Who Is Geeta Gandbhir, The Indian-American Filmmaker With Two Nominations At 98th Academy Awards

Indian-American filmmaker Geeta Gandbhir has scripted history by earning two Oscar nominations for the 98th Academy Awards. Her short film The Devil Is Busy was nominated for Best Documentary Short, while The Perfect Neighbor earned a nomination for Best Documentary Feature.

The nominations for the 98th Academy Awards were announced by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles on Thursday.

Geeta Gandbhir’s Films Earned Oscar Nominations

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The Devil Is Busy, co-directed by Geeta Gandbhir and Christalyn Hampton will compete against All the Empty Rooms, Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud, Children No More: Were and Are Gone, and Perfectly a Strangeness.

The 31-minute documentary centres on Tracii, the head

of security at a women’s healthcare clinic in Atlanta, Georgia, capturing a day in her life as she works to protect patients and staff in the face of stricter abortion laws and ongoing protests.

Gandbhir’s The Perfect Neighbor will compete against The Alabama Solution, Come See Me in the Good Light, Cutting through Rocks and Mr. Nobody against Putin in the documentary feature film category

The Netflix documentary recounts the June 2023 shooting in Ocala, Florida, in which Susan Louise Lorincz, a white woman, fatally shot her Black neighbour, Ajike Owens.

Who Is Geeta Gandbhir: Early Life and Career

Geeta Gandbhir is an acclaimed director, producer and editor whose documentaries explore themes of social justice, power and systemic inequality. Born in Boston to Indian parents who immigrated to the US in the 1960s, she studied visual arts at Harvard University with a focus on animation, where she was mentored by Spike Lee and Sam Pollard.

Through her work, Gandbhir addresses complex issues such as women’s safety, racial injustice and social change, telling impactful stories with emotional depth. Her filmmaking has earned widespread recognition, including Emmy and Peabody Awards.

Some of her acclaimed projects include “I Am Evidence” (2017), which exposed systemic delays in processing untested rape kits across the United States, and “Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power” (2022), which won industry accolades for its historical depth and narrative strength.

She has also directed the Emmy-winning short “Through Our Eyes: Apart” in 2022.

The 98th Academy Awards ceremony will be held on March 15 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

Some of her acclaimed projects include I Am Evidence (2017) and Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power (2022). She also directed the Emmy-winning short Through Our Eyes: Apart in 2022.

The 98th Academy Awards ceremony is scheduled to take place on March 15 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.