Oscars 2023: Shaunak Sen's All That Breathes eyeing win; know all about the documentary

Shaunak Sen's directorial All That Breathes is nominated in the Best Documentary Feature Film category at Oscars 2023. It is based on the story of two Delhi brothers, Nadeem and Saud, who run a bird hospital for injured black kites that fall from the sky.

Working in a severely polluted environment and amid mounting social unrest, the siblings, aided by a younger cousin, double down on their task with zeal. Ahead of the Academy Awards, here’s everything you need to know about the critically acclaimed documentary.  

Shanuak Sen on All That Breathes

When asked in an interview with PTI, where and how did Shaunak Sen find Nadeem and Saud? The director said, All That Breathes was inspired by an image of a bird falling from a grey, monotone sky. "The first set of people that I met were the two brothers," Sen said.

The film is the result of three years of recordings with the siblings as they work in a small, cramped basement. "The moment you step into Planet Basement (where the brothers nurse injured black kites and other birds back to health), you are struck by the surreal and absurd nature of the claustrophobic space and all that is going on in there," said Sen about Nadeem and Saud's enterprise.

All That Breathes' previous wins 

All That Breathes released in January 2022 at the Sundance Film Festival. Following the screening HBO announced that it had acquired the documentary's worldwide television rights. After the theatrical release in the United States through Submarine Deluxe and Sideshow, the film was broadcast on HBO Max. 

The Shaunak Sen directorial has won the Grand Jury Prize in the World Cinema Documentary Competition at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival and the Golden Eye award for the best documentary at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.

It is now competing with Laura Poitras’s All The Beauty And The Bloodshed, Sara Dosa’s Fire of Love, Simon Lereng Wilmont’s A House Made of Splinters and Daniel Roher’s Navalny at Oscars 2023. The ceremony will take place on Sunday, March 13 (IST), at the Dolby Theatre, Ovation Hollywood.