Meet the team behind Message Pictures, the production company and group of storytellers most known for bringing you ‘The Perfect Neighbor’ and ‘Katrina: Come Hell and High Water on Netflix.’
Founded by acclaimed filmmaker Geeta Gandbhir, director Sam Pollard, creative producer Alisa Payne, and producer Nikon Kwantu, Message Pictures is led by changemakers dedicated to creating meaningful, impactful work.
Together, we’re committed to developing projects that push boundaries, elevate underrepresented voices, and spark dialogue that resonates far beyond the screen.
#ThePerfectNeighbor #Netflix #Documentary #CriticsChoice #AwardsWinner #MustWatch #Documentary2025 #NetflixDocumentary #MessagePictures
Honored to share that Katrina: Come Hell and High Water has been nominated for Breakthrough Nonfiction Series at the 2026 Gotham Television Awards.
Congratulations to our incredible directors, producers, crew, and every voice that helped bring this powerful story of resilience, survival, and truth to the screen.
Thank you to The Gothams for this recognition.
Production Company: @message_pics
Executive Producers: @officialspikelee@geetagandbhir #SamPollard
Showrunner / Producer: @al_is_a_payne
Directors: @geetagandbhir@samm_knowles@officialspikelee
Associate Producer: @imansterxx@dayinthelifeofcrys
Archival: @faracitts@here_for_your_amusement
#TheGothams2026 #KatrinaComeHellAndHighWater #MessagePictures #BreakthroughNonfictionSeries
Message Pictures is honored to announce that “Katrina:Come Hell and High Water.” has been nominated for three News and Documentary Emmy Awards.
Outstanding Social Issue Documentary
Outstanding Direction: Documentary
Outstanding Editing: Documentary
Congratulations to our remarkable team and thank you to all participants who trusted us to share their stories.
Production Company: @message_pics
Executive Producers: @officialspikelee@geetagandbhir #SamPollard
Showrunner / Producer: @al_is_a_payne
Directors: @geetagandbhir@samm_knowles@officialspikelee
Associate Producer: @imansterxx@dayinthelifeofcrys
Alisa Payne — co-founder of @message_pics and a producer on @theperfectneighborfilm — puts it plain:
As Black women, our work is resistance. Resistance is telling our stories fully — not as “trauma,” not as stereotypes, not as something to be erased or edited down.
In S1E4: Behind the Scenes, Alisa talks about why this matters right now: when books are banned, history is rewritten, and truth gets treated like an opinion, we don’t just “create content.” We correct the record. We document. We tell the truth so it’s still here for our children.
What story do you think the world is trying hardest to erase?
🎧 Joy & Justice — S1E4: Behind the Scenes (link in bio)
#standinginthegapfund #theperfectneighbor #BlackHistory #oscars #oscars2026
We are still riding the #oscars2026 #fairweatherfaces beauty wave.
THANK YOU to all of our Beauties trust and enthusiasm that morning.
FAIRWEATHER FACES TEAM we did it!
📸 @savoymediagroup
Fairweather Faces Face Chart looks:
•PEACH OUT
•WILD CHERRY (with glossed lids)
•LIVING IN GOLD
•PLAYFULLY SEXY (with blue liner)
•HONEY LOVE
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#fairweatherfacestravelingbeautyservices
#fairweatherfacesbeauty #mobilebeautypioneers
“Polite” isn’t the same as “protecting the community.” 
In S1E4 of the Joy & Justice Podcast, Nikon Kwantu (producer of @theperfectneighborfilm ) talks about the gap between courtesy and accountability—and the very different treatment people receive depending on whether they’re seen as fully human. 
What should it mean to be treated like a citizen—every time?
🎧 Listen now (link 🔗in Bio)
#standinginthegapfund #theperfectneighbor #ajikeowens #oscars2026 #podcastclips
@geetagandbhir , Director of @theperfectneighborfilm and our family (💜) doesn’t mince words: “Dehumanization is a tool… to turn us against each other.”
In S1E4: Behind the Scenes, she explains how it starts small—how we show up with our neighbors, how we treat people we don’t understand, how quickly fear becomes cruelty. And she brings it back to AJ: her dreams, her goals, and the simple truth that the world should remember her name.
What does “showing up better” in your community look like this week?
🎧 Joy & Justice — S1E4 (link in bio)
#standinginthegapfund #theperfectneighbor #ajikeowens #oscars2026
MY SISTERS @al_is_a_payne and @justme_lene are at the 98th Oscars! To know us is to know we are not the brand to brag BUT this is too tremendously awesome to NOT BLAST about. The Payne girls always know how to show up but this is beyond any of our wildest dreams! Please please tune in! #BestDocumentary #PerfectNeighbor #DevilIsBusy
On the #Oscars red carpet for The Perfect Neighbor. ✨
The Message Pictures team: Geeta Gandbhir, Alisa Payne, Nikon Kwantu, Sam Pollard, joined by producer Sam Bisbee, executive producers Takema Robinson and Jackie Kelman Bisbee, and Ajike’s mother, Pamela Dias🙌🏾
