Shaunak on Oscar nom: It ensures visibility

Filmmaker Shaunak Sen is looking forward to representing India at the British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA) 2023 and the Academy Awards this year, as his documentary, All That Breathes (2022), has got an Oscar nomination in the Best Documentary Feature Film category. It is also in the running to win at BAFTA 2023 in the Best Documentary category. “For me, getting an Oscar nomination for the documentary is a great relief. It ensures more visibility [to the project]. It means the project, which we thought was a small, art-house kind of nonfiction piece, will now find more viewership and a bigger constituency than we hoped for,” Sen tells us.

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

The Delhi-based documentary follows two siblings, Mohammad Saud and Nadeem Shehzad, who have devoted their lives to rescuing and treating injured birds, especially the black kites. The film also won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance International Film Festival 2022. It was also showcased at the 75th edition of the Cannes Film Festival.

BAFTA 2023 will be held on February 20 and the Academy Awards will be held on March 12 in Los Angeles, USA. The filmmaker, who attended the Oscar nominees luncheon, shares, “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 movie. So, getting an Oscar nomination was a cautious, guarded hope, not a bullish one. I was expecting a sense of awe as my first reaction, but more than that, it was like a cold rush of relief.”

Talking about his approach while representing India on a global platform, the filmmaker says, “It (both the awards) is a big stage. So, one has to be mindful of the collegial decorum expected from you as a professional.”

Sugandha Rawal