Ado Ato Pictures

What Ado Ato Pictures does

Ado Ato Pictures is a privately held, Emmy Award-winning film and XR studio founded in 2015 and headquartered across Los Angeles and Amsterdam. The studio produces multidimensional stories through film, animation, television, and immersive technologies, with a thematic focus on challenging colonial tropes and uplifting historically marginalized voices, particularly Black, Latinx, and LGBTQ+ communities. It is led by founder and director Tamara Shogaolu, identified as the first Black Latinx woman to lead a major studio focused on animation and technology, and operates a non-profit arm, Ado Ato Interactive, that channels impact-driven work.

The studio's underlying technology is the Bemmbé Immersive™ platform, a multi-sensory audio-driven story room that combines projected visuals, infrared motion tracking, 3D spatial audio, LiDAR scanning, and, in newer projects, AI-augmented narrative tools. This platform powers a portfolio of products including the touring AR installations Oryza: Healing Ground, Un(re)solved, and Where There is Light; the in-production AR adventure game Anouschka; the web interactive Un(re)solved; and narrative films Something Real, Music Dreams, and The Braid of Time. Technology partners include Unity and Philips.

Commercially, the studio generates revenue through commissioned productions for festivals and broadcasters (Tribeca, IDFA, Annecy, PBS FRONTLINE, Netflix), touring installations licensed to museums and educational institutions (MoMA, Amsterdam Museum, Museum of Mississippi History, USC Shoah Foundation), and project-based grants from cultural funds (NL Film Fonds, Creative Industries Fund NL, Creative Capital, Sundance Institute, Black Public Media). Go-to-market is primarily enterprise and event-driven, with awarded work and industry recognition (Emmy, SXSW, Scripps Howard, Silver Gavel) serving as the principal demand-generation channel. Pricing is not publicly disclosed and is negotiated per engagement.

Name

Ado Ato Pictures

Legal name

Ado Ato Pictures LLC

Website

https://adoatopictures.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Emmy-winning film and XR studio producing AR/VR/XR, animation, and AI-augmented immersive storytelling for cultural institutions, broadcasters, and festivals, with a focus on historically marginalized communities across five continents.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Immersive Media Production

NAICS

Motion Picture and Video Production (51211), Motion Picture and Video Industries (5121)

SIC

Services-Advertising (7310)

akta.pro primary industry

Interactive & Immersive Content Production (AR/VR/3D) (BPAFAIAL)

akta.pro secondary industry

Mobile/Digital Experiential (AR/VR, Interactive Installations) (MPAAAGAI)

Keywords

• Immersive storytelling
• XR production studio
• Film animation studio
• AR VR experiences
• Documentary filmmaking

Headquarters

HQ city

Los Angeles

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Commissioned Productions: The studio creates commissioned content for major festivals, broadcasters, and cultural institutions. Projects are commissioned and exhibited at venues like Tribeca Film Festival, MoMA, Amsterdam Museum, and partnered with Sundance Institute, Netflix, PBS FRONTLINE.
2. Touring Exhibitions: Immersive installations made available to tour to museums, galleries, and educational institutions worldwide. Projects like 'Where There is Light' and 'Queer in a Time of Forced Migration' are 'Available to Tour' for venue hire.
3. Creative and Production Services: Full-service studio offering ideation, design/development, production/co-production, packaging for film; storyboarding for animation; interactive storytelling and testing for AR/VR/XR; workshop design, implementation, script consulting, and story consulting.
4. Licensing and Support: Receives support from Netflix, Dutch Creative Industries, Amsterdam Fund for the Arts, and various cultural foundations and film funds for project development.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Ado Ato Pictures is an Emmy Award-winning film and XR studio that creates multidimensional stories through commissioned film, animation, TV, and immersive technology projects. Its core service offering spans ideation, design/development, production/co-production, packaging, storyboarding, interactive storytelling, and consulting, supported by a proprietary multi-sensory platform (Bemmbé Immersive™) that powers AR installations, web interactives, and touring immersive experiences for broadcasters, museums, festivals, and cultural institutions.

Product overview

Ado Ato Pictures is an Emmy Award-winning film and XR studio that creates multidimensional stories through film, animation, TV, and immersive technologies. The company operates as a unified studio offering a portfolio of interconnected products: the core Bemmbé Immersive™ platform provides the underlying multi-sensory technology (infrared motion tracking, 3D spatial audio, projected visuals) that powers immersive experiences. Building on this technology, the studio produces AR installations (Oryza: Healing Ground, Un(re)solved AR Installation, Anouschka), web interactives (Un(re)solved Web Interactive), and interactive installations (Where There is Light). Complementing these are narrative film projects (Something Real, The Braid of Time, Music Dreams) and multi-platform transmedia projects (Queer in a Time of Forced Migration). Ado Ato Interactive, the non-profit wing, focuses on social impact storytelling. All work is led by interdisciplinary artist Tamara Shogaolu, with a global reach spanning five continents.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Bemmbé Immersive™: Audio-driven story room platform using multi-sensory technology to create powerful and immersive experiences. Uses projected visuals through infrared motion tracking and 3D spatial audio.

Products and services

• Bemmbé Immersive™ Audio-driven story-room platform that uses infrared motion tracking, 3D spatial audio, and projected visuals to create immersive, multi-sensory storytelling experiences adaptable for different narratives.
• Oryza: Healing Ground Transmedia sculptural AR installation that blends African histories with AI to explore stories of migration, ancestral knowledge, and cultural representation; available to tour.
• Anouschka AR adventure game following a teenage violin prodigy with Surinamese and Javanese heritage as she rediscovers her city, family history, and herself through interactive puzzles and cultural storytelling.
• Where There is Light Interactive installation that merges mental wellness with nature through LiDAR data visualization responding to visitor movement and breath, paired with 24-hour Panamanian rainforest sound recordings; available to tour.
• Un(re)solved AR Installation AR installation telling stories of civil rights era cold cases and families still searching for justice, where visitors use phones to scan names of victims on a living quilt wooden sculpture to hear their stories; available to tour.
• Un(re)solved Web Interactive Web-based interactive experience inspired by quilting and tree imagery where users navigate a virtual forest of quilted memories and listen to stories of victims of racist killings.
• Music Dreams Animated short film commissioned for the USC Shoah Foundation about a young Holocaust survivor whose story is told through magical sheet music that transports an eight-year-old refugee boy to the past.
• Queer in a Time of Forced Migration Multi-platform project consisting of film, VR experience, and web interactive following LGBTQ refugees from the Middle East across continents and cultures, with an animated transmedia series; available to tour.
• The Braid of Time Film inspired by the history and diversity of Washington, D.C., in which protagonist Estela discovers a secret realm containing the collective song of people who have strived for their rights across the ages.
• Something Real Dark comedy short film set in a near-future world where emotions can be programmed, following Dax as she uses a high-tech 'soft landing' protocol to break up with her partner.
• Echoes of Silence Audio-driven full-dome animated projection exploring humanity's relationship with the stars through a visual and sonic journey through time and space.

Quantifiable outcome

• Emmy Award for Outstanding Interactive Media: Innovation
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability5 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

16 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• PBScoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMajor broadcasting partner for investigative documentary projects including multi-platform collaboration on Un(re)solved examining civil rights era cold cases. Partnership includes FRONTLINE collaboration on augmented reality installation and web interactive.
• NetflixcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerStreaming partner providing support and potential distribution for film productions. Collaboration includes LALIFF fellowship sponsorship and work with Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival.
• Sundance InstitutecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCreative partner providing support for documentary and immersive projects. Stars Collective Imagination Award partnership for projects like Oryza.
• Tribeca Film FestivalcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFestival partner for premieres including Un(re)solved AR Installation premiere at The Battery. Major venue for immersive storytelling showcase.
• Amsterdam MuseumminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCultural institution exhibition venue for Queer in a Time of Forced Migration. Partnership for touring immersive installations.
• Black Public MediacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNonprofit supporting Black media creators. Financial supporter and presenter for Oryza project examining African diaspora narratives.
• StoryCorpsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerOral history organization partner on Un(re)solved project contributing to civil rights era storytelling.
• MoMAcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMuseum of Modern Art in New York as major exhibition venue for award-winning work.
• IDFA DocLabcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam's innovation program for documentary and immersive storytelling.
• USC Shoah FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEducational foundation commissioning Music Dreams animated short about Holocaust survivor stories for USC Shoah Foundation.
• Nationaal ArchiefminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational Archives of the Netherlands supporting Oryza project through International Heritage Cooperation Program.
• 271 FilmsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerProduction partner on Something Real film project.
• Harvard Law SchoolminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic institution collaboration partner for legal and civil rights themed projects.
• Arab American MuseumminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCultural institution exhibition partner for work featuring Arab and Middle Eastern narratives.
• Annecy International Animation Film FestivalcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPremier global animation festival for showcasing animation work and industry presence.
• Sheffield Doc/FestcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMajor documentary festival partner for immersive and documentary projects including Alternate Realities program.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Market position

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/adoatopictures
• Facebookfacebook.com/AdoAtoPictures
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/about

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Ado Ato Pictures