, the Hollywood award circuit tends to favour the traditional blockbuster. For a small team of Latvians, animating a silent film using free software, far from the Hollywood hills, and winning against a pantheon of large studios, previous Oscar winners, and streamers represents a seismic shift in the status quo. It also offers hope that this award, often neglected by Academy voters, will receive more interest in the future. Flow might be a film about a cat, but in animation terms the 97th academy awards has proven to be the year of the underdog.
Flow is released in UK cinemas March 21st. Read our interview with director Gints Zilbalodis here.