When director Gints Zilbalodis accepted his Oscar last month for his ethereal new animated film Flow, he thanked his parents and his โcats and dogsโ โ fitting, given that the charming cartoon follows a feline and other animals as they survive a huge flood.
Then he added a rallying cry for the industry: โIโm really moved by the warm reception our film has had โฆ and I hope that it will open doors to independent animation filmmakers around the world.โ
Made in Latvia for US$3.7 million (HK$28.8 million), Flow has grossed over 10 times that in ticket sales to date. Perhaps it helps that the dialogue-free fable transcends language barriers, but it is almost impossible to imagine Pixar or DreamWorks creating something this mystical.
Without realising it, Zilbalodis may already have his wish, for 2025 seems to be the year of independent animation.
Flowโs fellow Oscar nominee Memoir of a Snail is a melancholic masterpiece, the Australian-made tale of Grace (voiced by Sarah Snook) and Gilbert (Kodi Smit-McPhee), twins living in 1970s Melbourne who are separated after being orphaned.