After a major victory at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, All That Breathes has continued its strong early-year festival run by picking up the L’Oeil D’Or, the Cannes Film Festival’s top documentary prize.
Directed by Shaunak Sen (Cities of Sleep), All That Breathes follows “the kite brothers,” two siblings who run a New Delhi bird hospital dedicated to saving injured black kites. Their work is framed within the context of environmental pollution and civic unrest within the city.
“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,” the award’s jury note stated.
“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 Quixotes who may not save the whole world, but do save their world.”
The Cannes honor follows the film’s win of the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize at Sundance earlier this year. The documentary was recently acquired by HBO Documentary Films.
In Cannes’ documentary competition, the festival jury’s Special Award was presented to Mariupolis 2 from Lithuanian filmmaker Mantas Kvedaravičius. The documentary returns to the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, which was the focus of the director’s 2016 Mariupolis.
Kvedaravičius was killed earlier this year during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, leaving the film unfinished. His fiancée Hanna Bilobrova completed the project, along with Kvedaravičius’ other producers and collaborators.