Sundance Film Festival 2022, organized by The Sundance Insititute, recently awarded the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize to Shaunak Sen's documentary, All That Breathes.
Sundance Awards are based out of the United States, and the film festival is considered to be one of the largest in the country.
All That Breathes was given the award in a virtual ceremony online. It was presented by jury member Emilie Bujès. Other jury members included Dawn Porter and Patrick Gaspard.
Shaunak Sen is a documentary filmmaker based out of Delhi, and All That Breathes is set against the social unrest caused by Delhi's poor air quality. Based on the story of two brothers who set out to protect birds known as Black Kites, the film has received a lot of appreciation for its impactful storytelling and depiction.
"This poetic film delivers an urgent political story while constructing a singular and loving portrait of protagonists resisting seemingly inevitable ecological disaster – with humorous touches punctuated by unsentimental depiction of the animal kingdom. For maintaining its suspenseful tension when portraying the interior struggles of its characters and the contradictions in spirituality and materialism they confront, we present the [World Cinema] Grand Jury Prize to All That Breathes," said juror Emilie Bujès.
Shaunak Sen took to Instagram to express his gratitude and wrote, "Feels a bit surreal to say this - we've won the Grand Jury award at the Sundance Film Festival. My deepest, warmest thank you to everyone, everyone, everyone of this film."
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