2025 Oscars: Latvia Selects Annecy Award-winning ‘Flow’ for International Feature Oscar Submission

Latvia has selected Gints Zilbalodis’ award-winning animated film Flow as the country’s official entry for the 97th Academy Awards for the Best International Feature Oscar.

The film received high praise from Guillermo Del Toro following its world premiere at Cannes in Un Certain Regard and went on to win four prizes at Annecy in June, including the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution, the Audience Award and the Jury Award, as well as the special prize for best original music, and will screen at the Toronto International Film Festival next month.

The film, written and directed by Zilbalodis, tell a story through realms natural and mystical as it follows a courageous cat after his home is devastated by a great flood. Teaming up with a capybara, a lemur, a bird, and a dog to navigate a boat in search of dry land, they must rely on trust, courage, and wits to survive the perils of a newly aquatic planet. Flow is co-written by Matiss Kaza, with a score by Zilbalodis and Rihards Zalupe It is produced by Zilbalodis and Kaza, alongside Ron Dyens and Gregory Zalcman.

The Latvian Selection Committee, a commission of film industry experts, established by the National Film Center. It is the country’s 16th official Oscar submission although they have yet to be nominated. Sideshow and Janus Films acquired North American rights to the film out of Cannes and will release the film theatrically later this year.

The updated list of official submissions for the International Feature Film Oscar can be found here.