Oscar-nominated documentary All That Breathes cinematographers Ben Bernhard and Riju Das

The Cinematography Podcast Episode 205: All That Breathes All That Breathes follows the story of two brothers in New Delhi, India who run a home-based bird sanctuary dedicated to caring for black kites. Black kites are a common bird of prey in the city and have adapted well to living alongside humans. But as the pollution and toxic garbage in New Delhi increases, the kites, as well as other birds, fall ill from smog and other hazards in the urban environment. Muslim brothers Saud and Nadeem, along with their friend Salik, found a passion for caring for birds as kids and it seems like a thankless job as they apply for funding to expand their work. Director Shaunak Sen worked with cinematographers Ben Bernhard and Riju Das to simply follow and capture the brother's day-to-day life, and emphasize the interconnectedness of all things within a busy urban place like New Delhi. DP Ben Bernhard wanted to show the coexistence of all the animals in the city and create a perspective for the audience to see things down at their level. In fact, All That Breathes opens on a nest of rats living in a traffic circle in the city, right at a rat's-eye view. Cows, pigs, and monkeys also live alongside the people, just like the kites, and adapt to their surroundings. Cinematographer Riju Das recalls carefully getting closeups of ants and a bottle full of mosquito larvae. The whole team was rigorous and meditative about taking the time to capture the beauty of urban wildlife in the city, and they would pick up the camera to shoot any animals where they found them. They utilized long, slow pans, a narrow depth of field and extreme close-ups of animals throughout. All That Breathes is currently available on HBOMax and is nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Find cinematographer Ben Bernhard: Instagram @ben_bernhard Find cinematographer Riju Das: Instagram @eyeris_4 Close Focus: The number one movie on Netflix is 2 Guns, surprisingly, which came out in 2013. The DP was Oliver Wood, who also passed away last week after a battle with cancer. Ben's short end: A Writers Guild Strike might be happening this summer, because the massive amount of streaming content has affected writers' bottom lines. Illya's short end: Everything Everywhere All At Once is playing in theaters again, if you want to see it there. And a reminder that it's worth owning a copy of movies on physical media rather than to trust media services to keep it for you in the cloud even if you “own” a copy. Listen to Ben's new horror series Catchers, available NOW only on Audible! Sponsored by Hot Rod Cameras Sponsored by Aputure: The Amaran 200x is an inexpensive LED light with stunning brightness, flexible color temperature control,