Oscars 2026 – Indian American documentary filmmaker Geeta Gandbhir gets two nominations; Indian ‘Homebound’, ‘Bait’ and ‘Rabbit Trap’

🎥 Geeta Gandbhir reacts to films ‘The Perfect Neighbor’ and ‘The Devil is Busy’ getting on shortlist

🎥 Indian longlist selections, including Cannes hit ‘Homebound’ fall by the wayside; latest on ‘Paro: The Untold Story of Bride Slavery’ & ‘Humans in the Loop’ UK Screening & Q&A

🎥 Cannes Film Festival 2025 films make 19 Oscars awards category – we celebrated 10 years of covering 📹 festival in 2025

🎥 ‘Sinners’ – Horror film makes history with 16 nominations – British black talent recognised

🎥 Hollywood stars Riz Ahmed (‘Hamlet’) & (‘Bait’); Dev Patel (‘Rabbit Trap’) – latest

🎥 Sundance Film Festival ongoing (‘Bait’) and Charlie XCX

Looking back and at what’s coming…

GEETA GANDBHIR’S work has been nominated in two separate categories for the forthcoming 98th Oscars.

The US-based Indian American filmmaker received a nomination for her documentary feature, ‘The Perfect Neighbor’ and for a doc short called ‘The Devil is Busy’.

“I could not be more honoured truly,” she told film mag Deadline. “There was such a roster of powerful, amazing political films. And I think the choices they make are based around the films that they feel are relevant and strong.”

In ‘The Perfect Neighbor’, Gandbhir examines the killing of black mum Ajike Owens who was shot in 2023 by neighbour Susan Lorincz who had used racial slurs and had a history of disputes with Owens and her children. The documentary has little commentary but uses bodycam footage from police that chronicle the build up to a violent incident. Gandbhir has a personal connection to the victim Owens – as her she is personally known to her family. Lorincz is serving a 25-year sentence for manslaughter following a trial. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival last year and released in October and is available on Netflix globally.

Her other nomination, along with co-director Christalyn Hampton, for the short, ‘The Devil is Busy’ – is about an Atlanta abortion clinic besieged by protesters. It released in the US in September and is available for streaming in the US on HBO and is produced by the channel.

Elsewhere, the high hopes for Indian ‘Homebound’ fell away, as did several other Indian productions that appeared in the longlist for eligibility – films need to screen in theatres in the US for at least a week in one of the designated metropolitan cities in that country.

‘Homebound’ was India’s official entry to the Oscars and appeared on a longlist of 15 films that Academy Members were required to watch to cast their vote in the Best International Film category.

The film, which is about a friendship between a Dalit (Vishwal Jethwa) and a Muslim (Ishaan Khatter) and set in the time in North India, just before and during covid, wowed Cannes at its world premiere screening in May and was widely acclaimed by the international filmmaking community (www.asianculturevulture.com reviewed in Cannes, gave it a *****review) and interviewed Khatter and Janhvi Kapoor – two outright Bollywood stars and Jethwa, as well as director Neeraj Ghaywan.
Celebrity and well-known star director Karan Johar were in Cannes and the film is also executively produced by Martin Scorsese.

It is coming to the BFI Southbank – on Saturday, February 7. (Screen listing details below). It had a slightly tepid response at home in India – gritty social realism films tend not to fare too well – as cinema there is primarily about entertainment and diversion – and while ‘Homebound’ is absorbing and intense, more casual viewers may find it a tough watch – only because of the subject matter. It is brilliant film in many ways, but you must be prepared and invest in all three characters to appreciate what Ghaywan is doing.

Another Indian film that was in contention was ‘Humans in the Loop’ – this is a fiction feature which had a Bafta screening on January 12. It is only 60 minutes long and is about the dangers of AI without effective human input.

The film focuses on the tale of Nehma (Sonal Madhusankar), who is desperate to be independent as she separates from her partner and takes her teenage daughter and young son with her to the hills. From a tribal community and employed by a data company, providing basic descriptions of objects for a US AI firm, Nehma runs into both professional and personal issues. The film does effectively highlight the need for AI to be aware of its inherent and dare we say it, Anglo-Saxon unconscious bias tropes – the film takes this subject head on. Supported by the High Commission of India and the UK Asian Film Festival, writer-director Aranya Sahay was unable to get a visa in time to attend in person for its London screening Nevertheless, Indian Journalist Association President Nabanita Sircar interviewed Sahay about the film’s themes and you can view (see the link below). The film is available to watch on Netflix.

Another film we saw in Cannes and was featured on the longlist was the market screened film, ‘Paro: The Untold Story of Bride Slavery’. Starring Taha Shah Badussha who was such a hit in Indian auteur Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Netflix ‘Heeramandi’. This is another a film that deserves to be seen widely and could yet come to the UK for a big screen outing – we hope so!

Of all the film festivals, Cannes outperformed all others – with 19 films that premiered there in May, getting onto the Oscars shortlist.

Considering we celebrated 10 years of covering the festival in video last year, we may be a bit biased.
We have reviews on ‘Sentimental Value’ which made it to the Best Picture category and ‘Sirat’ which appears in the Best International Feature Film section.

Much of the reporting around the Oscars has centred around the historic 16 nominations garnered by Ryan Coogler’s ‘Sinners’. This Southern US Gothic Horror film set in the 1930s is powerful and saw nominations for two stars who feature in the film and have British roots.

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (Rada) graduate Wunni Mosaku appears in the Best Supporting Actress Category, while Delroy Lindo gets a nod in the Best Supporting Actor category role for his portrayal of Delta Slim, a musician whose experience and stories give the film its edge and take on racism at a time when Jim Crow Laws dominated – this was a system of apartheid that saw many people of colour reduced to second-class citizens and without rights in the US.

In the original longlist of Oscar films, Riz Ahmed’s ‘Relay’ was cited. This contemporary thriller directed by David Mackenzie and written by Justin Piasecki was well reviewed. Ahmed who won an Oscar for his short film, ‘The Long Goodbye’ is back on the big screen with his own ‘Hamlet’. Yes, this is the Shakespearean classic transferred to a South Asian family in London. It comes out next Friday (February 6) and we will be dropping our interviews with him and director Aneil Karia and Art Malik (Claudius) and Sheeba Chaddha (Getrude) this coming week, with a full page review out this week too. Ahmed has also started trailing his British Asian comedy series, ‘Bait’ which will drop on Prime Video on March 25. (See the link below for his Instagram post).

There was an Oscars ceremony when both Ahmed and Dev Patel handed out Oscars – Patel was nominated in a Best Supporting Role for ‘Lion’ in 2017 and can be seen in indie film, ‘Rabbit Trap’. It’s a supernatural thriller set in Wales and Patel plays part of a couple who move out of London in 1970s to rural Wales, where Daphne (Rosy McEwen) is keen to focus on her music and sound recordist Darcy (Patel) is intrigued by the new surroundings and the pair encounter characters who might not be who they say they are… This British film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival last year and will release in UK cinemas on Friday (January 30).

And finally, this year’s Sundance Film Festival is underway (January 22-February 1). It is the last in Park City – from next year it will move to Boulder in Colorado. British born and raised and now LA living Pop star Charlie XCX, who has Indian East African heritage through her mother, is in Park City and appears in two films – ‘I Want Your Sex’ by Gregg Araki and the mockumentary ‘The Moment’ by Aidan Zamiri which screened on Friday.

ACV attended Sundance in 2019 and was among about 30 members of the press who saw the late Robert Redford welcome us personally to Park City for the festival (for the last time in person!) Unforgettable.

The Oscars take place on March 15/16 GMT.

Listing details & external links

‘Homebound’ screens at the BFI Southbank, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XT on Saturday, February 7 at 2.40pm- tickets here

‘Humans in the Loop’ interview with writer director – UK Asian Film Festival, Nabanita Sircar talks to Aranya Sahay – click here

Taha Shah Badussha on ‘Paro: The Untold Story of Bride Slavery’ – here

Bait with Riz Ahmed – here and latest post from Sundance Film Festival – here