In Geeta Gandbhir & Christalyn Hampton’s documentary short film The Devil is Busy, Tracii works tirelessly heading up security at an Atlanta women’s healthcare clinic, dealing regularly with protestors and ensuring that anyone who visits has a safe and successful visit.
Awards Buzz spoke with Oscar-nominated filmmakers Geeta Gandbhir and Christalyn Hampton about working together and identifying this important subject. Gandbhir, who is also Oscar-nominated for her feature documentary The Perfect Neighbor this year, discussed some of the film’s powerful screenings during its run:
“I will say this. A film festival audience is also a very select audience, so it’s not like it was just playing theatrically in theaters all over the country and people were buying tickets just because. It’s a film festival audience. They usually are a specific crowd, and so I think we what we garnered was a lot of empathy for the women. There were so many women particularly who have been similarly fighting for abortion rights and reproductive justice for years and years and they were huge fans. And I think everyone fell in love with Tracii. She’s so undeniable.”
Hampton added:
“I definitely agree with that, and also I feel like a lot of men who attended the festivals and even recently, we had a screening in Atlanta, and I was really surprised at how many men felt anger, they were scared for Tracii’s safety, and, as Geeta said, have empathy now for these women who come into the clinic. Some people were like, we want to donate right away, we want to help make sure you’re safe. So I thought that was a really empowering thing coming from particularly men, a point of view.”
Watch the video above to hear about the robust impact campaign they’re looking to roll out to go with the film rather than pouring more energy into a feature-length film.
The Devil is Busy is an Oscar nominee for Best Documentary Short and is available to stream on HBO Max.
