Jan 5, 2025

Golden Globe Impact! 'Flow' Wins Best Animated Feature

A shocker in the history of the Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature happened tonight. Latvia, Belgium, and France (!!!) No dialogue (!!!), produced by and $3.7 million (!!!!). produced by Latvia, Belgium, and France (!!!), was honored with a $3.7 million (!!!) “Flow.

Perhaps it was not so surprising. The film has already won such prestigious awards as the New York Film Critics Circle and the National Board of Review. However, these awards are not necessarily precursors to bigger awards like the Golden Globes, which have traditionally been dominated by big studio productions with equally big promotional budgets.

“Flow” went up against two Disney films, including the highest-grossing animated film of all time, as well as films from DreamWorks and Netflix. (Incidentally, the other nominees in the category were “Inside Out 2,” “Snail Memory,” “Moana 2,” “Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl,” and “Wild Robots.”)

For “Flow,” it should have been an honor to be nominated, but the film's rise to the top of the category was something that no one in the industry, or no one, had anticipated as a possibility until tonight. Flow is a great film and I absolutely loved it. But in the cutthroat world of Hollywood awards, smaller films are often overlooked.

Director Gints Zilbalodis is a 30-year-old Latvian filmmaker whose last feature film, Away (2019), was entirely self-produced. For his new film, he had a modest budget and team, but nothing that could compare to a Hollywood production. The award also marks the first time that a film produced with the open-source Blender software has won a Golden Globe.

The surprise win for “Flow” threw the rest of the animation awards season into turmoil. Until the Golden Globes, it was a three-way race between “Wild Robots,” “Inside Out 2,” and “Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl.” After tonight, however, “Flow” can no longer be overlooked as a leading Oscar contender.

The next big test for the film will be the announcement of the Critics' Choice Award winners on January 12. The nominees are the same as for the Golden Globes, with “Moana 2” being excluded.

Jill Barodis' acceptance speech is below:

#Flow wins Best Animated Feature at the 2025 #GoldenGlobes pic.twitter.com/754Pu7FfXl

- The Hollywood Reporter (@ THR) January 6, 2025