‘Flow’ Filmmaker Gints Zilbalodis on His Wonderfully Immersive Ecological Fable About Solidarity

Alci Rengifo

For Latvian filmmaker Gints Zilbalodis, telling a story does not always require communication through words. He likes the way an expression in the eyes or a gesture can convey so much. In his latest film, “Flow,” themes of fear, trauma, solidarity and apocalypse all come together in the tender face of a black cat. Cat, as the “hero” of his film is officially called, awakens in a plush home surrounded by green woodlands, only to discover he is basically alone. Where have all the humans gone? Zilbalodis’ climate change fable does not provide any easy answers, but we can assume an unforeseen flood might have left this place with only its animal inhabitants. Cat then begins a journey that involves cascading flood waters that nearly drown him, escaping from a pack of scavenging dogs, and riding down a river on a boat with a capybara, a lemur, a stork, and a golden retriever.

Like Zilbalodis’ acclaimed film “Away,” environment and images convey everything about this narrative. Cat and his other animal friends become as relatable as any human personalities. They come together to survive in a terrain that suddenly doesn’t make sense. Cat would like to catch fish in the rising waters and enjoy sleep, but nightmares now plague him of what he has endured. This is a stunning, eloquent animated film that goes beyond what we traditionally associate in the U.S. with the medium. It is a film for animal lovers, with a very human center. Zilbalodis spoke with Entertainment Voice about the making of “Flow.”

“Flow” has such a wordless yet clear set of themes. You are a filmmaker who is known for working without any dialogue. Why did you choose this particular story with this particular cat?

This is the first film I’ve made with a big team and the proper budget. Before, I was basically doing everything myself. I wanted to tell a story about my experience of learning to work together with others and how to trust them. I felt a cat would be the perfect protagonist because they like to do things their own way. That was a good starting point for the character’s arc. Because every film I’ve made is without dialogue, I describe it as “dialogue-free” rather than “silent.” The environment’s sounds and the music become more important and you’re able to create this immersive, rich soundscape. There is actually quite a lot of sound but we express a lot with it. All these characters are animals, so they don’t speak in human voices, but they still communicate. We used real animal sounds for them. I also wanted to tell a story that is clear without needing dialogue. I think everyone understands that cats don’t like water. You don’t need to explain that. I felt it would be interesting to have a big flood that forces the cat into this small boat with other animals. You don’t need antagonists. It’s a cat versus nature story. It’s more interesting than just having a villain. These are still flawed characters. None of them are evil. In a way they are all relatable. 

Do you consider yourself a cat person?

My personality is more like a cat. I like to be independent and do things my own way. But I also love dogs and have dogs as well. I consider myself like a cat but prefer the company of dogs.

You use some impressive, groundbreaking animation and rendered the film completely on the open-source software Blender. Share about the process of animating this film.

My intention was to create a very immersive experience where you feel like you are inside this world, not observing it from a distance. The camera is a very active participant. We didn’t “shoot” it from this conventional style of close-ups and long shots. We have these very long shots, some of which are 5 minutes long, in which the camera is following the characters. It creates this intimacy that is very hard to do. There are some long, heavy scenes that were a major technical challenge but they were important to me. It was important to have this technique so we could use every tool more expressively without dialogue, in a much bolder way. I wanted it to feel grounded at the same time. We see imperfections in the movie such as hints at hand held movements. We feel like the camera is impacted by the elements. When the flood hits, the camera gets taken away, or it gets impacted by the wind.

The flood sequence is incredible with the camera following Cat above the surface of the water and then below it. How long did it take to make that sequence?

We worked on many things at the same time, so I’m not sure on every detail on how that scene was made, but water is a huge challenge in the film. There are many types of water so we had to develop so many tools for that. Just the tool development, before we made a single frame of the film, took a long time. We finished basically days before the premiere. Water is hard to control. You need to understand the physics to control it but also the storytelling. It was a very small time. All the water was made by just two people. In major animated films you have dozens of people. This was a small, intimate team but it let us make big swings. When you’re independent you have the freedom to experiment. We can also work faster and not go through many supervisors. It’s more fun working in a small team.

There is a powerful universal, even ecological message, in the subtext. What do you want “Flow” to convey to audiences in these times?

All the characters in “Flow” are looking for the same thing. They are looking for a group where they can belong and that accepts them. They’re looking for different types of groups and realize they belong with each other despite being different. There’s this cat which maybe overcomes some of its fears and becomes brave, but still has all of these anxieties. Not all problems are solved by the end of the film because that’s not the way real life is. There are things you can improve but there are still so many problems in this world. That’s what I wanted to leave the audience with. 

“Flow” releases Nov. 22 in select theaters and expands Dec. 6 in theaters nationwide.