In “The Perfect Neighbor,” director Geeta Gandbhir utilizes police bodycam, ring camera, and cellphone footage, along with recorded 911 calls, to narrate the tragic sequence of a minor neighborhood dispute in Florida that spiraled into fatal gun violence. This disturbing incident resulted in the death of Ajike Owens, an African American mother of four, at the hands of her neighbor, Susan Lorincz, a white woman.
Now available on Netflix, this documentary, which received a jury prize at Sundance earlier this year and was purchased by Netflix for an estimated $5 million, exemplifies a growing trend of nonfiction films incorporating bodycam footage. Last year’s Oscar-nominated short documentary, “Incident,” relied solely on bodycam and surveillance footage, while “2000 Meters to Andriivka,” released this year about the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, included Ukrainian Army bodycam footage.
“I believe this isn’t just a documentary trend but a broader societal shift,” remarks Gandbhir. “We live in an age where media production is accessible to nearly everyone.”
For “The Perfect Neighbor,” Gandbhir chose to forgo traditional documentary techniques such as interviews or recreations for several reasons, the primary one being her desire to avoid “retraumatizing” Owens’ family and the surrounding community.
“We possessed all the materials, so why force them to recount their trauma?” Gandbhir explains. “The bodycam footage speaks for itself. It’s institutional footage free from the biases of filmmakers or journalists. In a time when audiences frequently question authenticity, this footage presents an undeniable account of what transpired.”
The director also aimed to “subvert the purpose of body camera footage.”
“Typically, police bodycam footage is used for community surveillance,” Gandbhir notes. “It often serves to defend law enforcement while simultaneously criminalizing communities of color. I wanted to flip this narrative, using the footage to beautifully illustrate the community as it existed before, humanizing its residents instead of dehumanizing them.”
Gandbhir collaborated with editor Viridiana Lieberman to distill 30 hours of footage into a concise 97-minute documentary.
“We made deliberate choices about pacing the footage, deciding when to prolong scenes and when to accelerate them,” Gandbhir shares. “The narrative presents a seemingly perfect little town threatened by an unseen peril, with only the children recognizing it. The adults, including the police, dismissed Susan as merely bothersome.”
In the film, a local resident informs the police, “That lady (Lorincz) always interferes with the children.” She points to an open area where various children play. “She’s bossy,” observes a young girl, identifying Lorincz as a stereotypical “Karen.”
Leading up to the shooting in 2023, Lorincz frequently called 911 over two years, claiming that Owens’ children and other neighborhood kids were making excessive noise and trespassing on “her property.” Police first responded in February 2022, after Lorincz claimed Owens threw a “no trespassing” sign at her, and this led to numerous police visits to the area.
Gandbhir describes the film’s pacing as “a slow burn.”
“Throughout the film, several revelations instill discomfort in viewers,” she explains. “In many ways, it has a horror aspect to it.”
Lieberman deliberately extended the tense climax of the shooting, which wasn’t captured on video. The editor incorporated audio from doorbell cameras and various 911 calls to immerse viewers in the confrontation, starkly contrasting with Lorincz’s later description of the life-and-death situation to police.
“That night definitely required careful dissection to be truly understood,” Lieberman asserts. “The chaotic explosion of emotions unfolded from multiple perspectives. Cutting down the footage and deciding the focus points proved to be the most challenging aspect of the film. Our initial edit of that night ran for 40 minutes.”
Many reviewers have dubbed “The Perfect Neighbor” a true crime documentary, a categorization that makes Gandbhir uneasy.
“When people hear ‘true crime,’ they often envision something sensational or formulaic,” she states. “This film revolves around a crime, but our aim wasn’t to create a traditional true crime documentary.”
Despite not following the conventional true crime narrative, “The Perfect Neighbor” features a trial segment that nearly didn’t make the final cut.
Lorincz invoked Florida’s Stand Your Ground law during her trial last year. After completing the final cut of “The Perfect Neighbor” for Sundance, Gandbhir and Lieberman chose to include elements from the trial that concluded in November 2024.
“We deliberated extensively,” says Gandbhir. “We considered integrating the trial because it was compelling, revealing all those involved in the bodycam footage. It was as if the cast suddenly came to life before the audience.”
Ultimately, Lieberman distilled the four-day trial into a concise two-minute segment to be featured during the documentary’s credits.
“This way, nobody can skip through the credits!” Gandbhir jokes.
