2024 has brought us a delightful new animation from the Republic of Latvia titled Flow. The story centers around a black cat who finds itself on a boat with other animals following the loss of their home. Among the group are a lemur, a dog, a large bird, a capybara, and other creatures. The film shares a similar ambiance with the popular video game Stray, where a cat takes on an exploration adventure akin to the black cat. Notably, there is no human dialogue or audible words in the film, aside from animal noises, adding to its charm.
Latvia
Latvia is a highly developed country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe, officially called the Republic of Latvia, and is one of the three Baltic States, along with Estonia and Lithuania. The country shares borders with Russia, Belarus, and Sweden. It has a high-income, advanced economy, and is a member of many international unions and organizations.
Before receiving the English name Flow, the film was originally titled Straume in Latvian. It was selected as the country’s entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the 97th Academy Awards, one of the many contests at the Oscars that provides a lot of publicity simply for being nominated.
The Animation Film Flow
The film was produced by a dedicated small team, written by Zilbalodis and Matīss Kaža, and directed by Gints Zilbalodis. It had four producers, and has background music made by the director and Rihards Zalupe. Three esteemed production companies, Dream Well Studio, Sacreblue Productions, and Take Five, collaborated on this cinematic endeavor. The movie boasts a runtime of eighty-five minutes and premiered on May 22 at Cannes, followed by a release in France on October 30.
Flow, or Straume, was created and rendered by a small team, using the EEVEE engine in Blender. Just from a trailer searched on YouTube, the camera angles make it appear as a real footage documentary instead of only animation. Not much of a surprise since it has the same amazing quality as Stray, a video game made in 2022, featuring an orange cat, and set in a more futuristic dystopia. It’s similar in premise, but unlike Straume, which fits more with the past or at least in an environment away from technology and with natural disasters.
The premise is simple but endearing and new compared to all the other films that haven’t been so entertaining or compelling. A little black cat is stuck in a flood that has seemed to destroy a lot of homes around the world, before then getting on a boat and realizing other animals are on it as well. To survive on the only piece of transportation there is, in a world where the water level is high, they have to learn to work together. The animation also shows that the animators and writers knew enough about animal movements and personalities, especially cats.
The Oscars
While the film has already won several awards ever since its release, such as the Jury Award and the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution in the Feature Film category for example, these recognitions have only just begun as the film starts to spread more internationally. It now reaches the Oscars where viewers in the U.S. can now learn more about this foreign film.
This Academy Awards ceremony first began on May 16, 1929, presented at a private dinner function at The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Its first audience was only 270 people, which was and still is a lot of people when you picture it. The name “Oscar” is from the Italian language and is generically used as a name for the awards regardless of the category, as evidenced by the trophies known as the Oscar Statuettes. It’s not completely known why the trophies or awards are called Oscars.
Popularly known for their award ceremonies and referenced a lot in media, The Oscars is the Academy Awards of Merit, which helps the general public to recognize great talents with their award ceremonies, specifically the artistic and technical efforts in the film industry. Since The Oscars are so famous as the most prestigious awards one could get in the film industry, Straume can get more recognition in the world since the Oscars garners so much attention.
Vote For Flow by Latvia
Straume, or Flow, is a simple and compelling adventure movie, with a setting and characters that are like a breath of fresh air compared to all other media. Even the trailers found on YouTube can evoke a feeling of excitement and wonder, while also adding some childlike curiosity. There aren’t any clear motives, for nothing in the film is clear, unlike other shows nowadays that make everything flashy and trendy. The most obvious information about Flow it is that it has been nominated for the 97th Oscar Awards, and you should watch it.
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