Netflix Nears Deal to Acquire Stand Your Ground Sundance Doc ‘The Perfect Neighbor'
'The Perfect Neighbor' explores how a tight-knit community was torn apart after Susan Lorincz, a 60-year-old white woman from central Florida, shot and killed her neighbor Ajike Owens, a 35-year-old Black mother of four, through a locked door. The film uses police footage to document both the peaceful community life before the incident and the fallout in its tragic aftermath.
In an unconventional approach to documentary filmmaking, director and award winning editor Geeta Gandbhir relied entirely on police body camera footage to tell the story. The film won the directing award in the U.S. Documentary category at Sundance.
'We got our hands on the body cam footage, and we realized how critical it was to show the before of this story,' Gandbhir told TheWrap CEO Sharon Waxman at TheWrap's Sundance Studio. 'We often see the aftermath of such a tragedy, right? But how rarely do we see the community and the family as they were before?'
The film highlights issues around 'Stand Your Ground' laws, racial tensions and community divisions. Gandbhir noted that the police footage showed an otherwise harmonious neighborhood disrupted by one resident's actions. 'None of these other people call the police, none of these other people do that. It's her,' she said, referring to Lorincz' repeated complaints about children playing.
Lorincz was sentenced to 25 years in prison for aggravated manslaughter in November 2024.
Variety first reported the news.
The post Netflix Nears Deal to Acquire Stand Your Ground Sundance Doc 'The Perfect Neighbor' appeared first on TheWrap.
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