As ‘Flow’ takes home the Oscar using only free software, fans troll—"Disney’s worst nightmare is indie animators with talent"

One of the most fantastic things about Flow is that it was created using Blender—a free, open-source animation program. While Hollywood studios spend millions on Maya and Houdini, Flow's crew built an aesthetically breathtaking world with software you can grab right this instant for a buck.

Notably, the film won Best Animated Feature at the 97th Academy Awards.

Fans wasted no time roasting big-budget productions for failing to deliver—especially Disney. Notably, Disney has now lost Best Animated Feature Film at the Oscars three years in a row, giving the internet plenty of material for some brutal jokes.

One X user stated:

"Disney’s worst nightmare is indie animators with talent."

A user mentioned:

"Free software doing what a billion-dollar studio couldn’t."

One user joked:

"Guess i have no excuses left, time to start my Oscar-winning film."

Drawing trying-to-be-relevant parallels, a user mentioned:

"Just like tony stark, he can build a suit from scrap."

A user commented:

"Great now all the blender users wont shut up about this 🙄🙄"

A user went on to state:

"Meanwhile, Adobe is over here setting up *cancellation fees* for people canceling subscriptions."

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Flow was made entirely with the free computer software

Director Gints Zilbalodis, a Blender veteran, used its real-time EEVEE engine to speed up production.

In an interview with Blender, Zilbalodis said:

“It took a while to learn some of the stuff, but it was actually pretty straightforward. Many of the animators in Flow took less than a week to switch to Blender.”

With add-ons such as FLIP Fluids for aquatic simulations and GeoScatter for lush landscapes, Flow's team maximized Blender's potential to its fullest extent.

And here's the twist: Rendering happened at lightning speed. Every frame was under 10 seconds of processing in 4K on Zilbalodis's personal computer.

“There was no compositing, all the colors were tweaked and adjusted using shaders.”

For other aspiring artists, he noted:

"I’ve never worked in a big studio, so I don’t really know exactly how they operate. But I think that if you’re working on a smaller indie-scale project, you shouldn’t try to copy what big studios do. Instead, you should develop a workflow that best suits you and your smaller team."

After bagging the Oscar, Zilbalodis told AP:

"I think you can express a lot more without words. Some of these emotions and ideas I couldn’t articulate with words but with music, sound, movement and editing, I can say a lot more. Those are my favorite kinds of films and favorite scenes and are very cinematic and transcend cultural boundaries."

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What is Flow about? Inside the silent masterpiece that won an Oscar

Flow is no ordinary Hollywood CGI cartoon. There's just a black cat, a desolate yet stunning drowned world, and an animation so hardcore even the most discerning CGI purists would give a thumbs up.

This visual wonder, directed by Gints Zilbalodis, communicates its tale in visuals alone—no words, only raw, brushy emotion. And the public adored it.

Prior to taking home the Oscar, Flow won more than 60 awards, including a Golden Globe and an Annecy Cristal.

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Why did Disney lose Best Animated Feature three years in a row?

Flow was going up against some of animation's biggest powerhouses. Big guns like Pixar's Inside Out 2, DreamWorks' The Wild Robot, Aardman Animations' Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, and the independent feature Memoir of a Snail were in contention.

But when the envelope opened, it was Latvia's maiden Oscar victory that brought the audience to their feet.

Meanwhile, Disney's Best Animated Feature dry spell is officially trending. Missing out on three years running hurts, but seeing an indie effort produced on a fraction of their budget take the prize? That's gotta sting.

And with that being said, the future of animation is in the hands of people with daring ideas—not necessarily large budgets.

With previous victories from visionary films such as Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2023) and The Boy and the Heron (2024), there's a definite shift underway.