LOS ANGELES --

All That Breathes–directed by Shaunak Sen–was the big winner at last night’s (12/10) 38th International Documentary Association (IDA) Awards during a ceremony held at L.A.’s Paramount Theater. All That Breathes topped the Best Feature Documentary, Director and Editing categories while also scoring the special Pare Lorentz Award.

While introducing us to three men’s efforts in New Delhi, India, to protect and save black kite birds in a changing ecosystem, All That Breathes is not a wildlife documentary, nor is it a preachy chronicler of our environment and the blight of pollution. And as sectarian violence spreads through New Delhi–centered on the conflict between India’s Hindu nationalist government and the country’s large Muslim population–All That Breathes does not take on a sociopolitical bent. In an earlier SHOOT interview Sen observed that finding the form that the film would take, a kind of mishmash of all this and more, was among the prime challenges that All That Breathes posed to him.

All That Breathes focuses on all that breathes–people and birds–and the city itself. There are two brothers, Nadeem Shehzad and Mohammad Saud, who formed Wildlife Rescue, and a volunteer, Salik Rehman, integral to the organization, as well as the birds that are falling out of the sky at an alarming rate. Like the men and the birds, the city too is a character in the film. While pollution, political unrest, the precarious nature of wildlife are all parts of the story, they are unveiled in the context of the resiliency and what Sen describes as the “quiet courage” exhibited by Shehzad, Saud and Rehman–and the birds themselves–in the face of profound stress and adversity. Sen characterized the men as Don Quixotes, tilting at windmills–still, they are making a positive impact in their little corner of the world.

Meanwhile taking two awards at the IDA proceedings–emceed by comic-actor Jenny Yang–was Fire of Love for Best Cinematography and Writing. And We Need to Talk About Cosby earned Best Multi-Part Documentary.

Here’s a full rundown of this year’s IDA Documentary Award winners:

Best Feature Documentary 
All that Breathes (India, United States, United Kingdom | Sideshow and Submarine Deluxe in association with HBO Documentary Films | Director/Producer: Shaunak Sen | Producers: Aman Mann, Teddy Leifer)

Best Director 
Shaunak Sen (All that Breathes) | India, United States, United Kingdom | Sideshow and Submarine Deluxe in association with HBO Documentary Films.

Best Short Documentary 
Haulout (United Kingdom | Rise And Shine World Sales, The New Yorker | Directors/Producers: Evgenia Arbugaeva, Maxim Arbugaev)

Best TV Feature Documentary or Mini-Series
Fannie Lou Hamer’s America: An America ReFramed Special (United States | American Documentary, GBH WORLD Channel, The Bitter Southerner, Black Public Media, PBS | Director: Joy Elaine Davenport | Producers: Hannah Paul, Sharon Wong, Robert Y. Chang | Producer: Carmen L. Vicencio | Producer/Executive Producer: Monica Land | Executive Producers: Selena Lauterer, Leslie Fields-Cruz, Erika Dilday, Chris White, Christopher Hastings)

Best Curated Series 
POV (United States | PBS | Executive Producers: Erika Dilday, Chris White)

Best Episodic Series 
Origins of Hip Hop (United States | A&E | Executive Producers: Peter Bittenbender, Slane Hatch, Mark Grande, Brad Abramson, Elaine Frontain Bryant)

Best Multi-Part Documentary 
We Need to Talk About Cosby (United States | SHOWTIME Documentary Films, Boardwalk Pictures Production, WKB Industries | Director/Executive Producer: W. Kamau Bell | Executive Producers: Katie A. King, Andrew Fried, Sarina Roma, Jordan Wynn, Dane Lillegard, Vinnie Malhotra)

Best Short-Form Series
POV Shorts (United States | PBS | Producer: Opal H. Bennett | Executive Producers: Erika Dilday, Chris White)

Best Stand-Alone Audio Documentary
Documenting a Death by Euthanasia (United States | The New York Times | Host/Reporter: Lynsey Addario | Sound Engineers: Corey Schreppel, Marion Lozano | Producers: Sayre Quevedo, Annie Brown, Wendy Dorr, Mike Benoist)

Best Multi-Part Audio Documentary
Stolen: Surviving St. Michael’s (Canada | Spotify | Host: Connie Walker | Sound Engineers: Emma Munger, Catherine Anderson | Producers: Ellen Frankman, Max Green, Anya Schultz, Chantelle Bellrichard, Betty Ann Adam)

Best Music Documentary
Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues (United States | Apple TV+ | Director/Producer: Sacha Jenkins | Producers: Sara Bernstein, Justin Wilkes, Julie Anderson)

David L. Wolper Student Documentary Award 
Requiem for a Whale (Israel | The Steve Tisch School Of Film and Television, Tel-Aviv University | Director/Producer: Ido Weisman)

Best Cinematography 
Fire of Love (United State, Canada | National Geographic, NEON | Cinematographers: Maurice Krafft, Katia Krafft, Pablo Alvarez-Mesa)

Best Editing 
All that Breathes (India, United States, United Kingdom | Sideshow and Submarine Deluxe in association with HBO Documentary Films | Editor: Charlotte Munch Bengtsen, Vedant Joshi)

Best Music Score
The Melt Goes On Forever: The Art & Times of David Hammons (United States | Composer: Ramachandra Borcar)

Best Writing 
Fire of Love (United States, Canada | National Geographic, NEON | Writers: Sara Dosa, Erin Casper, Jocelyne Chaput, Shane Boris)

ABC News VideoSource Award Winner
Riotsville, U.S.A. (United States | Magnolia Pictures | Directors: Sierra Pettengill | Producers: Mark Bailey, Sara Archambault, Jamila Wignot)

Pare Lorentz Award Winner
All that Breathes (India, United States, United Kingdom | Sideshow and Submarine Deluxe in association with HBO Documentary Films | Director/Producer: Shaunak Sen | Producers: Aman Mann, Teddy Leifer)

Honorable Mention: Nuisance Bear (Canada | The New Yorker | Directors/Producers: Jack Weisman, Gabriela Osio Vanden | Producers: Will N. Miller)

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