Flow (2024 film)

Flow(Latvian:Straume) is a 2024 Latvian animatedfantasyadventure filmdirected byGints Zilbalodisand written by Zilbalodis and Matīss Kaža. Featuring nodialogue, the film follows a cat, dog,capybara, andring-tailed lemurtrying to survive as the water level slowly rises.
Zilbalodis produced a short film about a cat overcoming its fear of the ocean in 2012. Production of the film started in 2019, and lasted five-and-a-half years. The animation was done using thefree and open-sourcesoftwareBlender. Financial support was given to the production from Belgium, France, Latvia, and the European Union.
Flowdebuted at theUn Certain Regardsection of the2024 Cannes Film Festival, where it received critical praise. It won numerous film and animation awards, including four awards at theAnnecy International Animation Film Festivaland two at theAnnie Awards, and was the first Latvian film to win at theGolden Globe Awardsand to be nominated for theAcademy Awards. TheLatvian National Museum of Artdisplayed the film's Golden Globe Award and has the record for most tickets sold in Latvian history.
A dark greycat wanders through a forest when a pack of dogs arrive by the river to catch fish. When two of the dogs fight over a fish, the cat takes the fish and is immediately chased by the dogs. The cat loses the dogs, but notices a herd of deer stampede before it is caught by an onrushing flood. The cat and the dogs survive the flood and reach higher ground. A yellowLabrador Retrieverfollows the cat to an abandoned cabin decorated with wooden cat sculptures before they both notice the water level rising rapidly and the Labrador joins the other dogs on a boat. After the flood consumes the cabin, the cat climbs atop a giant cat statue until the waters reach the top of the statue's head. As the rising water completely submerges the statue, the cat jumps into an approaching sailboat with acapybaraaboard.
The next morning, as the boat sails through a partially submerged forest, the cat goes overboard while trying to avoid a whitesecretarybird, but it begins to sink underwater. A whale saves it from drowning, but the secretarybird grabs the cat before it frees itself and lands back on the boat. As the water level continues to rise, the capybara invites aring-tailed lemurto hop aboard with its basket of trinkets. Later that day, the three animals land on shore and are joined by the Labrador. The secretarybird from its prior encounter surprises the cat by bringing it a fish. However, the lemur and Labrador inadvertently tumble down a hill with the cat, and encounter a flock of secretarybirds that show hostility toward them (having invaded their nesting area), causing the cat to run away before the flock corners it. The secretarybird that first encountered the cat pleads with the leader to spare its life, only to lose in a duel and have its wing injured before the flock abandons it. Having lost some of its ability to fly, the secretarybird joins the crew, and the cat feeling safer in its presence.
The crew arrives at a half-submerged city, set near the base of massive stone pillars. After learning from the capybara, the cat improves its ability to swim to catch fish on its own and feed the rest of the crew. Later, the crew sees the other dogs stranded in a bell tower. The secretarybird initially refuses to head for the dogs, but upon the cat giving its approval, the secretarybird begrudgingly lets the capybara take control of the boat and rescue the dogs. As the boat sails through the stone pillars during a heavy storm, the secretarybird leaves, having regained its ability to fly. The cat once again falls overboard, but it swims ashore and climbs to the top of one of the pillars, where it meets up with the secretarybird, standing amidst alabyrinth. They are both suddenly lifted up in the air by a bright light above them, but the cat is released back on the ground while the secretarybird ascends toward the light, and disappears.
The cat tries to swim back to the boat, but it is too far. However, it finds aglass floatand uses it to stay afloat. Suddenly, the water level rapidly drops as suddenly as it had earlier risen. After much time roaming through the forest, the cat is reunited with the lemur and is led to the boat hanging on a tree. The dogs jump off the boat, but just as the capybara is about to exit, the tree begins to give in to the weight of the boat. The cat passes the boat's rope to the lemur and dogs, who work together to pull the boat toward them, but the dogs abandon the Labrador and its friends when a rabbit passes by them. The capybara and the cat manage to jump off before the boat and the tree fall off the cliff. Just as the crew celebrates, another deer stampede appears. The cat follows the stampede before seeing the whale beached in the forest. The cat comforts the whale before the capybara, Labrador, and lemur reunite with the cat and they look at their reflection in a puddle of water.
In a post-credits sequence, the whale is seen surfacing on the ocean.
In 2012, Zilbalodis producedAqua, a short film about a cat overcoming its fear of the ocean. The premise ofAquaserved as the basis forFlow.Zilbalodis usedMayato animate his previous works up to his 2019 filmAway. That year, he switched toBlenderbecause of the real-time renderer EEVEE.
Production started in 2019, and it took Zilbalodis and his production team five-and-a-half years to completeFlow.The film features no dialogue and Zilbalodis stated that he was inspired byJacques Tati, as well as the anime seriesFuture Boy Conan.Nostoryboardswere used and Zilbalodis instead placed the animals into the scene and "explore them with the camera".There are nodeleted scenesfrom the film.Zilbalodis based the cat and the dog on his real-life pets, while the capybara, ring-tailed lemur, and secretarybird were studied from zoos. The whale was originally supposed to be based on a real whale, but it was redesigned to look more mythical.
Take Five[fr]andSacrebleu Productions[fr]joined the production in 2022, and worked on character animation and sound.WhileFlowwas still in development materials from the film were presented at the 2022 Cartoon Movie forum inBordeaux.The film was produced with financial support from the National Film Centre of Latvia, the State Culture Capital Foundation of Latvia, theCentre national du cinéma et de l'image animée,ARTE France,Eurimages,RTBF, and the Belgian Tax Shelter. Animation for the film was completed in France and Belgium.It was animated usingBlender.
Seven hours of music was composed by Zilbalodis and 50 minutes of it was used in the film.Sound designer Gurwal Coïc-Gallas used actual animal sounds for each character depicted in the film; the capybara was the only character to not use sounds from its real-world counterpart. As actual capybara sounds were too high-pitched and unpleasant, Coïc-Gallas used the sounds of a baby camel instead.
The film's soundtrack was composed by Zilbalodis and Rihards Zaļupe, and was released onstreaming mediaplatforms byMilan Recordson 1 November 2024.
A board game based on the film was released in January 2025.
Flowwas selected to premiere in theUn Certain Regardsection of the2024 Cannes Film Festivalon 22 May 2024. It was the first Latvian film shown in that section sinceThe Shoein 1998.It was shown at the2024 Annecy International Animation Film Festival, where it was awarded the Jury Award, the Audience Award, and the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution in the Feature Film category.Flowwas submitted to the 2024Ottawa International Animation Festival, where it received the Grand Prize for Feature Animation.The film was also screened at the2024 Toronto International Film Festivaland2024 Vancouver International Film Festival.The film was invited to 'Open Cinema' at the29th Busan International Film Festivaland was screened at the outdoor theater in October 2024.Flowwas screened in competition at the 2024Melbourne International Film Festival, where it won the Special Jury Award.
Flowpremiered at theSplendid Palace[lv]cinema inRiga, Latvia, on 28 August 2024 and was released nationwide the following day by Baltic Content Media.UFO Distribution released the film theatrically in France on 30 October 2024.It was given a limited release in the United States byJanus Filmsand Sideshow in New York and Los Angeles on 22 November 2024, before being released to 200 theatres on 6 December.The film was released in Belgium on 15 January 2025 by Le Parc Distribution.Madman Entertainmentis set to release the film theatrically in Australia on 20 March 2025.It opened in 800 theatres in Mexico on 1 January 2025.
In the U.S.,Flowwill be released in4KBlu-raybyThe Criterion Collectionin 2025.
Since its release in Latvia,Flowhas become the most-viewed theatrical film in Latvian history.Over 255,000 tickets were sold in Latvia,overtakingBlizzard of Soulsto become the most attended film in the country's history.Flowalso became Janus Films' highest-grossing film in the U.S. withUS$4 million in ticket sales, surpassing the domestic haul ofDrive My Car(2021).
As of February 2025,Flowhas grossed overUS$20 million at the global box office.
On thereview aggregatorwebsiteRotten Tomatoes, 97% of 123 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.5/10. The website's consensus reads: "Thanks to its innovative animation and mature themes, going with thisFlowproves irresistible."Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 86 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
Writing forThe New York Times, Calum Marsh noted that "the animals act like real animals, not like cartoons or humans, and that restraint gives their adventure an authenticity that, in moments of both delight and peril, makes the emotion that much more powerful."Jake Coyle of theAssociated PresscalledFlowthe best animated film of 2024, writing that the "computer generated animation adds to its dreamy, curiously real surrealism."
Christian Blauvelt, writing forIndieWire, gaveFlowan A rating and praised it as "brimming with sentiment but not sentimentality" and compared its limited dialogue and non-anthropomorphized animals toSpirit: Stallion of the Cimarron.
Due to the film's popularity in Latvia, a statue of the cat fromFlowwas installed inRiga. It was initially installed outside of theFreedom Monument, and is planned to be moved to the Town Hall Square in April 2025.Zilbalodis was honored as "Riga Citizen of the Year" in 2024.
Flowis the first Latvian production nominated for an Academy Award and first to win a Golden Globe. The film's Golden Globe award was featured at theLatvian National Museum of Artfor one week.