The 2025 LUX Audience Award of the European Parliament has been awarded to Flow, an animated film by Latvian director Gints Zilbalodis.
The other nominees were Animal, Dahomey, Intercepted, and Julie Keeps Quiet. The winning film was selected through a combined vote by the public and Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), with each group contributing 50% of the final result.
Flow was the only animated film among this year’s nominees — a rare occurrence, as animation was last represented in 2022 with the Danish documentary Flee by Jonas Poher Rasmussen.
Since 2020, the LUX European Audience Film Award has been jointly presented by the European Parliament and the European Film Academy, in cooperation with the European Commission and the Europa Cinemas network. The name of the award derives from the Latin word lux, meaning “light”. The award celebrates European cinema and aims to engage a broader European public in conversations around pressing social topics that reflect shared European values.
The film’s producer, Ron Dyens of France, said in a pre-award press interview that they have made a point of promoting Flow as a Latvian film — highlighting Latvia’s geopolitical context. He emphasized that the film offers an opportunity to show the wider world where Latvia is and what kind of situation it lives in. According to Dyens, Flow should not only be promoted as a European film, since Europe itself is also under threat, but specifically as a Latvian one — the first country on the border with an aggressor state.
Composer Rihards Zaļupe, who created the film’s music, stated in an interview that the film evokes emotion — something people sorely need in today’s world, which is saturated with negativity. Therefore, it is important to address the emotional experience.
Dyens also stressed that Flow is a co-production and that the team behind it managed to achieve what the characters in the film also do: share the same boat.
It’s about collaboration and mutual respect. The essence of the film — both in its story and production — is cooperation, and they succeeded in making an exceptional film based on trust and shared vision.
Flow had its world premiere on the 22nd of May 2024, at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, where it quickly became a favourite among both audiences and critics. Its national premiere in Latvia took place on the 28th of August 2024. By January 2025, Flow had become the most-watched film ever in Latvian cinemas. Globally, more than three million viewers have seen the film about the dark grey, individualist cat.
Flow is the first Latvian film ever to be nominated for — and to win — an Academy Award (Oscar) in the category of Best Animated Feature Film. It was also nominated for Best International Feature, making it only the second film in Oscar history to receive nominations in both categories — and the first non-dialogue film to win Best Animated Feature. To date, Flow has received more than 70 awards worldwide, including the European Film Academy Award, the Golden Globe, France’s national César Award, and others.
The main character of Flow, the Cat, is a solitary loner. When his home is destroyed by massive flooding, he finds refuge in a small boat with other animals. To survive, the Cat must learn to cooperate. Together with a Capybara, a Lemur, a Dog, and a Bird, he journeys through mysterious landscapes, adapting to a new, humanless world.
The creative core of Flow includes director, producer, writer, and artist Gints Zilbalodis; co-writer and producer Matīss Kaža; producers Ron Dyens and Gregory Zalcman; sound designer Gurwal Coic-Gallas; lead animator Léo Silly-Pélissier; composers Zilbalodis and Rihards Zaļupe; and visual effects artists Konstantīns Višņevskis and Mārtiņš Upītis.
The film was financially supported by the National Film Centre of Latvia, the State Culture Capital Foundation, Eurimages, the French National Centre for Cinema, TV channels ARTE and Canal+, and various regional funds and support programs in France and Belgium. Flow was produced by Dream Well Studio (Latvia), Sacrebleu Productions (France), and Take Five (Belgium).