Flow Director Celebrates Winning an Oscar By Recreating the Spinning Cat Meme

Last week, Gints Zilbalodis' animated fantasy adventure film Flow made history by winning the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, becoming the first Latvian film to be nominated and win an Oscar and a huge source of inspiration for indie animators and Blender users worldwide.

In true indie spirit, Zilbalodis chose to celebrate his and his team's remarkable win not with lavish parties or Hollywood glitz, but by returning home, booting up his favorite 3D software, and recreating the spinning cat meme with Flow's feline protagonist.

Inspired by W&W's viral take on the oiia oiia meme, this mini-project 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 – hosted by the director. As shown in a screenshot shared alongside the video, the sequence was crafted using Blender, the free and open-source 3D software that Zilbalodis and his team used to bring Flow to life.

For comparison, here's the video the Zilbalodis' iteration is based on:

And here's the cat with a white background the director shared so you can create your own memes:

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