The Latvian animated feature Flow has won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. The dialogue-free feature by Gints Zilbalodis, which debuted at the Cannes Film Festival last year, triumphed over U.S. studio favorites Inside Out 2, DreamWorks Animation’s acclaimed The Wild Robot, Netflix and Aardman Animations’ Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl and Adam Elliot’s stop-motion fable Memoir of a Snail at the 2025 Academy Awards.
Zilbalodis began production on the movie five years ago, using the free and open-source animation tool Blender. Flow is the young Latvian artist’s second full-length feature following 2019’s Away. To date, the film has made over $20 million worldwide and became the most popular theatrical film in Latvian history. It’s also the first time a Latvian movie has won the Academy Award. It also won the Golden Globe, BAFTA and Cesar for Best Animated Feature.
After thanking his team, releasing studios Sideshow and Janus Films, Blender, his mom and dad, and cats and dogs, Zilbalodis said, “We’re really moved by the wide reception the film has had around the world and hope you open doors to independent animation filmmakers around the world. This is the first time a film from Latvia has been honored with an Academy Award so it means a lot to us….We are all in the same boat. We must overcome our differences and find ways to work together.”
This is the second year in a row when an independent, international film has won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. Last year, Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron won the same prize.
Iran’s ‘In the Shadow of the Cypress’ Wins Oscar for Best Animated Short
Hossein Molayemi and Shirin Sohani’s In the Shadow of the Cypress was the recipient of the Best Animated Short Oscar at the 2025 Academy Awards. The powerful 2D animated short directed by the Iranian husband-and-wife team, centered on a former captain who experiences post-traumatic stress disorder and lives a stressful life with his daughter in a house by the seas. This is the first time Iran has won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short. Last year, Our Uniform by Yegane Moghaddam was the first Iranian short to be nominated in the same category.
The directors were only granted a U.S. visa days before the ceremony and arrived in Los Angeles three hours before the start of the Academy Awards. The Iranian government had rescinded financial support of the short that prevented more international travel for the husband and wife.
“It’s a miracle, and speaking in front of this expectant audience is very hard for us,” the directors said in their acceptance speech. “Yes, if we preserve and remain faithful, miracles will happen. Until yesterday, we hadn’t even obtained our visa and were totally disappointed and now we’re standing here with this statuette in our hands. Just the fact that we managed to make this film under the miracles do happen. We are going to dedicate our film and this precious award to all those who are still fighting their inner and outer battles heroically, especially to our fellow Iranians who are still suffering. We are so grateful to all those who supported us through this long journey, especially our families.”
In the Shadow of the Cypress also played at Venice, Tribeca, Animayo and LA Shorts and many other prestigious festivals around the world. It was also nominated for the Annie Awards and the Annecy Cristal prize.
Watch below:
The Oscar for Best Visual Effects went to Paul Lambert, Stephen James, Rhys Salcombe and Gerd Nefzer for their work on Dune: Part Two.
It was also quite moving to see beloved animation publicist Fumi Kitahara (who passed away last week at age 56) recognized in the In Memoriam tribute section of the ceremony. 
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