Joining the ranks of Walt Disney - meet the director nominated for 2 Oscars for 2 different films

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Regan MorrisLos Angeles

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Geeta Gandbhir: “I slept through my nominations” for two Oscars

Being nominated for an Academy Award is a dream come true, the ultimate recognition in film that can open doors and bolster name recognition to further a successful career.

But that dreamy feeling is doubled for American filmmaker Geeta Gandbhir. She is nominated twice - in two separate categories for two different documentaries in Sunday’s ceremony. It’s a rare feat that only five - including Walt Disney - have achieved in the Oscars’ nearly 100-year history.

“It’s a thrill and an honour,” Gandbhir told the BBC. “Our minds are kind of blown.”

She is nominated for best documentary feature for The Perfect Neighbor and best documentary short for The Devil is Busy.

Walt Disney made history in 1954 after winning four Oscars for four different projects – including best documentary for The Living Desert and best documentary short for The Alaskan Eskimo.

Along with joining the ranks of only five others who have been nominated in both categories in one year, Gandbhir is making history on her own, as she is now the first woman to do so.

Double Oscar nominees in any category are rare. Emma Stone is nominated this year for producing and starring in Bugonia. In 2007, Cate Blanchett was nominated for best actress for Elizabeth The Golden Age and for best supporting actress for I’m Not There.

Gandbhir says she decided to intentionally sleep through the Oscar nominations to avoid being disappointed. She was shortlisted to be nominated, though, so she knew there was a chance.

“It’s anxiety inducing to watch the actual announcements. I’ve done it before,” she told the BBC at the annual Academy Awards luncheon. “Of course, I was awake until 3 am.”

As the nominations were announced, she woke up to celebratory shouting by her husband, a producer on The Perfect Neighbor, on the phone with her best friend who co-directed The Devil is Busy.

Gandbhir laughed when asked if she has written two acceptance speeches for the ceremony, which is set for Sunday evening in Los Angeles.

“Touch wood,” she said, adding that if she wins for The Devil is Busy, she will share the stage with her co-director Christalyn Hampton.

The Devil is Busy, streaming on HBO Max, documents a day inside an abortion clinic in Atlanta, Georgia, seen through the eyes of a security guard who highlights the dangers that staff and ⁠patients face amid the shifting political landscape in the US.

The Perfect Neighbor, which is streaming on Netflix, uses police body cam footage to tell the story of a young mother killed by a woman who repeatedly called police to complain about children in her neighbourhood playing around her home.

How Geeta Gandbhir made Oscar-nominted documentary, The Perfect Neighbor

Here is a list of all six individuals who have been nominated for best short and feature length documentary

Geeta Gandbhir

2025 – The Perfect Neighbor (feature) and The Devil Is Busy (short)

Eric Nyari

2024 – Black Box Diaries (feature) and Instruments of a Beating Heart (short)

Charles Guggenheim

1994 – D-Day Remembered (feature) and A Time for Justice (short)

Ben Sharpsteen

1958 – White Wilderness (feature, won) and Ama Girls (short, won)

Louis Clyde Stoumen

1956 – The Naked Eye (feature) and The True Story of the Civil War (short, won)

Walt Disney

1953 – The Living Desert (feature, won) and The Alaskan Eskimo (short, won)

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The Oscars

Film

United States