Shaunak Sen’s All That Breathes selected as main slate at 60th New York Film Festival

Shaunak Sen’s All That Breathes has been announced as part of the 32 films that comprise the main slate of the 60th New York Film Festival (NYFF), being held from 30 September to 16 October at the Lincoln Center in New York.  

The Hindi documentary won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary (World Cinema) at Sundance Film Festival and the L’OEil d’or for Best Documentary at Cannes Film Festival earlier this year.

Set in New Delhi, All That Breathes follows brothers Mohammad Saud and Nadeem Shehzad who tend to the birds of prey known as black kites. The brothers save the birds injured due to pollution or kite flying. The festival's website describes the film as a "hypnotic, poignant, and beautifully crafted documentary" wherein Sen "immerses himself with Saud and Shehzad for a portrayal of their struggle to make change that doubles as a diagnosis of a city rocked by turmoil".

Dennis Lim, artistic director of the New York Film Festival, stated, “If there is one takeaway from this year’s Main Slate, it is cinema’s limitless capacity for renewal. Collectively, the films in the program suggest that this renewal takes many forms: breathtaking debuts, veterans pulling off new tricks, filmmakers of all stripes seeking new and surprising forms of expression and representation. We love the range and eclecticism of this group of films and are excited to share it with audiences.”

All That Breathes will be screened alongside other notable titles in the main slate including Ruben Östlund’s Triangle Of Sadness, Park Chan-wook’s Decision To Leave, Charlotte Wells’s debut Aftersun, and Carla Simón’s Alcarràs.

Noah Baumbach’s White Noise will open the festival, with Laura Poitras’s documentary All the Beauty And The Bloodshed as the Centerpiece feature. Elegance Bratton’s The Inspection will be the closing film for the landmark anniversary edition.