FlowA parable of wordless cats that became the first Latvian film to win an Academy Award, provoked a night without sleep for the scores of letters celebrating the historical recognition.
The film won the Oscar for the Animation of the 97th Sunday Academy in Los Angeles, which was broadcast from 2 am on Monday for the Latvians watching from home. Made with open source software and a budget less than US $ 4 million, Flow won the biggest prize with a hassle for big budget films like Dreamworks Animations’ The wild robotand Disney and Pixar’s Box Office Smash, Inside 2.
After thanking his cats and dogs, one of which served as a model for a character in the film, during his acceptance speech, the filmmaker Gratts Zilbalodis recognized the important nature of his victory.
« I am really excited for the warm reception our film has had. I hope this opens its doors to independent animation filmmakers around the world, » Zilbalodis told the Los Angeles audience. « It’s the first time a Latvian movie has been nominated. So it really means a lot to us. »
The film, called « Strame », in Letona, has been praised for using Blender, free open source animation software that can work on most laptops, to create the feature film. The result is a dream aesthetic combined with a peaceful, but post-apocalyptic, fable on a black cat, a dog, a chief, a rings tail lemur, and a bird secretary trying to survive a catastrophic flood.
The film has no dialogue, using its visuals and music alone to attract spectators to the unlikely relationship and to understand the species that seeks to escape the increasing waters.
« I think it can be expressed much more without words. Some of these emotions and ideas that I could not articulate in words, but with music, sound, movement and editing, I can say much more, » said Zilbalodis Backstage. « These are my favorite types of favorite movies and scenes and are very cinematic and transcend the cultural boundaries. »
« Great Historical Day for Latvia »
The Oscar statuette is the last source of pride in the hometown for the Baltic country of about 1.9 million people who have adopted Flow to Droves since the world premiere of the Cannes Festival of May 2024. The National Film Center of Latvia, which was one of the sponsors of the film, called the film « An unprecedented phenomenon in the history of Latvian cinema ».
According to the center, more than 320,000 people have seen it in Latvian cinemas, an audience greater than any other film projected in the country for the last 30 years. And more than 15,000 people for 10 days visited the Latvian National Art Museum to see the Golden Globe Award for the film, also the first in Latvia, on the public screen in January.
To pay tribute to the film, Latvia launched a special label that commemorated it, days before the Oscars ceremony.
In the center of the capital, an art facility created in February is still described « riga » with FlowThe central black cat was put on top of the « A » to secure the letters and tourists, including President Latvian Edgars Rinkēvičs, which took a picture With him Monday: He can put himself with the famous feline.
« This is a great and historical day for Latvia! » Rinkēvičs wrote in a publication in X celebrating the victory. « And we will all need time to understand what happened, because something big and beautiful took place! »
Prime Minister Evika Siliņa, in congratulating X in the filmmakers, added: « The cat continues to capture the hearts of people around the world! »
Flow It is only the second animated film by Zilbalodis as director. He was the only entertainer of his first feature film, 2019’s Far.
The victory on Sunday adds to an impressive director of the director, which includes a better animated victory at the Golden Globe Awards, the highest prize of the Ottawa International Animation Festival and the Critics’ Awards Nominations, the Annie Awards and the British Academy Film Awards Awards.
The success of the film is shared with producers Matīss Kaža, Ron Dyens and Gregory Zalcman. Co -production Letona, French and Belgian was also nominated for the best international feature film at the Academy Awards.
The team celebrated their style victory after the ceremony. In an Instagram post, Zilbalodis shared Photos of self At an outlet, he was still covered with the dress, a burger in his hand and his prize sitting on the table.
It was a night of history for more than one international production, when I’m still here He scored the best international feature film, became the first Brazilian film to ever won in this category.
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