Indian documentary All That Breathes, directed by Shaunak Sen, lost out the best documentary feature award to Navalny. Other nominees in the list included All The Beauty And The Bloodshed, Fire of Love and A House Made of Splinters. Navalny, directed by Daniel Roher, revolves around Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and events related to his poisoning. On August 20, 2020, Navalny was poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent, falling sick during a flight from Tomsk to Moscow, and was hospitalised in a serious condition. Navalny was taken to a hospital in Omsk after an emergency landing there. Two days later, he was evacuated to the Charite hospital in Berlin, Germany.
While accepting the award, director Daniel Roher made a political statement. He said that Alexei Navalny was languishing in prison, and called out the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and Vladimir Putin. The 95th Academy Awards, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, happened at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles and the ceremony is available to stream on Disney+ Hotstar.
All That Breathes has had a spectacular run in the international film festival circuit, bagging awards at the prestigious Cannes and Sundance film festivals. It is a narrative documentary on two brothers in Delhi — Nadeem Shehzad and Mohammad Saud — who rescue black-specked kites in the city. While the film focuses on their rescue efforts, it also addresses politics, history, religion, and the social fabric of Delhi. All That Breathes is the second Indian film to be nominated for an Oscar in the best documentary feature film category, after Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s An Encounter With Faces in 1978.