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Oscars 2023‘All that Breathes’ is a narrative documentary about two brothers in Delhi who rescue black-specked kites in the city. A still from All That BreathesIndian documentary All That Breathes, directed by Shaunak Sen, lost out the best documentary feature award to Navalny. Other nominees in the list included All The Beauty And The Bloodshed, Fire of Love and A House Made of Splinters. Navalny, directed by Daniel Roher, revolves around Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and events related to his poisoning. On August 20, 2020, Navalny was poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent, falling sick during a flight from Tomsk to Moscow, and was hospitalised in a serious condition. Navalny was taken to a hospital in Omsk after an emergency landing there. Two days later, he was evacuated to the Charite hospital in Berlin, Germany. While accepting the award, director Daniel Roher made a political statement. He said that Alexei Navalny was languishing in prison,...

Oscars 2023‘All That Breathes’, directed by Indian filmmaker Shaunak Sen, lost out to ‘Navalny’ in the best documentary feature film category.A still from The Elephant WhisperersIndian filmmaker Kartiki Gonsalves’s The Elephant Whisperers has bagged the Academy Award for best documentary short film. The film follows a couple, Bomman and Bellie, who adopt two orphaned elephants in Tamil Nadu’s Mudumalai reserve forest. The 95th Academy Awards ceremony, popularly known as the Oscars, was held on Sunday, March 12, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California. Accepting the award, director Kartiki said, “I stand here today to speak for the sacred bond between us and our natural world. For the respect of indigenous communities, and empathy towards other living beings we share our space with. And finally for coexistence." She further thanked the Academy for recognising their film, which highlighted the lives of indigenous people and animals. "To Netflix...

The final stretch of the 2023 Oscar season has started with voters casting their ballots for the winners of the 95th annual Academy Awards. All season long, Gold Derby has been interviewing dozens of the nominees, including four contenders for Best Documentary Feature. Click on each documentarian’s name below to watch each of these 20-minute interviews.

Shaunak Sen, “All That Breathes”

“All That Breathes” focuses on brothers Nadeem Shehzad and Mohammed Saud, who with their assistant Salik have dedicated their lives to rehabilitating black kites and other birds in a cramped basement in Delhi. As producer-director Sen describes, he didn’t set out nor did he want to do an environmental film or a nature film or a political film. Rather, it was important to show the interconnectedness of mankind and nature: “When you live in the city of Delhi, the air is such an opaque, gray, heavy, tactile big presence…...

Over the years, the Oscar for best documentary feature has provided the Academy Awards with some of the ceremony’s most contentious and divisive moments: In 1975, when the Vietnam War doc Hearts and Minds claimed the prize, producer Bert Schneider read a letter of thanks from the Viet Cong, so incensing hosts Bob Hope and Frank Sinatra that they took it upon themselves later in the broadcast to apologize “for any political references.” In 2003, while accepting his Oscar for the anti-gun doc Bowling for Columbine, Michael Moore was greeted with both cheers and boos when he cried “Shame on you, Mr. Bush” for launching the war in Iraq.

In the past couple of years, as Academy membership has grown larger and more diverse, the feature documentary results have been a lot more mellow, with crowd-pleasing choices — like the 2021 concert film Summer of Soul and the 2020 nature doc My Octopus Teacher — prevailing.

The skies over Delhi, India, where All That Breathes director Shaunak Sen lives, do not present an inviting picture: dull, gray and dense with pollution. But amid the particulate, one image of beauty stands out — the graceful, effortless black kite, a bird of prey, floating above in copious numbers. Sen’s documentary descends from those airy heights to a subterranean space where brothers Nadeem and Saud and their trusty assistant Salik care for black kites and other birds harmed by the city’s caustic pollution. Already a winner at Sundance and Cannes, All That Breathes has earned Sen his first Oscar nomination.

Deadline: What has the journey been like for you from Sundance 2022 to now?

Shaunak Sen: I’ve never had a year like this in my life. My girlfriend said the other day that, apparently, my favorite word these days is “discombobulated”. And I said, “There’s clearly a reason for it.

Riz Ahmed, Dev Patel, Judd Apatow, Mira Nair, and Mark Duplass are among the many admirers of the Oscar-nominated documentary All That Breathes, directed by Shaunak Sen. Now you can add the people at Criterion to the movie’s legion of fans.

The film about brothers in Delhi, India who rescue injured birds of prey, especially the black kite, will be added to Criterion’s library, according to an announcement from Sideshow and Submarine Deluxe. “[Criterion] has acquired Tvod rights and will announce details for a future home video release at a later date,” a release stated, noting that the film will be available for purchase or rental on iTunes, Apple, Amazon, and Vudu. All That Breathes is currently available for viewing on HBO and HBO Max.

A black kite receives care in ‘All That Breathes’

“Amid environmental toxicity and social unrest, the ‘kite brothers’ spend day and night caring for...

Indian hopes at the ongoing 76th edition of the BAFTA came crashing down as the Indian documentary “All That Breathes” lost the Best Documentary honour to “Navalny”. “All That Breathes”, which has been internationally co-produced, has been directed by Shaunak Sen. The film’s intricately layered portrait reveals an evolving city and a fraternal relationship bonded by purpose as it follows siblings Mohammad Saud and Nadeem Shehzad, who rescue and treat injured birds. The film was the only Indian nomination at the BAFTAs this year.

Talking about the winning title, “Navalny” has been directed by Daniel Roher, and revolves around Russian Opposition leader Alexei Navalny and events related to his poisoning and the subsequent investigation into the poisoning.

The film premiered on January 25, 2022, at the Sundance Film Festival as the final title in the US Documentary Competition section, where it won the Festival Favourite Award and the Audience Award for the US Documentary Competition.

“All That Breathes,” Shaunak Sen‘s Oscar-nominated documentary, was born when the director-producer was driving through New Delhi and saw a black dot falling down in the sky. It was black kite, a bird of prey that has been crippled by the city’s toxic air pollution. “I just happened to Google ‘Where do birds that fall off go?’ And I realized that there were many of these every day,” Sen tells Gold Derby at our Producers Guild of America Awards nominees panel (watch above).

Sen discovered Nadeem Shehzad and Mohammad Saud, two brothers who, along with their assistant Salik, have dedicated their live to rehabilitating black kites and other birds in a cramped basement. “Just on a lark, I decided to visit Nadeem and Saud, who in their tiny, grubby, derelict basement have been treating black kites for the last 15 years. I realized they’ve been treated 25,000 black kites...

Shaunak Sen’s Oscar- and BAFTA Awards-nominated ‘All That Breathes’ traces the story of two brothers, Mohammad Saud and Nadeem Shehzad, who make it their personal mission to take care of raptors, especially black kites, literally falling off the sky because of polluted air.

‘All That Breathes’ producer Aman Mann spoke about the movie and the challenges the makers had to deal with when they were shooting the injured birds.

The documentary feature, co-produced by Sen, Mann and Teddy Leifer of Rise Films, has already won the prestigious Golden Eye at Cannes 2022 and the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance 2022 World Cinema Documentary Competition.

Recalling how the film came about, Aman said: “I think we are still wondering about it because the film’s journey has been beyond our wildest expectations. It all started with a thought process. Shaunak was pursuing a fellowship in the UK in 2018 when he became very interested in human-animal relationships,...

CinemaRRR was in the longlist for the 'film not in English language' category but couldn't find a spot in the segment's final nominees list.PTIScreengrabs from Rrr and All That BreathesFilmmaker SS Rajamouli's period action blockbuster Rrr on Thursday, January 19, missed out on the nomination at the 2023 BAFTA Film Awards, but Shaunak Sen made it to the final five in the best documentary segment with All That Breathes. Rrr was in the longlist for the 'film not in English language' category but couldn't find a spot in the segment's final nominees list, which was announced by British actors Hayley Atwell and Toheeb Jimoh via a live stream. The final five nominees of the category were All Quiet on the Western Front, Argentina, 1985, Corsage, Decision To Leave, and The Quiet Girl. Shaunak Sen's All That Breathes, an internationally co-produced Hindi title, is nominated in the best documentary category along with...

“All That Breathes,” a documentary about two brothers who run a refuge for birds that have been injured by the pollution in New Dehli, has been named the best nonfiction film of 2022 at the 16th annual Cinema Eye Honors ceremony, which took place on Thursday night at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens, New York.

“All That Breathes” previously won the top award at the International Documentary Association’s IDA Documentary Awards, the other major award devoted to nonfiction film. It is also on the 15-film shortlist for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

Laura Poitras won the award for directing for “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,” while “Navalny” won the award for production.

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‘All That Breathes’ Director Shaunak Sen on Breaking Nature Doc Clichés While Filming Hospitalized Birds

In the craft categories, a distinctive feature of the Cinema Eye Honors, the immersive...

CinemaAcclaimed documentary feature 'All That Breathes' set in Delhi, and documentary short 'The Elephant Whisperers' set in Tamil Nadu, also made it to the 95th Academy Awards shortlist. PTIYouTube Screengrab India's official entry to the upcoming Oscars Chhello Show, acclaimed documentary feature All That Breathes, documentary short The Elephant Whisperers, and ‘Naatu Naatu’ — the song from period action blockbuster Rrr — have made it to the 95th Academy Awards shortlist, the organisers said on Thursday, December 22 morning. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the body behind the awards, announced the shortlists in 10 categories: documentary feature film, documentary short film, international feature film, makeup and hairstyling, music (original score), music (original song), animated short film, live action short film, sound, and visual effects. The nominations for the 95th Academy Awards will be announced on January 24, and the Oscars ceremony will be held on March 12, at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood in Los Angeles.

At Sundance last week, Shaunak Sen’s “All That Breathes” won the Grand Jury World Cinema: Documentary Award. This marks yet another milestone in this relatively new filmmaker’s career. His debut documentary, “Cities of Sleep” (2016) won reaped accolades after its premiere at Dok Leipzig. In 2019, he earned the Sundance Documentary Grant to work on this project – then called “Airborne.” Now, with his finished feature in 2022, Sen walks away from the festival as the only Asian contestant to win a Grand Jury prize this year.

“All That Breathes“ is screening at San Diego Asian Film Festival

In Sen’s sophomore feature, two Muslim men (Mohammad Saud and Nadeem Shehzad) work on their bird rehabilitation clinic in India. They are specialists in “black kites” – the common birds that populate the Delhi skies. Their dedication to the avians knows no bounds. They swim across inlets to rescue injured animals; hide rodents in...

Vladimir Putin may prefer that people forget about imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, but the Cinema Eye Honors isn’t.

The awards show dedicated to the art and craft of documentary film today announced its 2023 Unforgettables list of the most memorable subjects of nonfiction films this year, and Navalny’s name was front and center. The story of the lawyer and anti-corruption crusader, who was almost killed in a Kremlin poisoning plot in 2020, is told in the award-winning film Navalny, directed by Daniel Roher.

Joining Navalny on the Unforgettables list is another political leader — Gabby Giffords, the former Congresswoman from Arizona who was severely injured in an assassination attempt in 2011. Her difficult road to recovery and return to activism is told in Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down, directed by Betsy West and Julie Cohen.

Artist Nan Goldin

Nan Goldin, the artist at the center of the Laura Poitras...

The cream of the current crop of young Indian documentary filmmakers were on fire during the annual Doc Day at the Cannes Film Market, discussing ways of expressing dissent within India’s current political dispensation.

Since 2014, India has been ruled by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. Shaunak Sen’s “All That Breathes” is showing as a special screening at the festival and previously won the documentary grand jury prize at Sundance. It follows Delhi-based Muslim brothers Mohammad Saud and Nadeem Shehzad, who, against the backdrop of the territory’s polluted atmosphere and escalating sectarian violence, devote their lives to saving the black kite bird species.

“I was absolutely certain that this film was not a snapshot of the current political moment; this film’s main interests were ecological and the human-bird relationship,” Sen said. “However, the last couple of years, especially in Delhi, have been chaotic, and it doesn...

At Sundance last week, Shaunak Sen’s “All That Breathes” won the Grand Jury World Cinema: Documentary Award. This marks yet another milestone in this relatively new filmmaker’s career. His debut documentary, “Cities of Sleep” (2016) won reaped accolades after its premiere at Dok Leipzig. In 2019, he earned the Sundance Documentary Grant to work on this project – then called “Airborne.” Now, with his finished feature in 2022, Sen walks away from the festival as the only Asian contestant to win a Grand Jury prize this year.

In Sen’s sophomore feature, two Muslim men (Mohammad Saud and Nadeem Shehzad) work on their bird rehabilitation clinic in India. They are specialists in “black kites” – the common birds that populate the Delhi skies. Their dedication to the avians knows no bounds. They swim across inlets to rescue injured animals; hide rodents in their pockets; tirelessly apply for grants to keep operations running. The...

Often more than 10 times worse than in any other city on Earth, the air in Delhi is so toxic and inhospitable to life itself that birds regularly fall from the sky like feathered rain. The creatures have done their best to compensate for other symptoms of pollution — one species began singing to each other at a higher pitch in order to pierce through the industrial noise, while another started using discarded cigarette butts as parasite repellent — but there’s no substitute or silver lining for the absence of breathable oxygen.

If the people of Delhi are naturally confronted with the same crisis, they are even less equipped to live with it. Unlike the city’s teeming wildlife, the human population is rendered helpless by its ability (or its need) to assign blame. As a disembodied voice puts it towards the end of Shaunak Sen’s “All That Breathes,” about two...

There’s no scarcity of documentaries on climate change; at the most recent Cannes Film Festival there was even a new program strand entitled “Cinema for the Climate” just to keep up with this ever-expanding genre. It was there Rahul Jain unveiled Invisible Demons, which took viewers into the air polluted streets of Delhi, where heatwaves and rapid floods have become commonplace. It largely focused on a journalist’s attempts to get local politicians to address the crisis and make changes. Her attempts were, depressingly and unsurprisingly, futile.

Invisible Demons frequently came to mind throughout All That Breathes, Shaunak Sen’s powerful documentary looking at unspoken victims of Delhi’s crisis: the birds and other wildlife struggling to survive an increasingly hostile habitat. The twin issues of climate change and Delhi’s ensuing air pollution remain largely unspoken factors in Sen’s film, which in its best moments constructs elaborate...