On Sunday, March 2, the “Oscars” ceremony will take place in Hollywood, and animation feature "Flow" by Gints Zilbalodis is the first Latvian film ever to be nominated for the award, moreover, in two categories - "Best Animated Feature Film" and “Best International Feature Film”. Since its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2024, “Flow” has become an unprecedented phenomenon in the history of Latvian cinema.
The Academy Awards traditionally takes place in Los Angeles, California, since 2001 - at the Dolby Theatre. The ceremony will begin at 4 PM on Sunday afternoon (at 2 AM on March 3 Latvian time). In the Baltic States, the ceremony will be broadcast by Filmzone, which is available in Latvia on TET TV+, LMT Viedtelevīzija and Go3 streaming platforms.
In person, the Academy Awards ceremony will be attended by the director Gints Zilbalodis, producer Matīss Kaža and artistic team of the film, Minister for Culture Agnese Lāce and the director of the National Film Centre of Latvia Dita Rietuma. Media accreditations have been granted to the Latvian Television (LTV) and Latvian Radio (LR).
Latvia's official application for the Academy Awards in the category "International Feature Film" in 2024 was submitted for the 16th time, regularly Latvian films have been proposed since 2010. This is the first time Latvian film has ever been shortlisted (Flow was the only animation film among 15 films shortlisted for the “Best International Feature Film” category). Flow earned the Oscar nomination amongst the films from Brazil, Denmark, Germany and France.
In the category “Best Animated Feature Film”, a shortlist does not exist, but in the prediction lists, intensively compiled in global media, especially U.S. media, Flow appeared more and more. A positive result was also promised by the rapidly growing number of international awards and nominations. In the category "Best Animated Feature Film" the competitors for the Latvian film Flow are Hollywood's big-budget projects - Inside Out 2 and The Wild Robot, the Australian film Memoir of a Snail and Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, the production of the legendary British studio Aardman Animations.
All nominations for the Oscars – https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2025
The Academy Awards ceremony is the final phase to the "awards season" of the global film industry and Flow has been a part of it with an astonishing success. Starting with its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, where it was selected for Uncertain regard section, the film gained incredible success at film festivals around the world and has so far won more than 70 international awards. Firstly, Flow won four awards at the world's most prestigious animation film festival Annecy in France in June 2024, and since then the Latvian film has conquered many hights. The most important of these are - the European Film Academy Award for “Best Animated Feature”, the Golden Globe, two Annie Awards, more than 10 awards from various U.S. film critics' associations, and, on a global scale, nominations for several prestigious awards such as BAFTA.
It is important to note that the success of Flow at the festivals and various industry awards has been accompanied by huge commercial success around the world. Immediately after its world premiere at Cannes, the American distribution rights for Flow were acquired by Sideshow and Janus Films, and film soon became the most successful film in their catalogue; it is currently playing or is scheduled to play in theatres in 45 countries worldwide. The most impressive triumph of film’s theatrical release was in Mexico, where the film was watched by more than a million people in the first two weeks of release. Variety has also described the worldwide box office success of Flow, highlighting that the film's budget is one of the lowest in the animation industry in many years - just 3,5 million Euros (the film is a co-production between Latvia, France and Belgium). In Europe, the film is distributed by the French company Charades with the support of the Creative Europe MEDIA fund.
In Latvia, Flow also is unprecedented phenomenon - since its national premiere in August 2024, the film has been in cinema repertoire for 26 weeks and has topped the list of the most watched films. In Latvia, the number of cinema-goers for Flow has exceeded 320 000, surpassing any film screened in Latvia in the last 30 years, and the film's popularity is manifesting itself in a variety of ways. For example, in January, over a ten-day period more than 15 600 people went to see the Golden Globe Award on public display at the Latvian National Museum of Art; in mid-February, the film received the Latvian public media award “Kilograms kultūras” (voted for by the public); and since the beginning of February, the film's main character, the dark grey Cat, has been sitting on the letters RIGA in front of the Freedom Monument in the heart of the Latvian capital city.
The film was also recognized at the National Film Awards Lielais Kristaps - receiving seven nominations and six awards - Best Animation Film, Best Screenplay, Best Animation Director, Best Sound Director and Best Composer, as well - the Audience Award.
The international success of Flow has also brought recognition and support from the Latvian government - for the films team and the Latvian film industry as a whole. Dream Well Studio has been awarded 300 000 Euros by the Cabinet of Ministers for winning the Golden Globe, 150 000 Euros have been allocated for the international marketing of Latvian animation, and another 1 000 000 Euros have been allocated to the film industry as additional funding for new animation projects in 2025. The government, appreciating the overall potential of the Latvian film industry, which is limited by the relatively low level of funding, has responded to the initiative by the National Film Centre of Latvia and the Ministry of Culture and contributed 120 000 Euros to the European fund EURIMAGES for the co-production programme for the series – where also Latvian projects will now be able to apply for funding.
The film is financially supported by the National Film Centre of Latvia, the State Culture Capital Foundation, EURIMAGES, the French National Film Centre, television Arte and Canal+, as well as various regional funds and support programmes in France and Belgium. The film was created as a co-production of three countries - Dream Well Studio (Latvia), Sacrebleu Productions (France) and Take Five (Belgium).
More information: Matīss Kaža | producer | matiss@dreamwell.lv