All That Breathes’ Mohammad Saud says ‘people were crying’ after watching Shaunak Sen’s documentary at Cannes 2022

Mohammad Saud spoke about filmmaker Shaunak Sen and how their documentary All That Breathes left people teary-eyed at Cannes Film Festival 2022. All That Breathes was premiered at Cannes in the Special Screening segment. The documentary won the 2022 L’Oeil d’Or award, the festival’s top prize for documentaries, on May 28. The film is 90-minute long. (Also Read | Cannes Film Festival: Shaunak Sen’s All That Breathes, India’s only entry, wins L’Oeil d’Or for best documentary film)

All That Breathes revolves around the lives of siblings Mohammad Saud and Nadeem Shehzad. They work out of their derelict basement in Delhi’s Wazirabad to rescue and treat injured birds, especially the black kites. The documentary was chosen as the winner by the jury, including Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Holland, Ukrainian writer-director Iryna Tsilyk, French actor Pierre Deladonchamps, journalist Alex Vicente, and Moroccan writer-filmmaker Hicham Falah.

Speaking with Times of India, Mohammad Saud said, “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 (Shaunak had said that when you will get so familiar with the camera that you’ll yawn in front of it, then I’ll take my first shot).”

When asked about Cannes, Mohammad said, “It was a packed house, and we did not just get a long standing ovation, but people were crying in the theatres.”

Speaking about his relationship with the siblings, Shaunak called it a ‘deep kind of friendship where they have opened their lives to me and I have opened large parts of my life to them’. As per the report, Shaunak also said that Mohammad Saud and Nadeem Shehzad have been very respectful of him as an artiste ‘who essentially retains the autonomy of the story that he is telling’.

Announcing the award, the jury said in a note shared on the L’OEil d’Or website, “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 Quijotes who may not save the whole world but do save their world.” The award includes a cash prize of 5,000 euros.