Awards season can be a dispiriting period for cinephiles and movie critics, who often wince to see the truly deserving get snubbed and the magic and creativity of filmmaking be subsumed by popularity, strategy, momentum, and, this year in particular, controversy. Add in cringe-worthy acceptance speeches and the same insipid anecdotes duly trotted out across numerous interviews, and it’s enough to make anyone cynical.
But as the awards industrial complex has creaked into gear once again, I’ve managed to find solace this year in a singular oasis of sincere joy and a genuine celebration of craft and artistry: Latvian filmmaker Gints Zilbalodis’s Instagram feed.
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The 30-year-old is the director of Flow, a dialogue-free animated tale about a cat and a motley crew of fellow critters stranded together in a postapocalyptic world. Acclaimed by both critics and audiences, it has made history with Academy Award nominations for best international and best animated feature (the first Latvian production nominated for any Oscar), in addition to a Golden Globe win last month (again a first for any Latvian film) and BAFTA, Independent Spirit Award, and PGA nominations. Not bad for being made on a shoestring budget and created using free, open-source software.
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