Shaunak Sen’s evocative documentary film ‘All That Breathes’ has won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize at the ongoing Sundance Film Festival 2022 in the documentary category. The winning film was announced in the wee hours of Saturday morning (India time) on the official Twitter handle of Sundance.
Have a look at the Twitter post announcing Shaunak Sen’s win –
https://twitter.com/sundancefest/status/1487200610013171712?t=6y4_6gHcK3Dli2vPPkcX2g&s=19
‘All That Breathes’ is set in the backdrop of Delhi, and its debilitating pollution and smog — second only to Beijing globally. In a city where even humans are left gasping for a mouthful of vital, life-giving, pollution-free oxygen, tiny creatures such as birds get the short end of the stick. Birds of all sizes and evolutionary tenacity routinely drop dead in the Delhi pollution. ‘All That Breathes’ captures the obsessive passion of two not-so-well-off Muslim brothers to save hundreds of birds from one of Delhi’s most beloved bird species, the black kite.
Brothers Mohammad Saud and Nadeem Shehzad gave up promising body-building careers, to devote their time, knowledge of the physiology of bodies, and limited financial resources, to save more than 20,000 black kites in the last 20 years. The brothers run their veterinary organisation, called ‘Wildlife Rescue’ from a rundown basement in Wazirabad village. ‘All That Breathes’ shines an evocative spotlight on their altruistic activities.
Shaunak Sen’s earlier documentary film, ‘Cities of Sleep’, had captured another stunning aspect of India’s capital city – the numerous, crisscrossing underground networks that harbour the poor and homeless of Delhi – an unlikely microcosm that flourishes largely unseen and unnoticed.
The IMDb Logline for ‘All That Breathes‘ reads,
“The darkening backdrop of Delhi’s apocalyptic air and escalating violence, two brothers devote their lives to protect one casualty of the turbulent times: the bird known as the Black Kite”.
Shaunak Sen’s Sundance win is indeed a proud moment for the impassioned filmmaker, and for the whole of India.
We’re hiring!
We are hiring two full-time junior to mid-level writers with the option to work remotely. You need to work a 5-hour shift and be available to write. Interested candidates should email their sample articles to [email protected]. Applications without a sample article will not be considered.
