Gints Zilbalodis

Flow

by
The cat has caught a fish

Latvian animation phenomenon Gints Zilbalodis follows up his extraordinary debut, Away, with more beautifully rendered imagery in Flow, an Apocalypse Now-style quest, but with animals instead of people. They’re in a boat, in other words, sailing up a waterway and having adventures on the way, none of which ever look like they’re going to be fatally dangerous. If you were going to level an accusation at this gorgeous movie, its cuteness might be where you’d start. For those who don’t know Zilbalodis’s story, he’s the guy who couldn’t get a job after finishing college and so decided to write his own ticket, making Away all on his own, in his bedroom, taking on … Read more

Away

by
The creature lurks while the boy hangs from a parachute cord

Fresh out of college and with no tempting job offers, Latvian arts graduate Gints Zilbalodis decided to start work on an animation. Away is the result, a remarkable film – and all from one man’s bedroom (and imagination). Zilbalodis was 24 when he started on his three-and-a-half-year marathon and didn’t just do all the animation we see in the finished result – he pretty much did everything else too, production, editing, sound, music the lot. Think of the scrolling hundreds of names you see in the credits in a typical animation and marvel. It’s obvious from the opening shot that something good is going on. A young man hangs from a blasted tree … Read more