Shaunak Sen's documentary 'All That Breathes' part of Cannes Film Festival's Special Screening

Cannes Film Festival announces official fest line-up, Indian documentary ‘ All That Breathes ’ in Special Screening section. The 10-day festival, considered one of the most prestigious gathering of cinema talent from across the world, will also see Hollywood spectacles such as Top Gun: Maverick  and the Elvis Presley biopic its 75th edition. “All That Breathes” by Delhi-based director Shaunak Sen will premiere in the Special Screening segment at the festival, the organisers said in an announcement that was live streamed on their official Twitter page.

The 90-minute long documentary follows siblings Mohammad Saud and Nadeem Shehzad, who have devoted their lives to rescue and treat injured birds, especially the Black Kites. Working out of their derelict basement in Wazirabad, the Delhi brothers become the central focus of the film and their story zooms out to document a larger snapshot of the city, where the air is toxic and the ground is on a slowburn of social turmoil.

In January, the film won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival, a film gala that promotes independent cinema and filmmakers. It is Sen’s second directorial after the acclaimed 2016 “Cities of Sleep”, which was about the homeless scouting for places to sleep in the capital. There is no Indian film in the Un Certain Regard section but neighbouring country Pakistan’s ‘Joyland’, written and directed by filmmaker Saim Sadiq, features in the segment. The director previously won the Orizzonti Award for Best Short Film for “Darling” at the 2019 Venice Film Festival.

As previously announced Paramount-Skydance’s ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, starring Tom Cruise, and Warner Bros/Roadshow’s “Elvis” directed by Baz Luhrmann featuring Austin Butler and Tom Hanks will be the star attractions on the red carpet of the festival. Cruise, who had attended Festival de Cannes three decades ago for Ron Howard’s “Far And Away”, will also be honoured with a special career tribute at the gala. These two big-budget spectacles will be screened under the Out of Competition segment along with “Three Thousand Years of Longing” by George Miller of “Mad Max” fame, Cedric Jiminez’s “Novembre”, and “Masquerade” by Nicolas Bedos.

The gala will open on May 17 with ‘Z (Comme Z)’ by Michel Hazanavicius, which will be screened Out of Competition. Palm D’Or winning Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda will return to the Croissette with “Broker”, his Korean language debut starring Korean stars Song Kang-ho (’Parasite’), Bae Doona (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance"), Gang Dong-won ("Peninsula") and Lee Ji-eun, better known by her stage name IU. “Broker” is part of the Competition section along with South Korean master filmmaker Park Chan-wook’s “Decision to Leave”.Park, known for the “Vengeance” trilogy and “The Handmaiden”, won the Grand Prix at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival for “Oldboy” and the Jury Prize for his vampire film “Thirst” in 2009.

“Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind” by Ethan Coen and “The Natural History of Destruction” by Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa are also part of the Special Screening line-up. South Korean star Lee Jung-jae’s directorial debut “Hunt” will premiere in the Midnight Screening section of the prestigious film gala. Lee, a popular name in his native South Korea, shot to international fame and acclaim following his role of player number 456 Seong gi-hun in “Squid Game”, a Netflix survival drama series last September. “Fumer Fait Tousser” by Quentin Dupieux and “Moonage Daydream” by Brett Morgen are also part of the Midnight Screening segment.

James Gray’s “Armageddon Time”, “Stars At Noon” by Claire Denis, “Crimes of the Future” (David Cronenberg), “Les Amandiers” (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi), Kelly Reichardt’s “Showing Up” and “Boy From Heaven” by Tarik Saleh are included in the total 18 film line-up of the Competition category. There are 15 films in the Un Certain Regard listing, which also features “Les Pires” by director duo Lisa Akoka and Romane Gueret, Kristoffer Borgli’s “Sick Of Myself”, “Beast” helmed by actor Riley Keough and Gina Gammell, “Plan 75” (Hayakawa Chie), and “Butterfly Vision” from Maksim Nakonechnyi, among others.

The Cannes Premiere section will see the titles such as ‘Nos Frangins’ by Rachid Bouchareb, ‘Nightfall’ directed by Marco Bellocchio, Panos H Koutras’ ‘Dodo’, and the ‘Irma Vep’ series from director Olivier Assayas.  The 75th edition of the Cannes Film Festival will run through May 28.

(PTI)

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