CARBON Film Festival begins in Bengaluru: Oscar-nominated movie, Russian, Santhali screenings and more; All details here

The film festival opened with the screening of the Oscar-nominated documentary film All That Breathes (2022), directed by Shaunak Sen – following the story of two brothers in North Delhi, Mohammad Saud and Nadeem Shahzad, who treat and rescue injured black kites in Delhi, during a time of unrest in Delhi. The film, which was shot over the course of three years, also won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize for documentaries at the Sundance Film Festival.

A post-film discussion was also held featuring Dr Garima Bhatia of the Nature Conservation Foundation, wildlife scientist Dr Ravi Chellam, and director Shaunak Sen, who attended the event via Zoom.

Explaining the concept behind the film’s name, Sen said, “The effort was to make the film larger than just the story of a bird hospital and two brothers. So, much of their life is spent thinking about the kinship between human and non-human species. I wanted a title that would capture the broader neighbourliness; that is able to transcend the vagaries of the world that they live in and become more about what their philosophical life was.”

The other films screened at the film festival span various languages and nations, ranging from Russian to Santhali. The first day’s screening included such as Oriya film Ocean Mud Pickle, which sheds light on an abandoned village which may become a wildlife habitat – and Dutch short film This Mortal Plastik, themed around plastic. ( Science Gallery Bengaluru)

Speaking later on the process of making the film he said, “Filmmaking is inherently ornithological – just like where in birdwatching you have to slow down, not wear bright clothes, filmmaking is also a kind of process where you are receding into the wallpaper of their lives and, in slow dribbles, trying to catch a glance of everyday life. You want a sense of normalcy and realness.”

The other films screened at the film festival span various languages and nations, ranging from Russian to Santhali. The first day’s screening included such as Oriya film Ocean Mud Pickle, which sheds light on an abandoned village which may become a wildlife habitat – and Dutch short film This Mortal Plastik, themed around plastic.

Among the notable films to be screened on the second day are several animated short films, including two in French and Kannada, respectively. A discussion on animated films is also scheduled, featuring Fabian Driehorst of German film studio Fabian and Fred as one of the speakers.

Day two will also feature several foreign short documentaries – one of them, for instance, is Mountain Man, featuring the story of Phuntsho Tshering, Bhutan’s only glaciologist.

The full schedule of the CARBON Film Festival may be accessed at the Bangalore International Centre website. Entry to the festival is free, on a first-come first-serve basis.