LOS ANGELES (AP) — “Flow,″ a wordless cat parable, won the Oscar for animated feature at Sunday’s 97th Academy Awards. The win gives Latvian filmmaker Gints Zilbalodis his first Academy Award.

In a big win that underscored the growing prominence of indepedent animation, Gints Zibalodis’ “Flow,” the moving dialog-free tale of a solitary cat’s journey as it learns to survive after a great flood – that was made with open-source software Blender for just $3.

"Flow", a dialogue-free tale of animals surviving disaster, scored Sunday's Oscar for best animated feature, capping a remarkable awards season for the Latvian film made on a minuscule budget.The moving film follows a solitary black cat who,