Directed by: Shaunak Sen
Produced by: Shaunak Sen,Aman Mann’Teddy Leifer
Cinematography: Ben Bernhard,Riju Das,Saumyananda Sahi
Edited by: Charlotte Munch Bengtsen
Music by: Roger Goula
Release date: January 22, 2022
All That Breathes is a 2022 documentary film directed by Shaunak Sen. It is produced by Shaunak Sen, Aman Mann and Teddy Leifer under the banner of Rise Films. The film follows siblings Mohammad Saud and Nadeem Shehzad, who rescue and treat injured birds in India.
The film had its world premiere at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival on January 22, 2022, where it won Grand Jury Prize in World Cinema Documentary Competition. It also had a screening at Cannes Film Festival in the special screening section, where it won the Golden Eye. It was later nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film.
Greetings from the darkness once more. Director Shaunak Sen‘s expert photography and artistic approach in his documentary are impressive, even if the message is a little heavy-handed. His opening shot perfectly captures all of this, as a sea of rats scavenge for food in the trash, while the headlights of an approaching car emphasis that it is humans who have thrown things out of balance.
The majority of the film focuses on two brothers, Nadeem and Saud, who have dedicated much of their lives to wildlife rescue, particularly kite bird rescue. You may consider yourself a nature enthusiast or even an environmentalist, but these two are said to have treated over 20,000 birds.
Documentarian Sen has created a film that is neither about nature nor about climate change. New Delhi is one of the most overcrowded and polluted cities on the planet. The film’s purpose is to remind us that all creatures must breathe the same air, and when that air is so bad that birds fall from the sky, it can be assumed that the other beings in the area ā people, rats, dogs, cows, pigs, and mosquitoes ā are also suffering.
These brothers believe that their efforts may have a spiritual or religious payoff, but that the most important thing is to make a difference,even if it is only to the kite birds flying above.We also recognize that humans have tainted the air and land and are the driving force behind wars. Regardless, nature endures, even if society does not. Sen’s film is a little long, but he makes certain that all viewers understand.
Bottomline
Wonderfully constructed, culturally fascinating craft with a clear message!!!
