Geeta Gandbhir | |
|---|---|
 Gandbhir at the Sundance Film Festival in 2025 | |
| Born | September 18, 1970 Boston |
| Alma mater | Harvard University (BA) |
| Occupation |
|
| Years active | 2006–present |
| Children | 2 |
Geeta Gandbhir is an American filmmaker known for her work as a director, producer, and editor. [1] She has won multiple awards including Emmy Awards and Peabody Awards.
Gandbhir grew up in the Boston area. Her father Sharad immigrated from India to the US in the 1960s to study chemical engineering and her mother Lalita joined him, with the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. Her sister Una S. Gandbhir is a superior court judge for the Third Judicial District serving Anchorage, Alaska. [2] Her brother Ashwin Gandbhir is also a filmmaker and editor.
Gandbhir attended Harvard University to study visual art with a focus on animation. At the school, she was introduced to Spike Lee, who was teaching there, and an editor for Lee, Sam Pollard.
She started her career in narrative film working for Spike Lee and Sam Pollard, and then branched into documentary film. Her films include Hungry to Learn and I Am Evidence . [3]
She was the editor of the Spike Lee-produced HBO documentary film If God Is Willing and da Creek Don't Rise about life after Hurricane Katrina, which won the 2010 Peabody Award. [4]
Gandbhir was a part of the filmmaking team of the PBS film series Asian Americans which won a 2020 Peabody Award. [5] She was a field director for And She Could Be Next, directed by Grace Lee and Marjan Safinia.
Her short film from the HBO series Through Our Eyes: Apart won a 2022 Emmy Award for Outstanding Short Documentary. [6]
In 2023, Gandbhir directed and executive produced Born in Synanon , a documentary series for Paramount+ revolving around Synanon. [7]
In 2025, Gandbhir directed and produced The Perfect Neighbor focusing on the Killing of Ajike Owens. [8] It had its world premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival on January 24, 2025, winning the Directing Award. [9] That same year, she directed and executive produced Katrina: Come Hell and High Water alongside Spike Lee and Samantha Knowles for Netflix. [10]
| Year | Title | Director | Editor | Producer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | All of Us | No | Yes | No | |
| 2009 | By the People: The Election of Barack Obama | No | Yes | No | Also field producer |
| Budrus | No | Yes | No | ||
| 2010 | Music by Prudence | No | Yes | No | |
| 2011 | The Carrier | No | Yes | No | |
| 2013 | Which Way Is the Front Line from Here? The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington | No | Yes | No | |
| 2014 | Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown | No | Yes | No | Also editor supervisor |
| We the Economy: 20 Short Films You Can't Afford to Miss | Co-director | No | No | ||
| Puppies Behind Bars | Co-director | No | No | ||
| 2015 | A Journey of a Thousand Miles: Peacekeepers | Yes | No | Yes | |
| 2017 | I Am Evidence | Yes | No | Yes | |
| The Talk: Race in America | No | No | Yes | ||
| Rolling Stone: Stories from the Edge | No | Yes | No | ||
| 2018 | The Sentence | No | No | Co-producer | |
| 2022 | Rise and Rebuild: A Tale of Three Cities | No | No | Executive | |
| A Tree of Life: The Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting | No | No | Executive | ||
| Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power | Yes | No | No | ||
| 2024 | New Wave | No | No | Executive | |
| The Devil Is Busy | Co-director | No | No | ||
| New Wave | No | No | Executive | ||
| Black Table | No | No | Executive | ||
| 2025 | The Perfect Neighbor | Yes | No | Yes | |
| The Gas Station Attendant | No | No | Executive | ||
| Masaka Kids: A Rhythm Within | No | No | Yes |
| Year | Title | Director | Editor | Producer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Take it from Home | No | Yes | No | Film TV |
| 2003–2009 | Ride with Funkmaster Fle | No | Yes | No | TV Series |
| 2005 | Miracle's Boys | No | Yes | No | Mini-series; 5 episodes |
| 2006 | African American Lives | No | Yes | No | TV series; 1 episode |
| When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts | No | Yes | No | Mini-series; 4 episodes | |
| 2007 | Oprah's Roots: An African American Lives Special | No | Yes | No | Film TV |
| 2009 | Purizun doggu: Boku ni ikiru chikara o kureta inu | No | No | Yes | Film TV |
| 2010 | If God Is Willing and da Creek Don't Rise | No | Yes | No | Mini-series; 1 epidose |
| 2015 | Op-Docs | Yes | No | Yes | TV series; 2 episodes |
| 2017 | Daughters of Destiny | No | Yes | No | Mini-series |
| 2019 | Rapture | Yes | No | No | Mini-series |
| 2018 | Doc World | No | No | Yes | TV series |
| 2019 | Why We Hate | Yes | No | No | TV series; 6 episodes |
| 2020 | Asian Americans | No | No | Yes | TV series |
| 2021 | Black and Missing | Yes | No | Executive | Mini-series; 4 episodes |
| 2023 | Born in Synanon | Yes | No | Executive | Mini-series; 4 episodes |
| 2025 | Eyes on the Prize | Yes | No | No | TV series; 1 episode |
| Katrina: Come Hell and High Water | Yes | No | Executive | Mini-series; 3 episodes | |
| Harlem Ice | No | No | Executive | TV series; 5 episodes |
| Year | Work | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards | ||||
| 2007 | When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts | Outstanding Picture Editing for Nonfiction Programming | Won | |
| 2010 | By the People: The Election of Barack Obama | Won | ||
| 2011 | If God Is Willing and da Creek Don't Rise | Nominated | ||
| News and Documentary Emmy Awards | ||||
| 2015 | P.O.V.(episode "American Promise") | Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Craft: Editing - Documentary and Long Form | Nominated | |
| 2019 | HBO Documentary Films(episode "I Am Evidence") | Outstanding Documentary | Won | [11] |
| Outstanding Investigative Documentary | Nominated | |||
| Doc World:(episode "Armed With Faith") | Outstanding Politics and Government Documentary | Won | ||
| 2022 | Through Our Eyes(episode "Apart") | Outstanding Short Documentary | Won | [12] [13] |
| Award | Year | Work | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| African-American Film Critics Association | 2022 | Black and Missing | Best Documentary | Won | |
| American Cinema Editors Awards | 2018 | Rolling Stone: Stories from the Edge: "01" | Best Edited Documentary for Television | Nominated | [14] |
| Atlanta Film Festival | 2016 | A Journey of a Thousand Miles: Peacekeepers | Best Documentary Feature | Nominated | |
| Astra Awards | 2026 | The Perfect Neighbor | Best Documentary Feature | Pending | [15] |
| Black Reel Awards for Television | 2022 | The Perfect Neighbor | Outstanding Television Documentary or Special | Nominated | [16] |
| Cinema Eye Honors | 2019 | I Am Evidence | Outstanding Broadcast Nonfiction Filmmaking | Nominated | |
| 2022 | Black and Missing | Outstanding Nonfiction Series | Won | [17] | |
| 2023 | Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power | Outstanding Broadcast Film | Nominated | [18] | |
| 2026 | The Perfect Neighbor | Outstanding Non-Fiction Feature | Pending | [19] | |
| Outstanding Direction | Pending | ||||
| Critics' Choice Documentary Awards | 2025 | The Perfect Neighbor | Best Director | Won | [20] |
| Cleveland International Film Festival | 2017 | Puppies Behind Barss | Best Film | Nominated | |
| 2018 | I Am Evidence | Excellence in Directing | Nominated | ||
| Local Heroes Competition | Nominated | ||||
| Denver Film Festival | 2023 | How We Get Free | Best Short Film | Nominated | |
| Film Independent Spirit Awards | 2022 | Black and Missing | Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series | Won | [21] |
| 2026 | The Perfect Neighbor | Best Documentary Feature | Pending | [22] | |
| Gotham Independent Film Awards | 2025 | The Perfect Neighbor | Best Documentary | Nominated | [23] |
| Gracie Awards | 2022 | Black and Missing | Best Director | Won | |
| Hamptons International Film Festival | 2017 | I Am Evidence | Social Justice Award | Honoree | |
| NAACP Image Awards | 2022 | Black and Missing | Outstanding Directing in a Documentary (Television or Motion Picture) | Won | [24] |
| Sundance Film Festival | 2025 | The Perfect Neighbor | Grand Jury Prize – U.S. Documentary Competition | Nominated | [25] |
| Directing Award: U.S. Documentary | Won | ||||