Geeta Gandbhir ’92 Receives Rare Double Oscar Nomination
The filmmaker received her first Oscar nominations in both the Best Documentary Feature and the Best Documentary Short categories this year.
Director Geeta Gandbhir ’92 (BALA: Women’s Studies) has built an award-winning career making films about social justice issues. Two of those films scored Oscar nominations, announced January 22.
The Perfect Neighbor
In the Best Documentary Feature Film category, Gandbhir earned a nomination for the Netflix film, The Perfect Neighbor. The “heart-pounding” story chronicles an escalating neighborhood dispute that ends in tragedy when a young mother is killed for knocking on her neighbor’s door, as it examines the racial tension and consequences inherent in Florida’s Stand Your Ground law.
“Brilliantly edited into a gripping and devastating narrative almost entirely from police body-cam footage, The Perfect Neighbor is an intimate account of an appalling, racially motivated crime.”
The Perfect Neighbor premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where Gandbhir took home the U.S. Documentary Directing Award.
The Devil is Busy
Gandbhir shares her second nomination with co-director Christalyn Hampton for the cinéma vérité short The Devil is Busy, which follows the head of security for an Atlanta abortion clinic charged with the safety of staff and patients as its besieged by protestors.
“Grounded in humanity and empathy, The Devil Is Busy is a clear-eyed portrayal of the shifting landscape for patients and abortion providers in America today, and depicts the complex, day-to-day realities facing those working to provide safe reproductive healthcare to women.
“The film captures a unique snapshot of reproductive healthcare in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, a shift that has led to abortion bans and significant restrictions in many states.”
Made for HBO Documentary Films, The Devil is Busy won the Audience Award at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival and the Best Short at the RiverRun International Film Festival, among others.
On Friday, January 23, 2026, the Sundance Institute honored Gandbhir with the Vanguard Award for Nonfiction during the Celebrating Sundance Institute: A Tribute to Founder Robert Redford event.
A co-founder of Message Pictures with Alisa Payne and Sam Pollard, Gandbhir got her start working with both Pollard and Spike Lee on Malcolm X and When the Levees Broke.
