Skip to main content
Flow film image; cartoon cat sitting in a city

Flow

Showcase

This event has passed

In a future without humans, a solitary black cat survives a tsunami and finds refuge on a sailboat with a ragtag crew of animals: an excitable Labrador, a drowsy capybara, a materialistic lemur, and a gallant secretary bird. As he navigates a mystical, flooded world with his new companions, the cat must overcome both his fear of water and his wariness of others. Having made a splash at Cannes 2024, this atmospheric animated feature, complete with an orchestral score, provides an enthralling, emotional adventure for all ages.

Grounded with the use of animal sound recordings in lieu of any dialogue, Latvian director Gints Zibalodis’ sophomore feature deploys a dynamic virtual camera and gorgeously rendered environmental detail to bring to life a mysterious post-apocalyptic setting in which only artifacts of humanity’s influence remain. An entertaining allegory about the challenges and virtues of teamwork plays out through Flow’s delightful cast of critters.

The October 6 screening of Flow is a Relaxed Screening. Relaxed Screenings are open to ANYONE who would benefit from a less restrictive and sensory-friendly experience. Learn more about Relaxed Screenings here.

 

Jury Award, Annecy 2024

 

One of the most groundbreaking animated films about nature since Bambi.

Christian Blauvelt, IndieWire

 

Community Partner

Director
Credits
Country of Origin

Latvia/France/Belgium

Year

2024

Language

No Dialogue

Film Contact
Links
Content Warning

Violence

G

Open to youth!

84 min
Animation Award Winners Drama U18 May Attend
Take Five, Sacrebleu Productions, Dream Well

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Credits & Director

Producer

Matīss Kaža, Gints Zilbalodis, Ron Dyens, Gregory Zalcman

Screenwriter

Gints Zilbalodis, Matīss Kaža

ANIM

Léo Silly-Pélissier

Original Music

Gints Zilbalodis, Rihards Zaļupe

Gints Zilbalodis headshot; Flow director

Gints Zilbalodis

Gints Zilbalodis is a Latvian filmmaker and animator. After directing a string of animated short films, Zilbalodis’ debut feature, Away (2019), which he made entirely by himself, was awarded the Contrechamp Award at Annecy. Flow is his second animated feature film, having its world premiere in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.

Filmography: Away (2019)

Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

Heart of Gold
Heart of Gold film image; woman crouching by a burning miniature house

Heart of Gold

Dir. Patricia Gruben
80 min

Writer-director Patricia Gruben explores the history of an American deserter in 1969 who escapes to BC and finds shelter with a Russian dissident community.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Resident Orca

Dir. Sarah Sharkey Pearce & Simon Schneider
97 min

Captured in Puget Sound in 1970, killer whale Lolita spent the next half century in a cramped tank in Seaquarium, Miami. The film follows a coalition of Lummi elders, animal lovers and philanthropists on a rescue mission to return her to the ocean.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

No Other Land

Dir. Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham & Rachel Szor
96 min

Deemed by many critics one of the essential films of 2024, a multiple festival award winner and Academy Award winner for Best Documentary, No Other Land is a reminder that mass expulsion is by no means a new reality for Palestinians.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Misericordia

Dir. Alain Guiraudie
103 min

Edgy, eccentric, and unapologetically queer, this film goes from drama to comedy without putting a foot wrong. Sex and murder are the subjects, and writer-director Alain Guiraudie (Stranger by the Lake) mines them for suspense and outrageous laughs.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

There's Still Tomorrow

Dir. Paola Cortellesi
118 min

A critical and box office sensation in Italy, Paola Cortellesi's triumphant directorial debut is the tale of a Roman housewife in 1946, who stands up against the routine sexist abuse she suffers. Funny, heartbreaking and inspiring.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

The Way, My Way

Dir. Bill Bennett
93 min

All manner of pilgrims flock to France and Spain to walk the 800 km Camino de Santiago. One such is Bill, a stroppy sexagenarian Australian filmmaker who's determined to do the Camino with minimal prep, a dickey leg, and no firm idea why.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre