Pictured: Shaunak Sen at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival

By Stephanie Ornelas

The 2022 Sundance-supported film All That Breathes has won the L’Œil d’or “Golden Eye” documentary award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. This year’s Golden Eye jury is headed by filmmakers Agnieszka Holland, Iryna Tsilyk and Hicham Falah, actor Pierre Deladonchamps, and journalist Alex Vicente.

The film, which documents a pair of brothers in Delhi who devote countless hours to restoring the health of ailing black kite birds, received a grant from the Sundance Documentary Fund back in 2019, in addition to support from the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program.

Back in January, director Shaunak Sen said during his post-screening Q&A at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival that he hopes All That Breathes will inspire audiences to feel as though they have a relationship with the black kites and their avian relatives. “I want audiences to leave the theater and immediately look up,” he said.

It’s safe to say Sen’s documentary did just that, as it was reported in the Hindustan Times — one of India’s largest news outlets — that, during the festival, audience members were left in tears. The film also won Best Documentary at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival before premiering at Cannes and getting swept up by HBO Max in the process. 

HBO Max has announced the film will be released this fall. Until then, read more from Sen and check out our All That Breathes 2022 Festival recap.