The Elephant Whisperers, a Tamil language documentary short, directed by docu filmmaker Kartiki Gonsalves and produced by Guneet Monga, created history at the 95th Oscars by becoming the first Indian film produced by an Indian production to win an Academy Award in the Best Documentary Short Film category. The heartwarming documentary follows an ageing couple Bomman and Bellie — in South India, who foster orphaned elephants. The film shows how they co-exist with nature and share their space and home with lost elephants, who they raise as their own children.

Overwhelmed with joy, and now back in India, Guneet Monga exclusively spoke to Bombay Times after the massive victory. Excerpts...

It will take time for all this to sink in. It feels like a beginning of a new chapter for Indian cinema. This is the first Oscar for an Indian production. My team and I are thrilled to have represented India on a global stage. We are grateful for all the love that this story of indigenous people, an orphan baby elephant Raghu and the caretakers Bommon and Bellie, have received. This documentary touched the hearts of audiences worldwide. It’s a huge honour for us and I dedicate this award to our beautifully diverse country, India. I am glad to be able to serve this vision of bringing women filmmakers to the forefront while winning nothing short of an Oscar.

It was majestic to witness the live performance of Naatu Naatu and watch the song win an Oscar for India. I was almost dancing in my chair and I’m proud that we could share this moment and global stage with S S Rajamouli sir, M M Keeravani, Chandrabose, Ram Charan and Jr NTR. I’d also like to mention that I’m proud of Shaunak Sen’s All That Breathes. The film may not have won, but Shaunak is one of the most promising filmmakers to look out for from India. All three nominations made 2023 a glorious year for India at the Oscars.

I am in awe of Michelle Yeoh’s speech (who won the Best Actress award), especially when she said, “Ladies, don’t let anybody tell you that you are past your prime.” I think she spoke for every woman in the world.

I was very disheartened about my speech being cut off. There was shock on my face. I just wanted to say it’s India’s first Oscar in Indian production, which is such a huge thing. My heart started racing as I couldn’t reach so far and not be heard. Western media is pulling up the Academy that I did not get to speak. There are also tweets and videos online expressing disappointment over it. This was India’s moment taken away from me. But then, I thought it’s okay, I will come back here and I will make sure I am heard. I have got multiple opportunities to share my thoughts and it’s heartening to receive all the love.

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History was made at the 95th Academy Awards when The Elephant Whisperers (2022) produced by Guneet Monga and directed by Kartiki Gonsalves, won the Best Documentary Short Film statuette. The 41-minute documentary narrates the tale of an orphaned elephant calf, Raghu, put in the care of mahouts, Bomman and Bellie. The Oscar win brought focus to the care of elephants and made the world stand up and take notice of Indian stories, including her film, which has paved the way for change, says Monga. 

Elaborating on how the victory created a positive impact for the welfare of elephants in Tamil Nadu, says, “We witnessed the power of storytelling after the win. The state government announced Rs. 1 lakh from the CM Relief Fund for each of the 91 elephant caretakers in the two camps of the state, as a token of appreciation. It also allocated Rs. 9.1 crores to build homes for mahouts and Rs. 5 crores has been allotted to develop an elephant camp in the Anamalai Tiger Reserve. CM MK Stalin has also felicitated Bommon and Bellie.” Happy with the difference she has managed to make, Monga adds, “We will continue to tell stories that matter and stories that make a difference.” 

What makes this award more special for Monga is the fact that “two women won it”. She shares, “I’m so proud and honoured that Kartiki (who debuted with the film) and I were the only two women representing India at the Oscars this year and won the first award for an Indian production. This is historic and a message for my fellow women.” 

Sharing the joy of witnessing fellow artistes make India proud on the Oscars stage, Monga tells us, “It was majestic to witness the live performance of Naatu Naatu (RRR, 2022) and win an Oscar. I’m so proud that we could share this moment with S S Rajamouli sir, MM Keeravani, Chandrabose, Ram Charan and Jr NTR.”

Acknowledging Shaunak Sen, Monga adds, “I’m so proud of All That Breathes (2022). The film may not have won, but Shaunak is one of the most promising filmmakers from India to look out for. All three nominations made 2023 a glorious year for India at the Oscars.”

All That Breathes director Shaunak Sen says he has been flooded with messages of support after his climate change documentary lost out to Navalny at the Oscars. “So many chin-uppy messages of encouragement/support since yesterday. We were low for about an hour, but we’re soon distracted into equanimity amidst the whirl of glittery people and things. Brain is still to wrap around the fact that this is the end of this chapter,” the director wrote on Instagram.

“Next we’ll be working hard to figure India distribution,” he wrote of the film that’s yet to release in India, adding, “For now, very very nice to share this bizarre, swollen day with the brothers, and so many members of our crew. Hugest congratulations to the winning films from India!”

Naatu Naatu from RRR and The Elephant Whisperers emerged as winners in the Original Song and Documentary Short Film categories at the 95th Academy Awards on Sunday. The documentary previously won the World Cinema Grand -Jury Prize: Documentary at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival and the Golden Eye award for the best documentary at the 2022 Cannes.

Set in Delhi, All That Breathes follows siblings, Mohammad Saud and Nadeem Shehzad, who have devoted their lives to rescuing and treating injured birds, especially black kites. The director says, “Anyone who lives in Delhi is aware of the air as kind of a dark and tactile object. I did not think that I was making a film on air pollution at all. The basis of the story is the relationship between the brothers and how they continue treating so many birds, second – the broader landscape of Delhi, and third – the bird itself.”

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Of the three Indian entries for the 95th Academy Awards — two documentaries and a feature film — nominated in different categories, two brought home the coveted trophy. Guneet Monga Kapoor’s The Elephant Whisperers and the song Naatu Naatu from RRR (2022) won awards in their respective categories. However, Shaunak Sen’s All That Breathes (ATB) lost to Daniel Roher’s Navlany in the Best Documentary Feature Film category. Following this, Sen penned a heartfelt Instagram post with a series of pictures in the order of how “the day progressed”.

Taking the loss with a pinch of salt, Sen and his team posed with a moping face. His last Insta Story also showed the actual celebration by the team showing “how it actually ended”. He acknowledged the “chin-uppy messages of encouragement” and wrote, “We were low for about an hour, but were soon distracted into equanimity amid the whirl of glittery people and things. Brain is still to wrap around the fact that this is the end of this chapter.” 

Sen’s carousel featured team pictures gracing the champagne carpet and his caption read, “For now, very very nice to share this bizarre, swollen day with the brothers and so many members of our crew.” Sen extended accolades to the winning Indian films too.  

All That Breathes, a documentary addressing climate change in India, previously won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival and the Golden Eye award for the best documentary at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.

Filmmaker Shekhar Kapur is often credited with putting Indian cinema and makers on the international map with projects such as Bandit Queen (1994) and Elizabeth (1998). The latter had received seven nominations at the 71st Academy Awards and bagged the Best Makeup honour in 1999. As India won two trophies at the recently held Oscars, it’s only fitting to get his reaction to the same.

“I was waiting for this! After Elizabeth, I was waiting for other filmmakers to take it up, and thank God for that. It’s been years,” he says. 

Kapur adds that people should celebrate Shaunak Sen’s All That Breathes equally for getting a nomination. “You shouldn’t discount All That Breathes from India didn’t win — a nomination is as good as a win. It’s a beautiful film,” he shares, adding, “So, two heartfelt documentaries (including The Elephant Whisperers) and a feature film like RRR (2022), have kind of taken the West by storm. It was an Indian melodramatic celebration of what we do best. Internationally, they have opened their arms [for Indian cinema],” shares Kapur.

He also addresses the much-debated aspect of the Academy giving in to popular demand. “It can’t be just art cinema; else it will fall by the wayside,” elaborates the director’s whose film What's Love Got To Do With It? starring Emma Thompson and Shabana Azmi is set for a release in India soon.

So, do we wait for global validation before recognizing our own talent at home? “It’s great to get an Oscar; suddenly the world knows about you, and you get [more] opportunities to work internationally. But I have constantly said that we don’t need validation. And nobody has proven it better than (filmmaker) S S Rajamouli. He has proved it through such an Indian way of making movies and made it so celebratory that the whole of the West is saying, ‘Look at this’.”

Reiterating the fact, Kapur recalls the time when Elizabeth was nominated in seven categories at the 1999 Oscars. “Everybody said, ‘Wow, look at this director’. I said, ‘Wait a minute, I am the same guy who made Bandit Queen, Masoom (1983) and Mr India (1987). Why am I suddenly this amazing director — because the West has come up and said, he is amazing?’,” says Kapur, asserting that validation can make an artiste try “to be who they are not”.

Kapur, who had directed the late actor-filmmaker Satish Kaushik for the iconic character Calendar, in Mr India, shares fond memories of him. “People used to say, ‘Oh My God, if Shekhar is on a honeymoon, Satish will go with him’! That’s how people saw us,” he shares, adding, “Nobody knew that Satish was a brilliant mathematician as well! His death is such a loss; we have lost somebody who was yet to explore his potential, there was so much more.”

Having attended the Oscar nominees’ luncheon this year as a member of the Academy, actor Ali Fazal says meeting Hollywood creative forces such as actors Tom Cruise and Brendan Fraser motivates him to push himself as an artiste.

“I got to meet such wonderful talent from all across the board, and I have watched all of their work. It was a real honour to just have a nice, relaxed afternoon with everyone,” Fazal tells us.

On Wednesday, the 36-year-old Instagrammed pictures from the luncheon, including happy moments with filmmakers Guneet Monga and Shaunak Sen, both of whom have received nods for their documentaries, The Elephant Whisperers and All That Breathes, respectively.

“There are just too many cherished memories from the lunch. Getting fist bumps from Tom Cruise is definitely top of the list, and so is sharing notes with Martin McDonagh (filmmaker) — whose plays I have performed on stage. It was nice to meet Brendan Fraser and a lot of other people out there, and learn that they know of my work. It is encouraging for an actor like me and has been the biggest takeaway from the luncheon,” says the actor, who has found a fan following in the West after starring in Victoria & Abdul (2017) and Death On The Nile (2022).

Talking about his role as an Academy member, Fazal says, “My responsibilities and that of all Indian members is to be on the global stage. Indian Academy members have a role to play in storytelling across the globe,” Fazal shares, adding that he is rooting for the country at the awards this year.

“I am championing all the nominations. We’ve had a great representation from India. All That Breathes (2022) is one of the best films I have seen — and I am not saying this because it is from India and I know the team,” he signs off.

From nominations and awards at the Oscars and BAFTA to accolades at film festivals like Cannes and Sundance, Indian documentaries have made their presence felt at most major global film events in the last few years. This year, two documentaries made it to the Academy Awards shortlist – Shaunak Sen’s All That Breathes and The Elephant Whisperers, directed by Kartiki Gonsalves. Apart from these, Sarvnik Kaur’s Against the Tide bagged the Special Jury Award for Verite Filmmaking at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, and was the only Indian film competing in the World Cinema Documentary Competition category at the fest this year.

According to filmmakers, when it comes to international festivals, Indian documentaries are ahead of their fiction peers. However, these trophies don’t necessarily lead to an immediate pay-off, and documentaries still don’t get the support they need in India.

Filmmakers say that Indian documentaries have been grabbing attention at top international festivals regularly. But it is only now, thanks to the consistent Oscar nominations, that Indian documentaries are being discussed in the mainstream.

Vinay Shukla, whose documentary While We Watched (on Ravish Kumar) won awards at the Toronto and Busan festivals last year, and An Insignificant Man (on Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal) won several awards at international film festivals in 2016, says, “Over the last decade, we have had some incredible filmmakers who are taking risks and telling stories with the best cinematic craft. International festivals and audiences respect and support that.”

Filmmaker Lubdhak Chatterjee adds, “There has been a spotlight on Indian documentaries internationally for a while because of intriguing content featuring local stories that also present an innovative formal approach. If stories are told with an uncompromising attitude, they are bound to transcend geographical borders.”

With international recognition, are documentaries commercially viable today? Directors have varied responses to this, as it depends upon the grants they receive, and the producers and investors they have on board. However, most point out that there is no support structure for documentaries in India. Pitching and mentorship labs like Docedge Kolkata – an incubation-cum-pitching forum for Indian and Asian filmmakers – help. However, there is a need for more such platforms.

Lubdhak, who made a documentary with the PSBT (Public Service Broadcasting Trust), says that earlier makers used to have Films Division and PSBT for support, which is not the case now. A screening at Cannes, a nomination at Oscars or international recognition translates into distribution deals from studios or OTTs in some cases, but not all. Sushmit Ghosh and Rintu Thomas, directors of Writing With Fire, recently told Deadline how they did not get a global distribution deal despite two awards at Sundance 2021. The Oscar nomination was a gamechanger, though.

Utpal Kalal, whose documentary was screened at IFFI in 2021, says that OTT platforms in India often refuse Indian documentaries, claiming there is no audience. He says, “Not all good documentaries are going to be selected for Sundance, Oscars or Cannes, so we need a system in India that supports documentary investment and distribution. The international interest has always been there but there is so much that needs to be done in India. It should start with supporting filmmakers beyond festival screenings. Why can’t we have global distributors at IFFI and Mumbai International Film Festival? Even National Award-winning films don’t get distribution deals. These big Indian festivals need to reflect what they’re offering to the documentary genre and whether it is enough. Our Writing With Firestories are being watched by an international audience, but the Indian audience is missing out. How many people in India have watched Writing With Fire? We’re making amazing documentaries, but unfortunately we’re not able to show them to our home audience. In India, it’s almost impossible to get a theatrical release for a docu, so we’re all dependent on OTT.”

- Community and audience support

- Funding for documentaries, which is nearly non-existent at the moment, say makers

- State bodies like the erstwhile Films Division and NFDC need to create a system to support documentaries

- Cinema clubs or places that screen films by amateur documentary filmmakers

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History has been created. RRR, directed by S S Rajamouli, has bagged a nomination at the prestigious Academy Awards for Naatu Naatu (Best Original Song category). And as far as cherries on the cake go, there is not one but two — Shaunak Sen’s All That Breathes (Best Documentary Feature) and Guneet Monga Kapoor-produced The Elephant Whisperers (Documentary Short Subject), too, bagged nods.

In a celebratory note, Rajamouli wrote, “The main reason is Taarak (Jr NTR) and (Ram) Charan’s sync and style.” He acknowledged Naatu Naatu’s dance routine, which people have tried to recreate all over the world. “Sorry for the torture but I will not hesitate to do it again,” he further wrote about the song, which will compete against Applause from Tell It Like A Woman (2022), starring Jacqueline Fernandez.

M M Keeravaani, who composed the song, told Deadline, “The Oscars involve the dreams of artistes from all over the world, which is not a joke. I’m very proud to be nominated for the first time from [South] Asia in this music category. I’m thrilled.”

Kapoor tweeted, “This film is an ode to devotion and love..an ode to selfless love for the beautiful baby ellie Raghu who felt all the emotions like us humans but only two could hear his whispers - Bomman and Bellie (sic).”

The awards show will take place on March 13, and fans will look forward to seeing the golden statuette (or statuettes!) home this time.

When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released its list of films eligible for the Oscars, the Indian social media space was atwitter — there were several desi productions on the list. Soon messages of congratulations for the ‘shortlisted’, ‘qualified’ and ‘nominated’ films started pouring in, and the artistes associated with these projects started giving media bytes.

However, along with all this backslapping, there was a growing murmur of confusion — where was this nomination list/shortlist that these films were supposedly on? Online, celebration and confusion co-existed and continue to do so. Few cine buffs and fans were acquainted with the nuances that differentiated qualification, nomination and shortlisting.

Those who took the time to search soon got a clearer picture — over 10 Indian productions, along with 290 other films, were ‘eligible’ for nominations for Oscars. That’s all.

Technically, this list of films is called the Reminder List, and being a part of it just means that a film can officially compete in various categories, but merely featuring in it does not guarantee a spot in the final nominations list. The Academy has some criteria to decide if a film can be deemed eligible for an Oscar nomination.

According to Monday’s press announcement, “To be eligible for consideration under rules implemented for the 95th Academy Awards year, feature films must open in a commercial motion picture theater in at least one of six US metropolitan areas: Los Angeles County; the City of New York; the Bay Area; Chicago, Illinois; Miami, Florida; and Atlanta, Georgia, between January 1, 2022, and December 31, 2022, and complete a minimum qualifying run of seven consecutive days in the same venue. Feature films must have a running time of more than 40 minutes (sic).”

There are several other criteria that the films need to fulfil to be considered for an Oscars nomination. A host of Indian feature films have met these criteria – RRR, Kantara, Iravin Nizhal, Gangubai Kathiawadi, Rocketry: The Nambi Effect, Me Vasantrao, The Kashmir Files, Chhello Show, The Next Morning, and Vikrant Rona. Documentaries All That Breathes by Shaunak Sen and Kartiki Gonsalves’ The Elephant Whisperers are also part of the list.

So what about the actors named in the list? According to Academy rules, for every film that makes it to the Reminder List, up to ten actors and actresses from it are eligible for nomination. This does not, however, mean any of these actors have individually made the nomination cut at the Oscars for their performance.

The Academy members began voting on January 12 to decide the nominees for each category. The nominations will be announced on January 24. After that, in a second round of voting, the members will pick the winners. 

It’s not that no films have made it to the Oscars shortlist yet. The Academy announced the shortlist for 10 categories just before Christmas and four Indian films are in contention – probably a first! These are Chhello Show (International Film), the RRR song Naatu Naatu (Original Song), All That Breathes (Documentary Feature) and The Elephant Whisperers (Documentary Short). Making it to the shortlist is the first step towards grabbing a nomination for the big night in March. Let’s wait for that!

An industry expert told us, “Not all categories at the Oscars have shortlists. Final nominations for categories like Best Film, Best Actor (Male and Female) for instance, will be directly announced on January 24. All the entries that meet the criteria of submission are eligible or are up for consideration in these categories and they all comprise the ‘REMINDER LIST’. RRR, Kantara, Gangubai Kathiawadi, The Kashmir Files, Me Vasantrao and Tuzhya Sathi Kahi Hi, Rocketry : The Nambi Effect, Iravin Nizhal, and Vikrant Rona all feature on the Oscar Reminder List. This list will also have a Top Gun: Maverick or Avatar: The Way Of Water or Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on Monday that 301 feature films are eligible for nominations for the 95th Oscars in its annual reminder list. Among the Indian feature films in it are RRR, Kantara and Gangubai Kathiawadi, besides the documentaries All That Breathes and The Elephant Whisperers. The list only mentions the films ‘eligible’ for Oscars. A film’s inclusion in it does not guarantee that it will advance to the nominations list.

From the Indian films listed in it, in the shortlist for 10 categories unveiled in December, Chhello Show made it to the best international film segment, while Naatu Naatu from RRR found a place in the original song category. All That Breathes was included in the documentary feature shortlist and The Elephant Whisperers in the documentary short category.

The 9,579 eligible voting members will begin filling out their ballots on Thursday, January 12 and ballots will close on January 17. The official Oscar nominations will be announced January 24, with the ceremony airing live on March 12 from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

The reminder list includes all the films that are eligible to compete in various categories whether those films are official submissions from the country or not. Inclusion in the reminder list does not guarantee that the film will advance in the nominations list which will be announced on January 24.

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The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) has come out with a list of 301 feature films eligible for Oscars, and last year’s Indian films RRR, Gangubai Kathiawadi, The Kashmir Files (TKF) and Kantara, have made the cut. The list includes films that can officially compete in various categories. But featuring in the list doesn’t guarantee that the film will make it to the final nominations that will be announced on January 24.

Filmmaker Pan Nalin’s Chhello Show (2021), India’s official Oscars entry, also features in the list. Other 2022 releases include Me Vasantrao, Tujhya Sathi Kahi Hi, Rocketry: The Nambi Effect, Iravin Nizhal and Vikrant Rona, and documentaries All That Breathes and The Elephant Whisperers. Among the listed films, Chhello Show, RRR, All That Breathes and The Elephant Whisperers have already made it to the Oscars shortlist for four categories.

TKF director Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri tweeted, “#TheKashmirFiles has been shortlisted for #Oscars2023 in the first list of @TheAcademy. It’s one of the 5 films from India. I wish all of them very best. A great year for Indian cinema. (sic).”

India’s official entry to the upcoming Oscars Chhello Show, documentary feature All That Breathes, documentary short The Elephant Whisperers, and the song Naatu Naatu from RRR have made it to the 95th Academy Awards shortlist.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the shortlists in 10 categories, including documentary feature film, documentary short film, international feature film, makeup and hairstyling and music, among others.

While Chhello Show is part of the international feature film shortlist, Naatu Naatu appears on the music (original song) shortlist. All That Breathes and The Elephant Whisperers are included in the shortlists of documentary feature and documentary short segments, respectively. There are 15 contenders in the shortlists of each of these four categories.

The nominations for the 95th Academy Awards will be announced on January 24, while the Oscars ceremony will be held on March 12, at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood in Los Angeles. Jimmy Kimmel will return to host the Academy Awards for the third time.

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Indian cinema is shining in the nominations list for the Academy Awards. India’s official Oscars 2023 entry, Chhello Show, the documentary feature All That Breathes, documentary short The Elephant Whisperers and the song Naatu Naatu from RRR have made it to the 95th Academy Awards shortlist, the organisers announced on Thursday morning.

Naatu Naatu was shortlisted in the Best Original Song category, while Chhello Show made it to the International Feature Film list. All That Breathes is in the Documentary Feature Film category and The Elephant Whisperers is in the Documentary Short Film category.

Meanwhile, the makers of Kantara have also sent in their entry. “We have submitted our application for Oscars for Kantara and have our fingers crossed as the final nominations are yet to come,” producer Vijay Kiragandur told India Today.

“There is something really hypnotic about the human-animal relationship, especially human and avian, philosophically as well as emotionally. I found that incredibly interesting and I wanted to explore that,” says filmmaker Shaunak Sen, who has spent the last week under the spotlight, and rightfully so. His documentary All That Breathes has won the 2022 L’Oeil d’Or, also known as The Golden Eye award, at the recently concluded Cannes Film Festival 2022.

Amidst his chaotic schedule of prancing between panels and screenings, Sen finds a small window to speak to mid-day about his real-life film that has bagged the festival’s top prize for documentaries. The Delhi-based filmmaker’s first feature length documentary Cities Of Sleep (2015) dived into the infamous “sleep mafia” of Delhi and highlighted how securing a safe sleeping spot often becomes a question of life and death for homeless people in the capital city. This time, he captured the life of two brothers, Nadeem Shehzad and Mohammad Saud, and their work of rescuing and treating birds, especially black kites, out of their basement-turned-bird hospital in Wazirabad, a village in Delhi NCR.

“We read about these two brothers who had saved over 25,000 black kites so far. They were the first ones we interviewed and we stuck with them. Even their crammed and damp basement where they work is inherently cinematic. The story as a whole was like a trifecta of the ecological aspect in a poetic and lyrical form,” says Sen over a telephonic chat from Tel Aviv.

This is not the first time that the documentary has found itself under the spotlight. In January, it won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. The praise that the film received from the jury at Cannes is also noteworthy. “L’OEil d’Or goes to a film that, in a world of destruction, reminds us that every life matters, and every small action matters. You can grab your camera, you can save a bird, you can hunt for some moments of stealing beauty, it matters. It’s an inspirational journey in observation of three Don Quixotes who may not save the whole world but do save their world,” read the note shared by the jury on the official website.

The director, who is still processing the win and the praise coming his way, says it was humbling even being nominated along some of the best documentary makers. All That Breathes competed against Chilean documentarian Patricio Guzman’s My Imaginary Country, which looks at mass protests that exploded in Santiago in 2019 when citizens took to the streets demanding better democracy and social equality; and, Ethan Coen’s Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind, which presents the story of the great wild man of rock and roll Lewis, among other films.

“This was an unusually difficult film to make, taking over three years and alongside deep personal losses for the crew. We’re thrilled that the film is getting these honours.” 

Interestingly, the documentary has had three cinematographers working on it at different stages, something that Sen feels worked in its favour. “Initially, it was Saumyananda Sahi but when the shooting schedule did not match his timeline, we got Riju Das on board. He added a visual grammar to the film with his tilt and pan shots. We were also extremely lucky to work with Ben Bernand, a German filmmaker, who changed the visual grammar with his long cut shots, adding a stillness to the film, which aptly depicts the passage of time,” he shares.

Before setting off to attend yet another panel at the Docaviv International Documentary Film FestivalTel Aviv, Sen admits being overjoyed with the response coming his way for the big win. “Congratulatory messages have also been pouring from actors and filmmakers like Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Ranveer Singh, Shekhar Kapur; responses from Vikramaditya Motwane and Anand Gandhi have been extremely warm.”

Delhi-based filmmaker Shaunak Sen’s documentary All That Breathes, which is set in Delhi, has won the L’Oeil d’Or – the top documentary award at Cannes. The documentary, which premiered in the Special Screening segment at the Cannes Film Festival, also won the ‘World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary’ at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival.

Shaunak, who is still processing this victory, says, “It’s a blur and life takes on a dizzying kind of density which is unprecedented at least for me. I’m not used to any of this (the spotlight). I’m shy and reclusive, especially on social media. It’s not that I’m constantly posting about stuff. It doesn’t come easy to me. Of course, I’m grateful for everything that happened. We all are thrilled, but also I’m constantly trying to steal moments of quiet and calm as much as I can.”

The documentary has long sequences of rats, turtles and other forms of wildlife in Delhi as Shaunak wanted to narrate the story of all that breathes.

Shaunak says that the film’s title gestures toward the kinship that is inherent in living beings. “It’s like ontological neighbourliness between different species,” he says.

The description of the documentary states — from their makeshift bird hospital in their tiny basement, the ‘kite brothers’ care for thousands of these mesmeric creatures that drop daily from New Delhi’s smog-choked skies. As environmental toxicity and civil unrest escalate, the relationship between this Muslim family and the neglected kite forms a poetic chronicle of the city’s collapsing ecology and rising social tensions.

Shaunak adds, “Anyone who lives in Delhi is acutely aware of air as kind of a dark and tactile object. But even in the farthest reaches of my imagination, I did not think that I was making a film on air pollution at all. The basis of the story is the relationship between the brothers and how they continue treating so many birds every day, second — the broader landscape of Delhi, and third — the bird itself which I was interested in.”

All That Breathes is a collaboration between an Indian director, a German DOP (Director of photography), and a Danish film editor. Shaunak’s visual narrative in the documentary has been inspired by Russian director Viktor Kossakovsky’s work as he wanted to bring that narrative to show Delhi’s apocalyptic background. Critics have praised the ‘fantastic macro cinematography’ of the documentary on which three DOPs — Ben Bernhard, Riju Das, and Saumyananda Sahi — worked.

Shaunak says that his idea was “to render the scientific into the poetic”. He says, “The documentary is a poetic sort of formulation that includes the scientific, social and the emotional.”

In an interview with a film magazine, Ben Bernhard spoke about one of the most difficult shots of the documentary — the opening sequence. He was quoted as saying, “Shaunak and I wanted to not only show the rats but to be in the middle of them while connecting the animals to the city life.”

The film was mostly edited in Copenhagen by Danish film editor Charlotte Munch Bengtsen. Shaunak says, “She wanted to find a structure between extreme compression — which is the claustrophobic basement of the brothers, and decompression — the vista of the city itself.”

Talking about Mohammad Saud and Nadeem Shehzad, the brothers on whom Shaunak has based the documentary, he says, “It’s a deep kind of friendship where they have opened their lives to me and I have opened large parts of my life to them. They have always been very respectful of me as an artiste who essentially retains the autonomy of the story that he is telling.”

Both the brothers bring fallen kites home and sometimes the number is around 30 a day. They provide medical attention to these kites and feed them, and till now, they have rescued over 24,000 birds. When did they start rescuing kites?

Mohammad Saud says, “When I was around 10-11 years old, I found a kite and I took it to a hospital behind Red Fort, but they refused to operate it as it is a meat-eating bird. I spent the whole day going from one hospital to the other, but everywhere I took the bird, they refused to operate. Shaam mein haar kar maine usse wahin rakh diya jahan se uthaya. Over the years, I kept seeing these birds dying on the road, but I never picked them again because I knew I would not be able to help them. In 2003, one day, I found a black kite and decided to do whatever I can on my own.”

Critics have praised the documentary for its intensity and telling the story as if the camera is not even in the room. Saud says, “Shaunak came to meet us in December 2018 and for the next three years it continued. Shaunak ne kaha tha jab aap camera se itne familiar ho jayenge ki aap camera ke samne yawn karne lagenge tab main apna pehla shot lunga.”

Mohammad Saud and Nadeem Shehzad also attended the screening at Cannes and Saud says, “It was a packed house, and we did not just get a long standing ovation, but people were crying in the theatres.”

Shaunak adds, “I think there is a quiet grace to trying something very hard and then getting the success that it is earned and justified.”

Delhi-based film director Shaunak Sen, a former student of Jamia Millia Islamia and JNU, received the prestigious L’OEil D’Or award, also known as The Golden Eye, for his poetic and environmentally-sensitive documentary, ‘All That Breathes’, at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday.

The jury said, “L’OEil d’Or goes to a film that, in a world of destruction, reminds us that every life matters, and every small action matters. You can grab your camera, you can save a bird, you can hunt for some moments of stealing beauty, it matters. It’s an inspirational journey in observation of three Don Quixotes who may not save the whole world but do save their world.”

The award includes a cash prize of 5,000 euros.

Against the darkening backdrop of New Delhi’s apocalyptic air and escalating violence, Shaunak Sen’s ‘All That Breathes’, the film that bagged the Golden Eye Award at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday, maps the lives of two brothers, Saud and Nadeem, who have devoted their lives to rescuing and treating the black kite from a rundown basement in Wazirabad.

“I am not interested in making either conventional ‘nature-based’ programming or a ‘wildlife’ documentary. My focus is neither limited to the life of the human protagonists nor the avian ones. The city itself – replete with the many human-animal ensembles in it – features in the film as a character,” the 34-year-old film director said in a director’s note put on the Cannes film festival website.

Earlier in January, the 88-minute documentary had received the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance International Film Festival. The film is dedicated to Sen’s father, who passed away following a stroke last July.

“In recent months, Nadeem and Saud have felt under siege from factors other than Delhi’s ongoing environmental catastrophe. The family grapples with the seismic ecological and political changes taking place around them and their relationship with their work comes under severe stress,” Sen further writes.

“The film experiences many of these macro-level changes through intimate details, as the family deals with them. Sometimes through trepidation, sometimes through instinctive fear, sometimes with wry humour, occasionally with ugly in-fighting, but mostly – with quiet courage,” he says.

Work on the film, which was edited in Denmark, began in 2019. In an earlier interview to The Times of India, Sen had explained the film germinated in his head. He spoke of “the grey hazy monotone laminates our life”, the “tiny dots” or black kites which glide on the city’s skies.