Indian Oscar-nominated filmmaker turns camera on his cancer
Indian filmmaker Shaunak Sen is creating a new documentary that explores his personal cancer diagnosis through the lens of environmental health. The project draws parallels between his illness and the ecological degradation he previously documented in his Oscar-nominated film, All That Breathes.
Why it matters
It highlights the growing intersection between personal health crises and the broader, systemic impacts of environmental pollution in rapidly urbanizing regions.
Indian filmmaker Shaunak Sen's new documentary began as a "coping" mechanism after a shock cancer diagnosis (Arun SANKAR) Indian filmmaker Shaunak Sen's new documentary began as a "coping" mechanism after a shock cancer diagnosis, but continues the motifs of environmental degradation and caregiving that drove his previous work.
Sen's "All That Breathes", which follows two brothers running a largely self-funded clinic for birds falling victim to Delhi's polluted air, won top documentary prizes at Sundance and Cannes in 2022 and was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 2023 Oscars.
"It became a kind of coping strategy, or a way to deal or dissociate or displace the terror of what you've just been told," Sen, 39, told AFP about his as-yet-untitled project, in an interview from his home in New Delhi.
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