V E N T N O R   F I L M  S O C I E T Y​​

Flow is a beautiful, authentic and timely look at the animal kingdom. Following its standing ovation at the premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, Flow picked up an impressive collection of major awards. It was the first Latvian film to receive an Academy Award nomination and the first independent animated film to take the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, as well as the Golden Globe.

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In a silent, post-apocalyptic world devoid of humans, a lone cat survives until a great flood forces it to seek refuge on a boat. There, it joins up with an unlikely crew: a capybara, a secretary bird, a dog, and a lemur. Told in the animals' natural voices, this award-winning animated fable follows the group as they learn to cooperate and overcome their differences to survive the constant threat of predators while drifting through a flooded world.

 

But Flow is far from being a twee, Disneyesque tale of cutesy, talking animals behaving like humans. Instead, the animals display naturalistic behaviours for their species, adding a layer of authenticity to their struggles and triumphs. There is no dialogue, human or animal, as the creatures communicate in their own natural voices.

 

As the last vestiges of human civilization are washed away, the story shifts its focus from humanity to the non-human species left to navigate this new, treacherous world. Their journey is a testament to resilience and an urgent call for cooperation. Different species must overcome their differences and work together to survive an existential threat. The film's core message is both a warning and a source of hope; while humanity may be self-destructive, nature and its animal inhabitants are a resilient force that will ultimately adapt and endure, even if we do not.

 

Fun Fact: The voice of the capybara was actually created using the sounds of a baby camel, as the team found the capybara has a squeaky voice that didn’t fit the “hippy vibe” they wanted for the character!

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The Critics Say...

“It’s a film full of wonders but not a single word of dialogue in the epic tale of one cat’s adventures after a flood of biblical proportions. As visions of apocalypse go, it’s rather lovely.” Cath Clarke, The Guardian ****

“Despite being an obvious meditation on the potential for impending climate catastrophe, the film is never cloying or condescending – instead Flow feels warm and delicate, like the fur of a cat who’s been lying in a sun spot all morning.” Hannah Strong, Little White Lies ****

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"Utterly dreamy and strangely moving...the world of Flow, like those of the best movies, is hallucinatory and its mood hypnotic, the rolling, seductive frames adding to the illusion of some powerful subconscious truth." Kevin Maher, The Times *****

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"A beautiful story that is matched by its visuals. This is the perfect animated film and can only be described as a masterpiece". David Griffiths, Subculture Entertainment

Empire Magazine *****

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