Some days, the black kites lit­er­al­ly drop from the sky—the air pol­lu­tion in Delhi, India, can be so intense that flocks of the birds fall to earth. If they’re lucky, they’ll find them­selves in the care of Nadeem and Saud, two heroic broth­ers who are con­cerned about the ani­mals’ wel­fare. They’ve set up an impro­vised sanc­tu­ary for birds of prey, where they treat the ani­mals, feed them until they can fly again. 

There is no false opti­mism here. The broth­ers are some­times down­cast about the point­less­ness of their efforts, but doing noth­ing is not an option. Against the back­drop of grow­ing ten­sions that make the sit­u­a­tion increas­ing­ly desperate—particularly for the Muslim minor­i­ty to which the broth­ers belong—there is hope to be had from the simple fact that there are people who do care. (Idfa)  

SHAUNAK SEN (*1987 in India) His debut film CITIES OF SLEEP was already screened at Film­fo­rum 2017. ALL THAT BREATHES was nom­i­nat­ed for an Oscar and won numer­ous awards at Cannes and Sun­dance Film Fes­ti­val among others.   

Direc­tor: Shau­nak Sen
Cin­e­matog­ra­phy: Ben Bern­hard, Riju Das, Saumayan­da Sahi
Edit­ing: Char­lotte Munch Bengtsen
Music: Roger Goula
Pro­duced by: Rise Films, Kit­er­ab­bit Films
Dis­tri­b­u­tion: The Film Collaborative