Filmmaker Geeta Gandbhir’s Documentary Selected for Competition at Sundance Film Festival
- Chosen for the World Cinema Dramatic Competition, Rohan Kanawade’s “Sabar Bonda” is only entry from India, and is the first Marathi film to premiere at the prestigious festival.
Indian American filmmaker Geeta Gandbhir’s “The Perfect Neighbor,” for the U.S. Documentary Competition. Sundance says this category offers festival goers “a first look at world premieres of nonfiction American films illuminating the ideas, people, and events that shape the present day.” Directed and produced by Gandhbir, “The Perfect Neighbor” tells the story of “a seemingly minor neighborhood dispute in Florida escalates into deadly violence,” and exposes the consequences of Florida’s “stand your ground” laws.
Selected in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition is Rohan Kanawade’s upcoming Marathi film “Sabar Bonda” (“Cactus Pears”), depicting queer life among the rural and lower castes of India. It is the only film from India competing at the Sundance Film Festival, and is the first Marathi film to premiere at the prestigious festival.
“Sabar Bonda” tells the story of Anand (Bhushan Bhingarkar), a 30-something city dweller compelled to spend a 10-day mourning period for his father in the rugged countryside of western India, tenderly bonds with a local farmer struggling to stay unmarried. As the mourning ends, forcing his return, Anand must decide the fate of his relationship born under duress. His grief over losing his father is compounded by having to return to his ancestral home with his mother, and the inevitable questions from extended family about his marital status.
Sundance says writer and director Kanawade, in his debut feature, “shares this semi-autobiographical story of two men who find each other amid their shared origins in the farming life of their elders.” The film features “impressive turns from nonprofessional actors, beautiful cinematography in open landscapes and small villages, and gentle, open-hearted storytelling that skews predictable tropes,” the festival adds. says, calling it “an achievement of independent Indian filmmaking with characters and a story that will connect with audiences around the world.”
Mumbai-based Kanawde, who has no formal training in filmmaking, spent as much time as possible honing his storytelling craft. An interior designer, he left his full-time job in 2010, and invested his time in writing and direction. In 2017 his short ‘Khidkee’ (Window) got selected in 48th International Film Festival of India. “U Ushacha” (“U for Usha”), his 2019 lesbian short set in rural India, got support from Devdutt Pattanaik and UK-based production house Lotus Visual. The short film travelled to more than 35 film festivals around the globe, and won several awards.
Gandbhir started her career in narrative film under Spike Lee and Sam Pollard. After working for 11 years in scripted film, she branched into documentary film. As director she recently released the series “Born in Synanon” for Paramount, and her short film “How We Get Free” for HBO was shortlisted for an Academy Award. She also recently directed and show-ran a 4 part series for HBO titled “Black and Missing” which won a 2022 Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary Series, and a Cinema Eye Honors for Best Series. She also recently directed a film called “Apart” with Rudy Valdez for HBOMax which won a 2022 Emmy Award.
Her 2020 short film “Call Center Blues” was shortlisted for a 2021 Academy Award, and she directed an episode of the five-part series of “The Asian Americans” for PBS, which won the 2021 Peabody Award.
In 2016 her feature documentary, “Prison Dogs,” which she co-directed with Perri Peltz, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, and her film “A Journey of a Thousand Miles: Peacekeepers” which premiered at the 2015 Toronto Film Festival and later aired on PBS as part of the series “Women, War and Peace.” She also co-directed and co-produced the series “A Conversation on Race” with The New York Times Op-Docs, which won an Online Journalism Award for Online Commentary, an AFI Documentary Film Festival Audience Award for Best Short and garnered a MacArthur Grant. She was also a co-producer on the HBO film “The Sentence”, directed by Rudy Valdez which won a 2019 Primetime Emmy. As Editor, her films won two Emmy Awards, 4 Peabody Awards, and one Academy Award™.
The 2025 Sundance Film Festival will be held from Jan. 9, 2025 to Feb. 2 in Park City and Salt Lake City in Utah, and will screen 87 feature films and six episodic projects. All of the competition films and more will be available online from Jan. 30 to Feb. 2, for audiences across the country.