'Flow' director celebrates Oscar win by recreating viral spinning cat meme
Last week, Flow made history by becoming the first Latvian film to win an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, a significant achievement for indie animators and Blender users worldwide.
In a true display of indie spirit, Zilbalodis chose to celebrate by returning home and using his favourite 3D software, Blender, to bring the meme to life.
The director's version of the meme, inspired by W&W's viral take on the oiia oiia meme, was created in response to a request from a member of the audience during a virtual Q&A in China, the meme's country of origin.
The sequence, which was shared alongside a screenshot, showcases Zilbalodis' talent in using Blender, the free and open-source 3D software used to create Flow. The director also shared a cat with a white background, encouraging fans to create their own versions of the meme.
This playful tribute not only highlights Zilbalodis' success with Flow but also celebrates the growing influence of Blender in the indie animation community.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Express Tribune
3 hours ago
- Express Tribune
Hans Zimmer joins ‘Euphoria' season 3 as composer alongside Labrinth
Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer has officially joined the creative team of Euphoria Season 3, marking a major musical shift for the hit HBO drama. Zimmer will work alongside returning composer Labrinth, whose sound has defined the show's haunting and emotional tone in its first two seasons. The news was announced on social media Wednesday, with Zimmer expressing excitement about the collaboration. 'It's an honor to join this incredible team of storytellers led by the visionary Sam Levinson,' he said. 'Labrinth's music has shaped the show's identity, and I look forward to helping shape this new season through music.' Labrinth, who composed standout tracks like 'All for Us' and 'I'm Tired,' also welcomed the opportunity to collaborate. 'So great to join Hans, one of my heroes in film score, and bring some new magic to this new season,' he said. Zimmer's involvement adds prestige and anticipation, as the acclaimed composer is known for iconic film scores in Interstellar, The Lion King, Gladiator, Inception, and Dune. His cinematic influence has already been part of the show's DNA, according to creator Sam Levinson, who revealed that he wrote parts of the season while listening to Zimmer's scores from Interstellar and True Romance. 'Euphoria' Season 3 has yet to receive a release date, but the addition of Zimmer signals a bold creative evolution for the series. With both Zimmer and Labrinth shaping the sonic landscape, fans can expect a fresh yet emotionally grounded score that elevates the storytelling to new heights.
Business Recorder
14 hours ago
- Business Recorder
Top stars and directors head to Venice for high-powered 2025 festival
Hollywood stars, Oscar-winning directors, Asian heavyweights and European auteurs will vie for top honours at this year's stellar Venice Film Festival, all looking to make a splash at the start of the awards season. Running from August 27 to September 6, the 82nd edition of the world's oldest film festival will showcase a rich array of movies that spans psychological thrillers, art-house dramas, genre-bending experiments, documentaries, and buzzy studio-backed productions. Among the leading A-listers expected to walk the Venice Lido's red carpet are Julia Roberts, Emma Stone, George Clooney, Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Andrew Garfield, Oscar Isaac, Cate Blanchett and Amanda Seyfried. Netflix returns A who's-who of global directors will also be premiering their latest pictures at the 11-day event, including U.S. filmmakers Kathryn Bigelow, Jim Jarmusch, Noah Baumbach and Benny Safdie, alongside top Europeans Yorgos Lanthimos, Paolo Sorrentino, and Laszlo Nemes, and Asia's Park Chan-wook and Shu Qi. Netflix, which skipped Venice last year, returns in full force in 2025 with a trio of headline-grabbing titles, including Guillermo del Toro's 'Frankenstein', a new take on the classic horror tale starring Isaac, Jacob Elordi and Mia Goth. Baumbach's comedy-drama 'Jay Kelly', starring Clooney, Adam Sandler and Laura Dern, is also in the main competition and on the Netflix slate, alongside the geopolitical thriller 'A House of Dynamite', with Idris Elba and Rebecca Ferguson, and directed by Bigelow, who won an Oscar in 2010 for 'The Hurt Locker'. Venice fires the starting gun for the awards season, with films premiering on the Lido in the last four years collecting more than 90 Oscar nominations and winning almost 20, making it the place to be seen for actors, producers and directors alike. In the past nine editions of the Oscars, the award for Best Actress or Best Actor has gone eight times to the protagonists of films first seen in Venice, including Stone for her role in 'Poor Things' in 2024. Fighters and families Stone returns to Venice this year, teaming up again with 'Poor Things' director Lanthimos in an offbeat satire, 'Bugonia'. The indie icon of U.S. cinema, Jim Jarmusch, will be showing his 'Father Mother Sister Brother', a three-part tale exploring fractured families with a cast that includes Blanchett, Vicky Krieps, Adam Driver and Tom Waits. Another U.S. film getting its first outing at Venice is the MMA fighter biopic 'The Smashing Machine', starring Johnson and Blunt, and directed by Benny Safdie. A very different biopic is 'The Testament of Ann Lee' - a musical take on the life of the radical 18th-century Shaker leader, which stars Seyfried and is directed by Norway's Mona Fastvold. European auteurs are well-represented, with Paolo Sorrentino's 'La Grazia', starring Toni Servillo, selected as the festival's opening film, while Hungary's Nemes presents the family drama 'Orphan' and France's Francois Ozon showcases his retelling of Albert Camus' celebrated novel 'The Stranger'. Another French director, Olivier Assayas, will premiere 'The Wizard of the Kremlin' – a political thriller about the rise of Vladimir Putin, starring Paul Dano and Alicia Vikander, with Jude Law playing the Russian leader. Tragic story of palestinian girl One film that looks certain to raise emotions is Kaouther Ben Hania's 'The Voice of Hind Rajab', which uses original emergency service recordings to tell the story of a 5-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed in Gaza in 2024 after being trapped for hours in a vehicle targeted by Israeli forces. 'I think it is one of the films that will make the greatest impression, and hopefully (won't be) controversial,' said the festival's artistic director, Alberto Barbera, his voice trembling as he recalled the movie. Among the battery of films being shown out of competition is Luca Guadagnino's MeToo-themed psychological drama 'After The Hunt', starring Ayo Edebiri, Garfield and Julia Roberts, who will be making her red carpet debut at Venice, Barbera said. The jury for the main competition will be chaired by U.S. director Alexander Payne. He will be joined by fellow directors Stephane Brize, Maura Delpero, Cristian Mungiu, Mohammad Rasoulof, and the actresses Fernanda Torres and Zhao Tao.
Express Tribune
a day ago
- Express Tribune
Was Jennifer Lawrence always meant to be Katniss?
More than a decade after The Hunger Games hit cinemas, casting director Debra Zane is peeling back the curtain on the decision that defined a generation: choosing Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen. While Lawrence is now inseparable from the role, it turns out her casting was far from guaranteed, especially with every major young actress in Hollywood chasing the part. Speaking to Teen Vogue, Zane said the choice was less about fame and more about instinct. 'It's hard to explain. It's gut instinct,' she shared. Lawrence had just earned serious critical acclaim for Winter's Bone, with Oscar buzz swirling around her name, but Zane wasn't impressed by hype alone. 'She just was Katniss,' she explained, adding that casting is often about finding the most emotionally layered performance, even when it's unexpected. 'That's the most exciting part, when someone exceeds what you imagined.' Zane's longtime casting partner, Dylan Jury, also reflected on the process behind Sunrise on the Reaping, the newest instalment in the franchise. Unlike previous films, this one was cast while the book was still being written. 'That made it very crazy and challenging for different reasons,' Jury said. Fan buzz has been especially strong around Maya Hawke's casting as Wiress, which Zane proudly called a perfect match. As for Whitney Peak, cast as Lenore Dove, it was her chemistry with co-star Joe that sealed the deal. A test shoot captured on an iPhone gave Zane a sudden, intuitive certainty. 'We were shooting them on an iPhone and Dylan was operating the iPhone and I was peeking over his shoulder into the screen and could just… it was really like, Oof. You know?!' Sunrise on the Reaping is set 24 years before the original story and features a star-studded cast including Ralph Fiennes, Kieran Culkin, Elle Fanning, and Glenn Close. It premieres on 20 November 2026.
