May 22, 2024 (Cannes)
August 29, 2024 (Latvia)
October 30, 2024 (France)
Flow (Latvian: Straume) is a 2024 animated adventure film directed by Gints Zilbalodis, written and produced by Zilbalodis and Matīss Kaža. A Latvian, French, and Belgian co-production, it features no dialogue and follows a cat trying to survive along with other animals in a seemingly post-apocalyptic world as the water level dramatically rises.
Production of Flow started in 2019, and lasted five-and-a-half years with the animation done using the free and open-source software Blender. Jacques Tati and Future Boy Conan served as inspirations for the film. No storyboards were used for the production and there are no deleted scenes.
Flow premiered on 22 May 2024 at the Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section, and was released in Latvian theaters on 29 August. It received critical acclaim and broke several Latvian box-office records, becoming the most-viewed film in Latvian theaters in history. At the 97th Academy Awards, Flow won Best Animated Feature and was also nominated for Best International Feature Film as Latvia's submission, becoming the first film from Latvia to receive a nomination and win at the Academy Awards, and also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film; both statuettes were later put on display at the Latvian National Museum of Art.
Storyline
A dark grey cat wanders through a forest. A pack of dogs arrives by the river and chases the cat after it takes a fish the dogs fought over. The cat escapes, but notices a deer stampede before it is caught in a massive flood. The cat and dogs survive the flood and reach higher ground. A yellow Labrador Retriever from the pack follows the cat to its abandoned cabin with wooden cat sculptures. They both notice the water level rising, and the Labrador joins the other dogs on a passing boat. As 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 a capybara aboard.
The next morning, as the boat sails through a partially submerged forest, the cat goes overboard and begins to sink while trying to avoid a white secretarybird. A mutated whale saves it from drowning, but another secretarybird seizes it and, during the flight, the cat catches a glimpse of massive stone pillars in the distance. The secretarybird then releases the cat over the boat. Soon after, as the water level continues to rise, the capybara invites a ring-tailed lemur to hop aboard with its basket of trinkets, including a mirror. While sleeping, the cat has a nightmare where it is being circled by a herd of deer, and looks to the massive stone pillars, before being swept away by a flood. Later that day, the three animals land on shore and are joined by the Labrador. They encounter a flock of secretarybirds that show hostility toward them, causing the cat to run away. The younger 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. With a diminished ability to fly, the secretarybird joins the crew.
The crew arrives at a half-submerged city near the base of the massive stone pillars. The Labrador takes the lemur's glass float to the secretarybird, to play fetch, but the secretarybird kicks it off the boat. The lemur gets angry and starts fighting with the secretarybird, who is steering the boat. Due to loss of control, the boat's mast is caught in a tree. The whale breaches out of the water, and the waves generated help free the boat from the tree. After learning from the capybara, the cat improves its ability to swim and catch fish. Later, the crew sees the other dogs stranded in a bell tower, and rescue them.
As the boat sails through the huge stone pillars during a heavy storm, the secretarybird flies away. The cat falls off the boat, but swims ashore. It climbs the stairs to the top of a stone pillar and finds the secretarybird there, on a labyrinth-like carving on the floor. For a short duration, gravity vanishes and a bright portal opens above them. They are both temporarily weightless, but the cat floats back to the ground, while the secretarybird flies toward the light and disappears.
The cat rushes down the stairs and tries to swim back to the boat, but it is too far. It finds the lemur's glass float, and uses it to stay afloat. The water level drops quickly as massive fault lines open in the earth, draining the water. While roaming through the forest, the cat finds the lemur, and they find the boat hanging on a tree soon after. The dogs jump off the boat, but just as the capybara is about to exit, the tree begins to fracture. The cat climbs the tree and passes the boat's rope to the lemur and dogs, who pull the boat toward them. When a rabbit scampers by, the other dogs abandon the Labrador and its friends to chase it. The cat falls, but is caught by the capybara. They both manage to jump off the boat before it falls with the tree into a ravine below. Just as the crew celebrates, another deer stampede occurs. The cat flees, but stops when it comes upon the whale beached in the forest. The cat comforts the whale and looks at the massive stone pillars. Saddened by the whale's loss, the cat sees its reflection in a puddle of water as it is joined by its friends.
In a post-credits scene, a whale is seen surfacing on the ocean.