Although James Cameron’s eco-friendly sci-fi fable “Avatar: The Way of Water” is up for the best picture at the Oscars, the team nominated for the novel has been busy making threats on this planet.
From the scorching skies of New Delhi to the melting ice of Siberia, “Everything Breathes” and “Haulout” each use a complex, urban narrative that shines a light on pollution. of human nature here on earth. Brothers filmmakers Maxim Arbugaev and Evgenia Arbugaeva are the first Yakut filmmakers to be nominated for an Oscar with “Haulout,” which follows a scientist in Siberia who tells the tragic story of climate crisis and walruses. The short film, with little dialogue, begins with a dramatic shot and the sound of the Arctic Ocean being blown by the wind as marine biologist Maxim Chakilev waits patiently near his house. for the arrival of migrating walruses.
Suddenly, 100,000 of the surrounding animals appeared outside his house and crushed him on the beach. It’s a fascinating sight at first, but we’ll learn later that it’s the result of sea ice loss – and dangerous overpopulation with deadly effects.
“We hope that we can join the community of scientists and artists around the world and contribute to this conversation about the dire state of our world,” said Arbugaeva. The brothers told AFP that their Oscar nomination in the short film category was cause for great celebration in their faraway homeland.
They are planning to bring Chakilev – their lone, watercraftsman – to the prestigious awards ceremony in Los Angeles on Sunday. But setting fire to their ancestral lands is a key indicator of how climate change is disrupting human and animal life, in different ways, around the world.
“We have an opportunity in this very important region of the Arctic,” said Arbugaeva. “Speaking of homeland, I think it is very important.
“The stories we’re seeing are not the stories on the surface … it takes years and years of being there and understanding.”
‘not enough’
Shaunak Sen’s ‘All That Breathes’, a feature-length documentary set in the Indian capital, also explores how animals are forced to change their behavior through human activities. It follows three men who have dedicated their lives to a high-paying animal hospital, caring for some of the hundreds of birds that die in Delhi’s polluted air every day.
Every day, a box of wounded black gunmen arrives in their basement, and the broken-hearted trio releases a bird with a broken wing. “Hundreds of birds fall from the sky every day, what amazes me is that people make it all right,” one of the men told his wife. “compare the relationship between human and non-human life”.
In addition to the hot air, many birds are harmed by the tree trunks that are flown by humans. ‘tears’
But for Sen, even recent films focusing on the environment are “not enough.”
“It should be a lot, because attention to the landscape is required,” said the director. Sen feels that filmmakers should make “complex stories that make us think about the world” instead of focusing on “only sadness and unhappiness and despair”.
His film begins with a panoramic shot of a pile of garbage, before gradually revealing animals that have learned to thrive in misery. In contrast, “Haulout” begins with a dramatic natural beauty before revealing the terrible disaster caused by the loss of sea ice, which means that walruses have ended up in an overcrowded sea, where many people are trampled to death.
Heartbreaking footage shows a malnourished baby walrus moving its dead mother’s body, before desperately trying to swim out to sea. “When local storytellers tell stories about their environment, it’s personal… you’re talking about your heart and the heart of your country is breaking,” Arbugaeva said.
When he was taking the dramatic picture of the walrus, “my hands were shaking because I was so emotional or crying that the camera wouldn’t be steady,” he recalled. “Sometimes certain methods are not used. Basically, time is of the essence. But it is very strong
