Shaunak Sen on Oscar nod for All That Breathes: It brings confidence to keep soldiering on

Filmmaker Shaunak Sen reveals what an Oscar nod for his documentary All That Breathes mean for his career

Shaunak Sen is all pepped up to represent India at the BAFTA as well as Oscars with his documentary All That Breathes, and the filmmaker admits getting noticed by the Academy instils a new sense of confidence in him.

Indian film director Shaunak Sen at he 75th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes (AFP)

Sen’s documentary film All That Breathes has clinched an Oscar nomination for India in the Documentary Feature Film category. It is also in the running to win a BAFTA in the documentary category, where it will be competing against All the beauty and the Bloodshed, Fire of Love, Moonage Daydream, and Navalny.

“For me, getting an Oscar nomination for the documentary means a great relief. The first thing it does is that it ensures more visibility (to the project). It means that the project, which we thought was a small, possibly an arthouse kind of nonfiction piece, will now find far more viewership and a far bigger constituency than we could have ever really hoped for,” Sen tells us.

He adds, “More than that, it also gives me quiet confidence to keep soldiering on with the oblique thoughts that one’s creative mind often comes up with”.

The Delhi-based documentary follows two siblings, Mohammad Saud and Nadeem Shehzad, who have devoted their lives to rescue and treat injured birds, especially the Black Kites. The film also won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, and was showcased at the 75th edition of Cannes Film Festival as well.

Sen has been on the road travelling with the film for quite a long time, and is now happy that with the project getting noticed internationally, the journey is culminating on a happy note. The BAFTA award ceremony will be held on February 20, and Oscar award gala will be held on March 12 in Los Angeles, US.

“We were putting in the due diligence and the work for a while now. I had been on the road for the past several months, showing the film to as many people as I could. I was trying to do everything that could help the film generally. So, getting an Oscar nomination was a cautious, guarded hope rather than a kind of bullish hope. I was expecting a sense of awe as my first reaction but more than that, it was like a cold rush of relief,” says the maker.

Talking about representing India on a global platform, Sen shares, “It is a big stage so one has to be mindful of the collegial decorum that you’re expected as a professional. As somebody who will be seen as coming from a particular national context, one has to behave responsibly, and represent, which I intend to do with full zeal”.