Wednesday night, Gints Zilbalodis, director of the animated feature Flow, and the film crew returned from the prestigious Academy Awards ceremony in the United States. Several thousand people gathered at the Freedom Monument to congratulate the crew of the Flow on winning the Oscars.
“Thank you to all the viewers, the Latvian National Cultural Centre, our entire crew and everyone who watched the film. Thank you cats and dogs, capybaras, birds and lemurs. I encourage us to be on this wave, stay there and seize this opportunity! We must keep going, and I hope we return to these stages soon,” said the film’s director Gints Zilbalodis at the ceremony.
The crew of the Flow was greeted by film supporters, fans of the team, families, and media at the Freedom Monument after returning from the prestigious Oscars award ceremony in the U.S. The festive atmosphere at the event was provided by the youth choir Kamēr, Intars Busulis and the Abonementa Orchestra. Actor Igors Šelegovskis hosted the event.
“The success of Flow is not just a success on a Latvian scale; it is a great success for all independent animation. The Flow is the first independent animated feature not made by a major Hollywood or Japanese studio to win this award. I hope that this will inspire many young people in Latvia and also around the world to start their journey towards great cinema. Everything is possible, really, and the only limitations are those we have come up with, and if we can let go of this idea of limitations, then there is much that can be achieved,” emphasised the film producer Matīss Kaža.
Riga Municipality thanks every visitor who came to the festive welcoming event yesterday.
The director's Gints Zilbalodis animated film Flow is the first Latvian film work ever nominated for the U.S. Academy Awards and won Oscars in the category Best Animated Feature Film. The Oscar Awards ceremony was a grand final for the world film industry’s “Awards season”, in which Latvian film Flow has received more than 70 international awards so far on almost every continent. The most significant of these are the European Academy Award for best full-length animation film of the year, the Golden Globe of the U.S. film industry, the two Annie Awards awarded by the International Association of Animation in Hollywood, the awards of more than 10 different U.S. film critics’ associations, the French national film award Caesar and others. Latvian film Flow is currently being shown or planned to be shown in cinemas in 45 countries, more than 330,000 cinema viewers have already visited it in Latvia, and more than 3 million viewers worldwide.
Information was prepared by: Sindija Grāvere, Acting Head of the External Communications Department of Riga City Council Communication Administration, email: sindija.gravere@riga.lv
