A University of Maryland professor is up for an Academy Award for producing an HBO documentary.
Biology professor Sean B. Carroll also runs the film studio at Howard Hughes Medical Institute, HHMI Tangled Bank Studios. He oversaw the production of “All That Breathes.”
The documentary, streaming on HBO Max, follows two brothers in India who’ve spent 20 years taking care of injured birds.
“For the viewer, one of the cool things about stories is to go to somewhere in the world you may have never been,” Carroll said. “Documentary filmmaking is sort of special, you know. This is truth telling.”
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The documentary took several years.
“Seeing rough drafts, giving feedback, because to winnow 300 hours of material into, you know, a 75- or 80-minute story that audiences will enjoy, that’s thousands of decisions that have to be made,” Carroll said.
Last year, “All That Breathes” won best documentary at Sundance Film Festival.
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“We thought, What’s going on here?” Carroll said. “Because going into Sundance, there’s sometimes some hype about films and things like that, but there wasn’t much buzz about this film.”
They also won at Cannes Film Festival, and next week, they’re up for best documentary at the Academy Awards.
“Of course, winning awards is nice, but I think that’s reflecting that this movie is touching people in a meaningful way,” Carroll said.
He said the two brothers in the film will join him at the Oscars.
