Flow

Flow | 2024 | U | Dir. Gints Zilbalodis | Latvia | IMDb 7.9 | No dialogue | 85 mins

“A joy to experience.” – The Hollywood Reporter

“Utterly mesmerising.” – Sight and Sound

“It’s rare to feel like you’re watching something entirely new.” – IndieWire

“Absolutely blew me away.” – Ruth, HFS Committee

“It’s the best animation I’ve seen in years.” – Marwood, former HFS Committee

Wowing awards panels, professional critics and past and present members of your Committee alike, HFS proudly invites you to join us for our big-screen presentation of the first Latvian film to win an Academy Award and a Golden Globe, for Best Animated Featurein both cases, and the first independent film to win an Oscar in that category. It was also Oscar-nominated for Best International Feature.

Directed, co-written and co-produced by Gints Zilbalodis, this beautifully animated Latvian box office record-breaker premiered in the Un Certain Regardsection at Cannes in 2024, five and-a-half years after its production began.  It is a story of distinct individuals thrown together in the aftermath of a devastating natural disaster, who must form a team, learn from each other and co-operate in order to survive.

We meet Cat, the central character, out patrolling its territory and hunting for food.  After opportunistically stealing a fish from a pack of dogs who then give chase, Cat manages to escape the dogs and then dodge a stampeding herd of deer, moments before the animals’ island home is swamped by a flood caused by a huge tidal wave.

Cat reaches the highest point it can find and surveys the scene.  All hope seems lost, until, on the horizon, it spots a drifting sailing boat.  Scrambling aboard, Cat is astonished to find Capybara already there.

This unlikely pair are steadily joined by an increasingly diverse group of other animals, including Lemur and Secretarybird, all of whom gradually realise that they must learn to communicate with one another and work together in order to adapt to their new reality and somehow survive it.

Despite the lack of dialogue, this is not a silent film as there is nonetheless communication between the animals (as well as a musical soundtrack co-composedby the director), and the sounds of the animals we hear in the film are those of real animals.  Cat’s vocalisations, for example, are those of the sound designer’s own real-life cat.

This is a special and unique film in many ways, a real heart-warmer which, including a brief post-credits scene, is definitely not to be missed!

Screen 5

·       Doors open 6.45pm and our Pre Christmas social includes a free glass of wine or soft drink

·       Welcome from our chair Paula Stott @ 7.30pm

·       Free parking after 6pm if you DISPLAY an orange parking voucher, available from Odeon staff

·       Unreserved seating

·       We invite every viewer to score the film afterwards using a token system in the lobby

·       DVD for members available to borrow from our library