Spotlights feature conversations with high-profile film and television industry professionals who share helpful advice and insights on their career experiences and creative processes.

Join Sundance Collab for a live, online conversation with filmmaker Geeta Gandbhir on her triumphant new feature, The Perfect Neighbor.

A devastating and aesthetically bold documentary, The Perfect Neighbor depicts the lead up and aftermath of a violent altercation in small-town Florida in the summer of 2023. Gandbhir tells this story not through conventional documentary means, but instead almost entirely through police bodycam and interrogation footage. What unfolds is a visceral portrait of American racial tension as seen on a single block. As a snapshot of cultural unease among neighbors, the film resembles Do the Right Thing from Gandbhir’s longtime collaborator Spike Lee. Her film explores the tragic consequences of a fear-based culture in which Americans confuse “feeling unsafe” with actual danger.

The Perfect Neighbor premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Directing Award: U.S. Documentary prize. The jury hailed Gandbhir “a filmmaker of remarkably disciplined vision who turns creative constraints into cinematic power, creating a searing indictment of stand-your-ground laws.”

In this conversation, Gandbhir will break down how she and her collaborators crafted the most visually distinctive documentary of 2025. The conversation will end with an audience Q&A, where attendees can ask Gandbhir about the making of this shattering cinematic experience. 

Don’t miss this opportunity to hear directly from Emmy-winning documentary director, producer, and editor Geeta Gandbhir.