Flow did not begin as a student film, according to the available accounts of its production. Its path is better understood as a shift in filmmaker Gints Zilbalodis’s working method: from earlier shorts and the independently made feature Away to a collaborative Latvian-French-Belgian production that went on to win the 2025 Academy Award for Animated Feature.
What Flow is—and what “student film” gets wrong
Flow is a 2024, 85-minute, dialogue-free 3D animated feature directed by Latvian filmmaker Gints Zilbalodis. After a catastrophic flood, a cat must share a boat with other animals; the journey becomes a story of survival and learning to coexist. The National Film Centre of Latvia identifies Zilbalodis as an alumnus of Janis Rozentāls Riga Art School and describes his earlier short films, but does not say that Flow began as a student project. The phrase “student film” therefore misstates what the documented story supports: the film developed from the director’s earlier independent work, not from an established student-film origin. (National Film Centre of Latvia; Criterion Channel)
From solo filmmaking to a production team
The independent work before Flow
Zilbalodis’s earlier shorts include Aqua (2012) and Priorities (2014). His first feature, Away (2019), was independently made. The Latvian film-sector guide describes his earlier approach as largely solitary, a contrast that makes Flow’s collaborative production a meaningful change in how he worked—not a simple story of a student project becoming a major release. (National Film Centre of Latvia)
A shared production across three countries
Flow is a Latvian-French-Belgian co-production involving Dream Well Studio, Sacrebleu Productions and Take Five. Its official credits name Zilbalodis as director, writer, editor, cinematographer and co-producer. Matīss Kaža is credited as writer and producer; the producing work was shared with Kaža, Ron Dyens of Sacrebleu Productions and Gregory Zalcman of Take Five. The film was not made by Zilbalodis alone: his many creative roles sat within a production supported by collaborators and partner companies. (Flow official production site; National Film Centre of Latvia)
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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchIn a Festival de Cannes interview, Zilbalodis described the adjustment: “It was a challenge at first, because I hadn’t had any experience of working with a team on a film on a production, so I had to learn the basics very quickly.” His account makes the change in scale concrete: collaborating on a production required him to learn a different set of practical skills. (Festival de Cannes interview)
How the filmmaking choices serve the story
The film uses stylized 3D animation, long takes and flowing camera movement, with no spoken dialogue. Those choices make movement, sound and editing central to how the story communicates: viewers follow the animals through shared spaces and changing danger without relying on conversation to explain their relationships. Zilbalodis told the Associated Press after the Oscars, “I think you can express a lot more without words. Some of these emotions and ideas I couldn’t articulate with words but with music, sound, movement and editing, I can say a lot more.” (National Film Centre of Latvia; Associated Press)
Blender, free and open-source graphics software, was used in producing the computer-generated animation. That is one documented part of the film’s process; it does not mean the software alone accounts for the visual style or that the production was a one-person effort. (Associated Press)
From Cannes premiere to the 2025 Oscars
Flow premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes, then received four awards at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. It went on to win animated feature at both the European Film Awards and the Golden Globes, before taking the Academy Award for Animated Feature at the 97th Oscars in 2025. It was also nominated for International Feature at that ceremony. The result was two Academy Award category recognitions—one win and one nomination—and the first Academy Award win for Latvia. (National Film Centre of Latvia; European Film Academy; Associated Press)
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Where to explore the production further
Criterion’s director-approved physical release includes Flow in 4K UHD and Blu-ray, as well as separate two-disc Blu-ray and DVD editions. The 4K UHD + Blu-ray set includes a feature-length animatic, a new director commentary, interviews with Zilbalodis and Kaža, the making-of documentary Dream Cat, and the shorts Aqua and Priorities. Edition availability and format compatibility depend on the current listing and the viewer’s region. (Criterion Collection edition details)
Quick Recap
Best Value
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