Read The Screenplay For Animated Oscar Contender

Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series spotlighting the scripts fueling the year’s most talked-about movies continues with Flow, Janus Films and Sideshow‘s dream-like animated feature from director Gints Zilbalodis. Matīss Kaža and Zilbalodis crafted a 35-page cinematic script featuring no dialogue, solely comprised of directorial instructions.

The acclaimed Cannes Film Festival darling, Latvia’s submission for this year’s International Feature Film Oscar race, just made the category’s shortlist after sweeping major awards including Best Feature at Annecy and Los Angeles, New York and National Board of Review critics. It has noms in international and animation categories from the Golden Globes and the Annies to Critics Choice and the Independent Spirit Awards.

The Janus Films and Sideshow pic hit U.S. theaters November 22 and it just crossed $2 million at the domestic box office.

The screenplay chronicles the journey of a cat, capybara, lemur, bird and dog forced to embark on a perilous journey after their homes are devastated by a flood. The writing duo strayed from the traditional beats of storytelling by eliminating the villain and the antagonist, instead creating conflict using the events of the catastrophe to move the story forward.

“Dialogues do not come naturally to me. Flow was always meant to be told like that. Maybe one day I will try to use some dialogues if the story depends on it. But the film would still be led by visuals and dialogues be quite sparse. It’s just that I feel more comfortable using visuals, it is more exciting,” Zilbalodis says of his style of writing.

Flow explores the fragility of the environment and celebrates the spirit of friendship and community that empowers these animals to adapt to their new reality. Forced to survive aboard a makeshift vessel, they must navigate a perilous aquatic world, relying on trust, courage and ingenuity to overcome the challenges they face.

The absence of humans enhances the enchanting world-building, allowing Kaža and Zilbalodis to create a timeless landscape where architectural elements transcend any specific historical period.

“I feel like it can go deeper in the subconscious than live action could,” Zilbalodis says. “Animation is not as affected by cultural, or language barriers as live action is. It can be much more universal and primal. But at the same time, I don’t think it should be seen as something different. It’s just another storytelling technique. I felt that Flow’s story could only be done in animation because of the animals and the camera moves I had in mind. I hope that it is not going to be perceived only as an animated film because it’s very much influenced by live-action movies. So, Flow is like all my live-action and animated movies’ influences mixed together.”

Read the script below.