It was a big night for Baltic countries at the 2025 Oscars. Latvia, population 1.9 million, walked away with the award for Best Animated Feature for Flow.
“This is the first time a film from Latvia has ever been nominated so it truly means a lot for us,” the film’s director Gints Zilbalodis said in his acceptance speech.
The achievement did not go unnoticed by Oscar host Conan O’Brien, who later in the telecast acknowledged Latvia for winning its first Oscar before shifting the spotlight to another Baltic country. “Ball’s in your court, Estonia!” he said of Latvia’s neighbor, population 1.3M.
Estonia’s top politicians got in on the joke and accepted the challenge.
The country’s Prime Minister Kristen Michal congratulated Zilbalodis “and all dear Latvian friends” with the Oscar win, wrote on X, “We’ve got you, @ConanOBrien. Estonia will do its best to catch up.”
Estonia’s Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna also issued congratulations. “A huge round of applause to the crew of #Flow for winning the first-ever Academy Award for Latvian filmmakers! 👏,” he wrote on X. “This is a proud moment for Latvia, & Estonia is thrilled to celebrate alongside our dear southern neighbors!”
The Estonia Ministry of Foreign Affairs retweeted Tsahkna’s message with the note, “The ball really is in our court now.”
In Latvia, Flow‘s Oscar win triggered countrywide celebrations, with President Edgars Rinkēvičs calling it “a great and historic day” for the country.
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