Flow,” a wordless cat parable that became the first Latvian film to win an Academy Award, prompted a sleepless night for Latvians celebrating the historic accolade. “Flow” won the Oscar for animated feature at Sunday’s 97th Academy Awards in Los Angeles,

In a big win that underscored the growing prominence of indepedent animation, Gints Zibalodis’ “Flow,” the moving dialog-free tale of a solitary cat’s journey as it learns to survive after a great flood – that was made with open-source software Blender for just $3.

Item 1 of 3 Gints Zilbalodis, Matiss Kaza, Ron Dyens and Gregory Zalcman win the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film for "Flow", as they stand near Andrew Garfield and Goldie Haw

Flow,″ a wordless cat parable, won the Oscar for animated feature at Sunday’s 97th Academy Awards. The win gives Latvian filmmaker Gints Zilbalodis his first Academy Award. “Flow” was made with Blender,

The wordless film follows animals forging an unlikely friendship as they fight to survive a natural disaster. But scary flood scenes and existential themes may be a bit much for the youngest viewers.