The Perfect Neighbor (Documentary)

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Director: Geeta Gandbhir
Producer: Nikon Kwantu,Sam Bisbee,Alisa Payne,Geeta Gandbhir
Composer: Laura Heinzinger
Editor: Viridiana Lieberman

Winner of a Sundance Directing Award, this timely true-crime documentary exposes the racial violence at the heart of US society.

What began as a neighbourhood dispute in a small Florida community escalated into a deadly collision of racial tensions. Like any parent, Ajike Owens wanted her children to enjoy their right to play outside. But after a series of escalating threats, Owens was fatally shot by Susan Lorincz, a white woman whose rental property abutted the field frequented by Owens’s kids. In this documentary, what should be an open-and-shut case becomes complicated by the state’s controversial ‘stand your ground’ laws – a self-defence-based legal loophole that threatens to undermine justice for Owens and her family.

Told primarily through police body-cam footage, intermingled with 911 calls and investigative interviews, multi-Emmy-winning director Geeta Gandbhir’s chilling film puts real faces and consequences to the so-called ‘Karen’ videos and jokes of recent years. A hauntingly raw and even voyeuristic take on true crime, The Perfect Neighbor took Sundance and SXSW by storm with its shocking account of deep-seated bigotry and an inherently flawed judicial system. Also receiving a Special Mention for CPH:DOX’s F:ACT Award, which celebrates screen works that incorporate investigative journalism, this remarkable, visually inventive documentary reveals the still-coursing poison of race-based intolerance and the insidious ways that prejudice can be institutionally enshrined.

“A nearly perfect film … Brilliantly crafted and presented, this remarkable film transcends the tiny neighborhood in which it is set in ways that astonish, while never for a moment forgetting the singular tragedy that forms the heart of the story.” – POV