LOS ANGELES - The international success of "Flow", an animated Latvian film about a cat's quest to escape rising waters, has taken its director by surprise.
"Flow" has no dialogue and Gints Zilbalodis, who had a budget of $3.6 million, beat off giant animation studios to win a Golden Globe and now has two Oscar nominations.
"We thought the best case scenario would be that we would be selected in some of the festivals and have a nice festival run," Zilbalodis told AFP.
"Flow" stands a double chance of winning as it is shortlisted in the best animated feature and the international film categories.
The film tells the story of a black cat who discovers that people have deserted their dwelling and that water is approaching the nearby meadows.
Confronted with a flood, the feline protagonist reluctantly boards a sailboat in the company of animals including a buoyant golden retriever and an unruffled capybara.
"Zilbalodis largely avoids the sort of whimsy and sentimentality that might plague, say, a Disney movie with the same premise," said the New York Times review which typifies reaction around the world.
"The animals act like real animals, not like cartoons or humans, and that restraint gives their adventure an authenticity that, in moments of both delight and peril, makes the emotion that much more powerful," it added.
For Latvia, the nominations are historic: No film from this Baltic country of 1.8 million people has ever contended for an Oscar.
The international recognition has triggered "Flow-mania" at home.
Film-themed street art is appearing around Riga while Latvians have queued to take selfies with the Golden Globe trophy which has been put on display in the national museum.
More than 320,000 people saw "Flow" in Latvian cinemas, the country's film centre told AFP, making it the most-viewed film in Latvian history, surpassing "Avatar" and "Titanic".