India, Feb. 20 -- Geeta Gandbhir is no stranger to the spotlight.

The 55-year-old American filmmaker has been mentored by Spike Lee and Sam Pollard.

Documentary films she worked on with them have won multiple awards. These include Emmys for When the Levees Broke (2006), a four-hour film about the devastation of New Orleans by 2005's Hurricane Katrina and by the government neglect that followed in its wake. And a Peabody award for exceptional journalism for the sequel, If God is Willing and da Creek Don't Rise (2010).

Yet this year is distinctly different.

She has been nominated for two best director Oscars: for the documentary feature The Perfect Neighbor, and the 31-minute documentary short, The Devil is Busy.

Very few women directo...