All that wins: Delhi film-maker Shaunak Sen’s big victory at Cannes 2022, artistes & netizens hail young director

The 2022 Cannes Film Festival concluded on a high note for India. Film-maker Shaunak Sen’s ‘All That Breathes’ won the prestigious - 2022 L’Oeil d’Or (Golden Eye) for the best documentary at the 75th Cannes Film Festival.

Sen’s film ‘All That Breathes’ which was the audience favourite at the famed festival chronicles the life of two brothers Nadeem and Saud from Delhi. The brothers, regardless of the deteriorating air quality and stifling social issues in the national capital, devote themselves to rescuing migratory black kites. ‘All That Breathes’, which was edited in Denmark, began filming in 2019.

The documentary was part of the special screenings at the festival and the award was announced by a jury chaired by Polish film-maker Agnieszka Holland. Sen’s film had earlier won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival.


The film took nearly three years to conceptualise. According to Sen, over time the story became sympathetic and cognizant of Delhi’s ecological and social milieu. Recently, the documentary was acquired by HBO.

An Alumni Of JNU
Shaunak Sen, a film-maker and video artist based in Delhi, began documentary film-making in 2016 with ‘Cities of Sleep’. His first film went on to win as many as six international awards for best documentary. Sen is an alumnus of Jamia Milia Islamia University and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).

"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.

Following his victory at the 75th Cannes Film festival, filmmakers, film experts, and netizens hailed the young director for his win.
This is the second time India is winning the L’Oeil d’Or (Golden Eye) for the best documentary. In 2021, film-maker Payal Kapadia won the honour for her film ‘A Night of Knowing Nothing.’