The Clowder Press congratulates Flow, directed by Latvian film maker Gints Zilbalodis, in winning this year’s Oscar for Best Animated Feature, as well as a nomination for Best International Feature Film and a Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature Film.    

As you know, Belvedere and I (and Roger) are quite film buffy, although in a very specialist way, as we focus our gaze on films with an emphatic cat factor. Our Top Nine list includes Alien, Breakfast at Tiffany, Inside Llewellyn Davies, Men in Black, The Long Goodbye, My Neighbour Totoro, Diamonds are Forever, the Matrix, and the Harry Potter series. 

Read more in our Newsletter post in the archive or go to https://www.clowderpress.com/newsletter/Entries/2023/12/the-niner-list-movies

Flow has really upped the game, as it puts the cat centre stage. This is a perfect alignment for the Clowder Press which is, as you know, all about the cat.  

We are a bit late to Flow, for which we are very sorry. That it was a huge labour of love is very apparent. Five and a half years in the making, it is a beguiling, wordless story of a group of disparate animals trying to adapt and survive in the wake of a devastating ecological disaster that has swept away their homes. There is no dialogue. Narrative, character, place and plot are all conveyed by stunning and innovative animation and   supported by a haunting soundtrack by Zilbalods and Matiss Kaza  And the protagonist is a black cat. 

An unexpected outcome of the film’s huge success has been the rise in adoption of black cats from rescue shelters. They have long been the last to catch the selector’s eye because    there are still some humans out there who don’t like black cats, believing them to be unlucky or the devil’s cuddly toy. This is, of course, daft, as black cats are smart, resilient adaptable and immaculate. Again we ask, what is wrong with you people?

When the film was released in Latvia in August 2024, it was an instant hit and broke several box-office records, becoming the most-viewed film in Latvian cinemas in history. It has become a cultural phenomenon, as it should be, and a statue of the cat was installed by the Freedom Monument in the Latvian capital, Riga. In April it is to be moved into the breathtakingly gorgeous Town Hall Square in the centre of the city. So although we are unforgivably late with the Oscar celebration, we stand ready to  cheer the statue’s relocation.