Robbery at Brazos Hindu Temple

houstoN A local Hindu temple is upping security after a burglary left the congregants feeling violated.

“The priest and his family who live in an apartment right behind the temple, they are safe,” he said.

los aNgeles: The nominations for the 95th Academy Awards were announced on Tuesday by actors Allison Williams and Riz Ahmed.

All That Breathes has won top awards at the Sundance Film Festival and the Cannes Film Festival.

Indian documentary films

All That Breathes and The Elephant Whisperers have both scored nominations in the Best Documentary Feature Film and the Best Documentary Short Film categories, respectively. SS Rajamouli’s RRR has scored one nomination in the Best Original Song category for “Naatu Naatu.” RRR did not receive any other nominations.

All That Breathes follows siblings Mohammad Saud and Nadeem Shehzad, who have made it their lives’ mission to rescue and treat injured birds, especially the Black Kites.

The docu film was lauded for its delicate and bold storytelling. Los Angeles Times even called it the ‘most beautifully realised documentary in recent memory’. The documentary has already been acquired by HBO Documentary Films, but as of now, it is not available to stream on any Indian OTT platform.

Directed by Kartiki Gonsalves, the 41-minute documentary short film follows a family in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve in Tamil Nadu who adopt two orphan baby elephants. The film has been produced by Guneet Monga and Achin Jain.

Director Kartiki Gonsalves previously spoke to Deadline about the “overwhelmingly positive” feedback that The Elephant Whisperers has received.

“I’ve got a lot of feedback saying that it portrays the dignity of both the magnificent elephants and the Indigenous people who’ve lived with them and shared with them for centuries. And [viewers] said that they understood elephants on a much deeper level, and some people just said it was so calming to see coexistence in the best way,” she said.

The 95th Academy Awards will be held on March 12, and the ceremony will be hosted for the third time by comedian Jimmy Kimmel.

“There was a sense of invasion, that sense of loss of privacy when something like this happened to us,” Srinivasa Sunkari, a Board member for the Brazos Valley Shri Omkarnath Temple said.

This is the only Hindu temple in the Brazos Valley, a place for local Hindus to worship, and find peace and community. But, since Jan. 11, they’ve been focusing on security.

“There was a break-in. They broke in through the side window and what was immediately apparent was missing is our donation box and a safe in which we keep our valuables,” Sunkari said. The temple sits just outside of College Station, locked behind a gate. When the burglary happened around 4:00 a.m., Sunkari says they’re grateful it wasn’t worse for their community.

A video captured by security cameras inside the temple shows a person ignoring the shrine and going straight to the donation box. The suspect then used the temple’s cart to wheel it out the door.

Sunkari says they notified the community members at a gathering Sunday, sharing the leaders’ sentiment for more security. But, he says the group won’t let this incident keep them from their commitment.

“We will rebound, we will take extra precautions to make sure our priest is safe and this family is safe and our place of worship is safe. And we hope that something like this doesn’t happen to anybody in the future,” Sunkari said.

The Brazos County Sheriff’s Office says they are investigating the burglary.