Indian documentary 'All That Breathes', directed by Shaunak Sen, lost out the Best Documentary Feature award to 'Navalny' at the 95th Academy Awards on Monday. The loss didn't go down too well among netizens, who took to Twitter to express their shock and disappointment.
Comedian Vir Das took to his handle to say, "Heartbroken for #AllThatBreathes I thought it was the best documentary hands down. A beautiful beautiful film."
Many others echoed his thoughts and wondered how a documentary that focused on ecological matters was snubbed for one of geopolitical relevance.
A Twitter user commented, "The Oscars snub for #AllThatBreathes in favour of geopolitical relevance does not matter. It remains one of the most profound and vital pieces of cinema in recent years. As the political and ecological become more entangled, it will be watched and discussed beyond this moment."
Another said, "What makes #AllThatBreathes such an important film for me is that it explores human/non-human relationships NOT in the usual contexts of environmental cinema (forests, mountains etc), but rather in an urban dystopia. It makes something magical out of very unpromising material."
Another asked if the Oscar jury was merely 'following the hype' around popular films and movies to decide the winner of the awards. "...was the Oscar jury merely following the hype that was created around? We should come out of the fallacy and accept the fact that there were many deserving nominees in different categories but didn't won. As for example 'All that breathes'," read the post.
Other nominees in the Best Documentary category included 'Fire of Love', 'All The Beauty And The Bloodshed' and 'A House Made of Splinters'.
'Navalny', directed by Daniel Roher, revolves around Russian Opposition leader Alexei Navalny and events related to his poisoning. On August 20, 2020, Navalny was poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent, falling sick during a flight from Tomsk to Moscow, and was hospitalised in serious condition.
Navalny was taken to a hospital in Omsk after an emergency landing there, and put in a coma. Two days later, he was evacuated to the Charite hospital in Berlin, Germany.
While accepting the award, director Daniel Roher made a political statement as he said that as Alexei Navalny languishes in prison, he calls out the unjust invasion of Ukraine by Russia and Vladimir Putin.
'All That Breathes' is a documentary set in Delhi which follows two siblings, Mohammad Saud and Nadeem Shehzad, who have devoted their lives to rescuing and treating injured birds, especially black kites.
The film explores the rapidly evolving ecology of Delhi through a story that intertwines the fates of black kites and two brothers who set out to save them from death. Shaunak uses the bird's story to shed light on the relationship between the people of Delhi and their environment and provides an insightful look into the complex relationship between nature and humanity.
The critically-acclaimed film previously won the 'World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary' at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival and the Golden Eye award for the best documentary at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.
This is the second upset for India in the category as last year 'Writing With Fire' lost out to Questlove's 'Summer of Soul (Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)'. 'Writing With Fire' was the first Indian feature documentary to be nominated for an Academy Award.
