As a child growing up in Newton, Mass; Geeta Gandbhir remembers sitting in at events organized by the New England Marathi Mandal with her two siblings accompanied by her parents, Lalita and Sharad Gandbhir. “My parents came to this country in the early 60’s and at that time there were fewer South Asians here. For a while they contemplated going back to India but when things didn’t really work out, they instead brought many of the family back to this country”. She grew along side her many uncles and aunts and cousins “The atmosphere at home was very much like growing up in India, chaotic, learning to speak Marathi and having the luxury of the attention of so many extended relatives. It was a wonderful experience” says Gandbhir. Although her parents had traditional careers, (her father is a chemical engineer and her mother is a doctor), Geeta says they were ‘progressive” when it came to the children’s upbringing. “I always had an inclination for the arts and theatre and my favorite area was the world of animation. At that time, my parents encouraged me, possibly thinking I may not make it a career” she says laughing. But animation it was and while attending a class in Harvard by Spike Lee, she approached him and asked if she could work with him. “I think I was fortunate because he offered me an internship” and that is how I started my career into films.

 So how was it working for such an accomplished filmmaker? “Well, as you know an internship is grueling. At that time you do what is asked of you but it also opens opportunities for you to connect and prove yourself” She calls Spike Lee her ‘mentor’ and describes him as ‘generous but uncompromising‘ when it comes to work. About her work with Sam Pollard, she is grateful because he taught her everything one must know about film editing. Does she miss animation” Not really, since the medium is the same and they are both visually appealing. Besides I haven’t totally given up on animation as my husband Nikon Quantu and I have our production company Kali Ra productions where we do a lot of animations for companies like Nickelodeon, Sesame Street etc”.

We move on to talk about her experience with the 2007 Emmy award for the four hour documentary "When the Levees Broke" directed by filmmaker Spike Lee, Gandbhir shared the award with Sam Pollard and Nancy Novak for Spike Lee's 2006 HBO documentary "When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts". The four-hour film looks at the devastation caused in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina destroyed its levee system in August 2005.The film won two other Emmys for Non-fiction Filmmaking and Directing for Non-fiction Programming. Says Gandbhir,“The event itself for very surreal. Hollywood is definitely more glitzy and glamour than New York where I live. When I went on stage to receive my award, I was terrified. To top that, I had worn high heels and kept thinking that I will trip any minute, but of course nothing of that sort happened. I consider it a huge honor especially when the subject matter is so serious. In a way it makes you more responsible about the kind of work that you would want to do in the future. In a business like ours, you are only as good as your next project so you need to be careful about your work. HBO treated us like royalty of course and we enjoyed that thoroughly. The only hard part was, I had to leave my 3 month old baby boy Tunde and my 4 year old son Rakesh behind.”

I ask Geeta if she defines this as success and if she could share some tips on what is important and how one must remain focused to achievement.” Well’, she laughs, “I always thought that I was sitting on the side of the ‘alternative career’ when we were growing up. At that time there were fewer South Asians in theatre and the arts. Now of course there has been a cross over from traditional careers to newer adventures. I would think that hard work and the willingness to do go a long way. If you intern somewhere and work ‘be prepared for long hours and sometimes even do chores that may not define your goal’ but people will hire you if you show the willingness to do’. It is not an easy business and of course making the right connection helps”.

Geeta Gandbhir has over twelve years of varied experience in the fields of film, television and animation. She graduated from the State University of New York, majoring in Visual Arts and Cross-Cultural Anthropology. She started out working as an animator for the legendary filmmaker Suzan Pitt doing pieces for MTV's groundbreaking Liquid Television series, as well as Pitt's film "Joy Street" which was featured in the New York Film Festival.  Wanting to branch out and broaden her skills, she then transitioned into film editing, working with distinguished, award winning directors and producers such as Spike Lee, Robert Altman and Sam Pollard. In the film, she has worked with distinguished directors and producers such as Robert Altman of Short Cuts fame besides Spike Lee of He Got Game, Clockers, and Summer of Sam. Gambir has worked in television for PBS, MTV, Discovery, Court TV and Oprah Winfrey's Oxygen Media.
She worked as an Assistant Editor on Robert Altman's "Short Cuts", Ernest Dickerson's "Surviving the Game" as well as Spike Lee's "He Got Game", "Girl Six", "Clockers" and "Summer of Sam" and as Associate Editor on Spike Lee's "Bamboozled" and Charles Dutton's "The Corner”. In television, she has worked for PBS, MTV, Discovery, Court TV, Oxygen Media and many others. Recent works include the PBS series "African American Lives" with Henry Lewis Gates, and the four hour documentary "When the Levees Broke" directed by filmmaker Spike Lee, for which she won an Emmy 2007   

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