Geeta Gandbhir Speaks Out at Pre-BAFTA South Asian Gathering

Awards season descended on London this weekend — and South Asian cinema arrived with it.

“We are living in a time, particularly in the U.S., an incredibly alarming and dangerous time,” double Oscar-nominated filmmaker Geeta Gandbhir told friends at a new South Asian business gathering in London on Friday, held during the BAFTA Film Awards weekend. “The person who gave me my first opportunity to film was the great Spike Lee – it was the Black community in the U.S. that actually opened the door for me, and I stand on their shoulders. We fight this fight, but what happens in the U.S. has a ripple effect around the world. We speak up for ourselves, we are here for us – but you must be there for others in this time. Together we are strong.”

Gandbhir is doubly represented at this yr’s Academy Awards. Her documentary “The Perfect Neighbor” carries each a BAFTA nomination and an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary Feature, while “The Devil Is Busy,” which she co-directed with Christalyn Hampton, is nominated for Best Documentary Short Film. Gandbhir has beforehand gained two Primetime Emmys for enhancing.

The event, held at the BAFTA headquarters, was co-hosted by Society O – a new British cultural platform devoted to amplifying Asian voices in theatre, movie and tv – and U.S.-based strategy and distribution company Product of Culture. Designed as a devoted house within awards season, the gathering convened nominees, filmmakers, executives and business leaders.

Two additional BAFTA-nominated titles had been acknowledged at the event. Luís Hindman, director of the British Short Film nominee “Magid/Zafar,” supplied a stirring reflection on the significance of the recognition. “When the work is a highly specific, unapologetically British Asian film, you don’t expect the recognition, you don’t feel entitled to it, and you can’t see any evidence of it,” he said. “For that evidence to be seen, and for it to be our own film, is incredibly humbling. Come Sunday, we will be taking this film into a space which is not South Asian dominated – and whilst we’re happy to be invited in to take our pick axes to the glass ceiling, I can’t overstate the importance of beginning this weekend here with all of you.”

Rahul Sharda, assistant director of “Boong” — nominated in the Children’s & Family Film class and directed by Lakshmipriya Devi — said the event underscored the rising worldwide urge for food for Indian regional cinema. “India has such diverse cultural perspectives to offer, and it’s wonderful that regional storytelling can emerge and be celebrated internationally at BAFTA.”

The night also marked a reunion for the forged of “Goodness Gracious Me,” the groundbreaking BBC sketch comedy sequence that ran from 1998 to 2001, with one off specials in 2014 and 2015, and have become a landmark in British Asian illustration on tv. The present’s 4 leads – Sanjeev Bhaskar, who went on to star in “Unforgotten” and “The Kumars at No. 42”; Meera Syal, the BAFTA Fellowship recipient and award-winning actor novelist and playwright behind “Anita and Me”; Kulvinder Ghir, a veteran of stage and display screen; and Nina Wadia, identified to tens of millions for her long-running function in “EastEnders” – had been together for the first time in a decade. Other friends included Aziz Ansari, Adil El Arbi, Daniel Francis, Adeel Akhtar, Varada Sethu, Alan McAlex, Sufiyaan Salam, Richie Mehta and Gurinder Chadha.

Society O was based by filmmakers Sukki Menon (“I See Her”) and Parvinder Shergill (“Kaur”). Product of Culture, a women-of-color based company run by Archana Misra Jain and Monika Sharma Abbas, has beforehand partnered with Netflix, Universal Studios, Sony, HBO and Meta, and arranged occasions including the South Asian Women Oscars Brunch and the South Asian Film Festival of America.

“This year’s nominations highlight the breadth and impact of South Asian creatives across the industry – from internationally distributed documentaries and award-winning British shorts to groundbreaking regional cinema reaching new audiences worldwide,” said Menon and Shergill alongside Misra Jain and Sharma Abbas. “By bringing together nominees, collaborators and industry leaders, we aim to create a meaningful space that celebrates artistic excellence while strengthening the connections shaping the future of the screen industries.”