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INVERTING SURVEILLANCE: GEETA GANDBHIR AND THE PERFECT NEIGHBOR

Spotlight Academy Award®-nominee Geeta Gandbhir delves into the heart of her documentary storytelling practice, culminating with the groundbreaking feature The Perfect Neighbor, an unprecedented investigation into the fight for justice against the backdrop of race politics in America.

Since winning the Directing Award: U.S. Documentary at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, director Geeta Gandbhir’s groundbreaking documentary The Perfect Neighbor has become a five-time winner at the Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards, including Best Director and Best Documentary Feature, the F:ACT Award – Honorable Mention at CPH:DOX; winner Outstanding Achievement in Direction at Cinema Eye Honors – and is now nominated for best Documentary Feature Film at the 2026 Academy Awards®.

In the film, a seemingly minor neighbourhood dispute in sedate, suburban Florida escalates into deadly violence – becoming an undeniable indictment of Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law. Told almost entirely through police bodycam footage, this remarkable and innovative approach allows the circumstances to speak for themselves with terrifying clarity. The Perfect Neighbor has struck a chord with global audiences, landing the #1 spot in the Netflix Top 10 immediately following its 2025 release.

Starting out in the editorial department of Spike Lee’s Malcolm X, Gandbhir shares how the craft of narrative storytelling has informed her documentary practice to date –  from her latest directorial collaboration with Lee, Katrina: Come Hell and High Water, as well as Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power and Black and Missing. All culminating in The Perfect Neighbor – a shattering artistic achievement and a stark portrayal of systemic issues of race, power and justice in America.

 

Image credit: The Perfect Neigbour (Netflix, 2025)

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