NRI PULSE STAFF REPORT
Indian-American filmmaker Geeta Gandbhir has received two Academy Award nominations for the 98th Oscars, announced on January 22, 2026, marking a major milestone in her career and a rare achievement in documentary filmmaking.
Gandbhir is nominated for Best Documentary Feature for The Perfect Neighbor, which she directed, and for Best Documentary Short Film for The Devil Is Busy, which she co-directed with Christalyn Hampton. According to industry reports, Gandbhir is the first Indian woman to receive two Oscar nominations in the same year.
The Perfect Neighbor examines racial tensions within a U.S. community and centers on a fatal shooting, using documentary storytelling to explore themes of race, power, and justice. The film has been widely noted for its urgency and depth, drawing attention for its unflinching look at a deeply divided neighborhood.
The Devil Is Busy, co-directed with Hampton, earned its nomination in the documentary short category and further underscores Gandbhir’s strength in non-fiction storytelling across formats and lengths.
Gandbhir is already an established name in documentary cinema, with a body of work that includes multiple Emmy Awards and Peabody Awards. Her earlier projects include I Am Evidence, which focused on the backlog of untested rape kits in the United States, and Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power, a historical documentary tracing grassroots Black political organizing.
The dual Oscar nominations place Gandbhir among a small group of filmmakers recognized in multiple documentary categories in the same year, while also highlighting the growing presence of Indian-American voices in global nonfiction cinema.
Cover photo credit: Wikimedia/Creative Commons. Geeta Gandhbir at the Sundance Festival.
