'The Perfect Neighbor' Wins Critics Choice Best Documentary Feature

The Critics Choice Association unveiled the winners of its 10th annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards. The Perfect Neighbor, a Netflix documentary about the deadly consequence’s of Florida’s stand-your-ground laws, nabbed five awards at the gala event held in New York City, including Best Director and the top prize of Best Documentary Feature. 

The film is a production of Message Pictures, Park Pictures, and Soledad O'Brien's SO'B Productions, with O'Brien serving as Executive Producer.

The Perfect Neighbor is a 2025 American documentary film directed by Geeta Gandbhir about a shooting incident on June 2, 2023, where a white woman, Susan Louise Lorincz, fatally shot Ajike Owens, her black neighbor, in Ocala, Florida. The film is told in chronological order with limited narration and mostly using pre-existing police footage, such as bodycams, and follows both the lead-up to the killing, the incident itself, and its aftermath, from the neighborhood disputes eventually escalating into the killing to Lorincz's conviction for manslaughter, among other charges. As the killing itself did, the film notably questions the systemic bias in how Florida's stand-your-ground laws are applied.

Soledad O'Brien to Speak at WFAE's 45th Anniversary Gala

 

In 1981, WFAE first signed on the air with a mission to serve the Charlotte region with news, information and cultural programming. Growing from a small campus station into a multiplatform newsroom, WFAE has been the voice for the Carolinas for 45 years.

WFAE's 45th Anniversary Gala celebrates local journalism and community service with special guest Soledad O'Brien on Thursday, June 4. She will speak about the importance of public media and how accessible news serves and strengthens communities.

Soledad O'Brien is an award-winning journalist, author, philanthropist and founder of Soledad O'Brien Productions. She was a founding anchor at MSNBC, anchored NBC's "Weekend Today," anchored CNN's morning show and was a correspondent for HBO RealSports. In 2021, O'Brien testified before Congress about media disinformation.

O'Brien has won 10 Emmys, three George Foster Peabody Awards, the Alfred I Dupont Award and many others. Her company has produced several award-winning documentaries for HBO, Netflix and Peacock. O'Brien was inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame in 2023. Through her foundation, PowHERful, O'Brien has helped thousands of young women and girls in their academic, personal and professional journeys.

Event details: Thursday, June 4, 5:30 pm, at  The Casey by Beau Monde, Charlotte

The Challenges of Finding Entry-Level Jobs

College graduates may be having a hard time finding their first jobs right now. A recent report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York says the labor conditions for recent graduates have "deteriorated noticeably" in the past few months. Martha Ross is a senior fellow at Brookings Metro, studying young adults and the labor market. She joins Soledad O’Brien to look at the reasons why there may be a lack of entry-level jobs.

The Perfect Neighbor

Filmmaker Geeta Gandbhir, with the support of producer-husband Nikon Kwantu and executive producer Soledad O’Brien, has produced The Perfect Neighbor. It is on Netflix after an Oscar-qualifying theatrical run and a Best Director award at Sundance.

It chronicles the two years leading up to the death of Ajike “AJ” Owens. She was a dedicated 35-year-old mother of four when she was shot and killed by her 58-year-old neighbor, Susan Lorincz, in June 2023.

The tragedy shocked the peaceful, tight-knit community of Ocala, Florida. The shooting occurred after years of Lorincz making habitual calls to the police to report neighborhood kids, including Owens’, for playing in a vacant lot next to her home.

Lorincz, who is white, claimed that the children — most of whom are Black and were under 12 — were a threat, citing one of the nation’s many “Stand Your Ground” laws, which allow individuals to use deadly force to protect themselves if they feel their life is in danger.

What makes the film unusual is that it is almost entirely composed of police body camera footage. This cinema verité documentary uses this case to depict the dangers inherent in such a law.

Soledad and Her Pooch

 Photobombed by her dog