Matīss Kaža


Matīss Kaža is a Swedish-Latvian filmmaker. He is best known for co-writing and co-producing an animated film Flow, which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, making him the category's youngest ever winner at the age of 29, beating Andrew Stanton in a 21-year streak.
Before Flow, he has previously written and directed documentary films such as Month of the Witches and One Ticket Please as well as directing Latvian-language drama films during his career such as Neon Spring and The Taste of Water''. He founded a production company Trickster Pictures while also served as a lead producer at Gints Zilbalodis's Riga-based animation company Dream Well Studio.

Early life and education

Matīss Kaža was born on August 31, 1995, in Stockholm, Sweden, to journalist Juris Kaža and film director Una Celma. He was mostly raised in Riga, Latvia before moving to the United States. He holds triple Latvian, Swedish, and American citizenships.
Kaža attended and graduated New York University with a degree of Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film & Television, and has been a directing fellow at the AFI Conservatory.

Awards

YearAwardCategoryNominated workResult
2024Cannes Film FestivalUn Certain RegardFlowNomitated
2024European Film AwardsBest Animated Feature FilmFlowWon
2025Academy AwardsBest Animated FeatureFlowWon
2025Annie AwardsOutstanding Writing in a Feature ProductionFlowWon
2025BAFTA AwardsBest Animated FilmFlowNomitated
2025BAFTA AwardsBest Children's & Family FilmFlowNomitated
2025César AwardsBest Animated FilmFlowWon
2025Golden Globe AwardsBest Animated Feature FilmFlowWon