The American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced the lists of nominees in ten award categories, and Latvian director Gints Zilbaloža’s animated film “Straume” has entered the top 15 films that qualify for the Best Foreign Film Oscar nomination, as “Variety” magazine reported on Tuesday, the 17th of December.
The academy members’ vote, which will determine nominees in all 23 categories, will begin on the 8th of January and conclude on the 12th of January.
Award nominees will be announced on the 17th of January.
On Tuesday, nominees were announced in the Best Animated Short Film, Documentary Feature and Short film, Foreign Feature and Short Film categories.
Among the 15 films that qualify for an Oscar nomination for Fest Foreign Film alongside “Straume” are such acclaimed works as “Emilia Perez” and “The Seed of the Sacred Fig”.
On the 9th of December, “Straume” was nominated for a Golden Globe award as the Best Animated Film.
In early December, “Straume” received the European Film Academy Award in the category “Best Animated Film”. The film has also been nominated for the prestigious European Academy Award which is open to audience vote across Europe.
“Straume” has also been screened at the Cannes Film Festival in the “Special Gaze” as the only animated film. At the Annecy Animated Film Festival the film won four awards, including the jury and audience award.
It also received the New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC) Award for Best Animated Film. NYFCC is the oldest group of film critics in the US and is considered the favourite of the film awards season. Since 2009, with only a few exceptions, its award-winning best films have also entered the lists of the best films of the “Oscar” award.
The animated film is a 3D-animated story about an individualist Cat, who is forced to leave his home and take refuge in a small boat with other animals during a huge flood. In order to survive in the new and uninhabited world of people, the Cat must change its habits and cooperate with the Dog, Capybara, Lemur and Bird.
The creative team of the film “Straume” includes Director, Producer, Screenwriter and Artist Zilbalodis, Producer and Co-author of the script Kaža, producers Rons Diānss and Gregorijs Zalkmans, Sound Director Gurvals Koiks-Gallass, Chief Animator Leo Silī-Pelisjē, music authors Zilbalodis and Rihards Zaļupe, visual effects artists Konstantins Višņevskis and Mārtiņš Upītis.