In this interview with Gints Zilbalodis, director and animator of Flow, we speak about his creative process, his lonely protagonists, his personal connection to the film and more.
Ever since its World Premiere in Cannes earlier this year, Gints Zilbalodis’ Flow has been captivating viewers everywhere with its blend of gorgeous animation, innovative world building, and a heartwarming, immersive story that combines adventure and discovery with genuine emotion, making it an unforgettable watch. Zilbalodis, who had already impressed audiences with his feature debut Away back in 2019, returns with the story of a cat who has to find ways to survive after losing its home when the entire island is flooded. Eventually, our resourceful protagonist teams up with a capybara, a lemur, a bird, and a dog; together, the animals form an unlikely team that might just be what they all need to really understand what home means. At the BFI London Film Festival, where Flow had its UK Premiere, we interview the Latvian filmmaker and animator about the way he creates his stories, what making this movie was like, his personal connection to the protagonist, and more.
Gints Zilbalodis on the Creative Process Behind Flow
I loved your film! What I like the most about it is that you’re able to immerse us in the film’s world completely and recreate what it’s like to live in the moment, which is what I really admire animals for. Was it intentional?
Gints Zilbalodis: I think we’ve seen similar stories from a human’s point of view, but we haven’t really seen something like this from an animal’s point of view. We become more emotionally engaged watching these animals than you would be if you were watching humans. Speaking of being present and in the moment, I think part of that is due to the way the story is told, with the camera very close to the characters, a lot of long takes, and no breaks between the shots. You’re with them in real time, and it creates this immersive feeling. That was important to me, [and went hand in hand with] the sounds that we chose: there are long sequences without music, where you can kind of feel the wind and the grass and the water splashing, and it feels accurate. That’s really nice that it worked for you!
Oh, absolutely. You mentioned the long takes: I was going to ask you about the way that you told this story! What was the creative process like? Do you even have a storyboard for something like this or do you see it all in your head?
G.Z.: We don’t use storyboards very much. I guess all animated films do, but the way I’m used to working [involves] creating a simple version of the environment in 3D, just to figure out the layout, so that I can explore it with this virtual camera. I can look around for ideas, and for shots. It’s almost like a location scout in a live action film: you arrive on the set and you discover ideas. To me, it’s a much more organic and spontaneous way of working, because I don’t see the shot in my head, at first, so I have to discover it first. It’s also necessary for those long takes, because it’s impossible to draw when the perspective changes so much, with the camera turning around and going up in the air and down under the water; that’s really impossible to draw, so I decided to use the same technique [I used to have when I would make films on my own, without a crew].
Here, we had more resources, so we could have hired storyboard artists, but I need to go through that process of making that animatic version, which is like a 3D storyboard but a lot more complicated, as I can already use lights and shadows. [This means that] I can add some effects, like fog, which will influence the way I shoot it, due to where and how the shadows are falling. It impacts my decision of where to place the camera. It could have been done in other ways – for example, if I had just designed the layout and someone else had done the lighting – but this is the way I approach it: I do everything at the same time. I put the camera, the characters, the lights and the fog: it all happens at the same time.
Flow and Away: Gints Zilbalodis’ Lonely Protagonists
I can imagine a connection between the protagonist of Flow and that of your previous film, Away, which is about a man who’s stranded on an island, alone, trying to get back home. What draws you to lonely protagonists?
Gints Zilbalodis: It wasn’t conscious or deliberate, but there are some similarities between the two stories, yes, because they reflect my own journey. In Away, the main character is a human who’s alone on an island, and he’s kind of looking for connections, and for a way home. I ended up finishing the film, and this allowed me to travel a lot and meet all these people. And so, when I was making Flow, then it was more deliberate that I should incorporate my experience into the story. It was my first time working with a team [since Gints made Away on his own but he had a bigger crew for Flow], and I had to learn how to trust them.
These stories aren’t connected, but there is a thematic continuation of where I left off with Away, which was just when the main character is about to meet these people. In Flow, we start off with that moment: the cat has to learn how to work together and how to trust the others. I wrote the script before making the film, so I had all these anxieties [about the experience of making a film in a different way to what I was used to], but it actually ended up being a lot smoother than I thought it would be. With our team, it was all very supportive and very much easier than I expected.
This is so beautiful! You can feel that there is a more personal story there, as a viewer. Take the cat: at the beginning of Flow, we get to go into its house right before it’s destroyed. It really adds to the film that the cat has a life before we come into the picture, with memories attached to it.
G.Z.: I knew that the cat should have a home, but then, in the animatic stage, I had this image of these cat statues being submerged in water, and this anxious feeling for the cat as it sees these other cats – represented by the statues – basically drowning. It’s [a way to represent] that it’s something that will happen to them too, but I tried to think of a reason for these statues to be there. That’s why I made the cat’s house be an artist’s workshop. Maybe there was a sculptor who lived there, who made all these cat drawings and statues, and maybe he was the cat’s owner, and the cat would have been the inspiration. I didn’t like write a backstory, but I started with an image and an emotion, and then I worked backwards, leaving all these clues. I don’t like explaining too much to the audience; I prefer showing them [things that they can put together to] draw connections on their own.
Why did you choose the dogs, a capybara, a lemur, and a bird as your other characters for this journey?
G.Z.: When it started, I wanted to tell the story of a cat who overcomes its fear of water, because I think it’s very universally understandable that cats don’t like water. It would be exciting to see them learn how to “swim”, using the water as a metaphor for what’s inside the cat’s head. I had a cat growing up, and I had dogs as well, later on, so the dog was the next one who arrived. That way, the cat learns that it has to be more trustful and work with the others, but the dog also learns something, as it starts out being trustful and ends up being more independent. I wanted to have this opposite journey for the two of them, just to make sure that it wasn’t this simple, didactic message that “independent is bad and working together is good”.
I’m showing both positives and negatives of both of these ideas, and all the other animals, like the lemur and the bird, for example, were chosen because they’re all looking for a place, or a group, to belong. I wanted each of them to look and sound very different, to have enough conflict or humor with all of them. There are no antagonists. Hopefully they’re all relatable in some ways.
Gints Zilbalodis on Making Flow and Why He Prefers Classical Filmmaking to Virtual Reality
How long did it take you to make the film?
Gints Zilbalodis: The whole film took five and a half years, which is long, but it’s not much longer than most animated movies. That’s including writing the script, looking for funding, and developing the story.
How different was this compared to Away? I imagine you had a bigger budget?
G.Z.: Much bigger! [laughs] But of course, it’s spread out over all these years and all these people, so you wouldn’t even know. In our studio, it’s usually a few people, but yeah, it was a much bigger experience for me. I had to learn how to explain these ideas I had in my head. In the past, I didn’t need to explain them to anyone, as I could just do them myself. This time, I had to actually direct people, and to find words or images as references to explain my ideas. That’s why I also needed to do the animatic myself; since I don’t imagine the scene in my head but I have to first discover it [in the environment], when I have the animatic, I can show it to people. It also helps to already have music in there. Sometimes it’s really hard to use words to explain, particularly for the most abstract moments in the film. [With the animatic and music], I could show it to them and they would understand.
Would you ever want to make something in Virtual Reality?
G.Z.: I’m not really interested in it. I like classical filmmaking because you can create the frame and guide the audience, showing them exactly where to look. In VT, the director doesn’t have that control. I would say that VR is like a buffet, where the audience can choose which foods to have; traditional cinema is more like, a chef has prepared you a meal to serve you, and the chef knows which foods to pick better than the audience. With traditional filmmaking, I can be more precise and really focus [on certain details]; in Flow, if you were to look around at things that aren’t in the frame, it just wouldn’t look right. It would look broken.
Thank you so much for speaking with us!
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
Flow was screened at the BFI London Film Festival on October 13-20, 2024. The film will be released in select US theaters on November 22, 2024, with a nationwide release to follow. Read our review below!
Header credits: Dream Well Studio, Kristaps Kalns
