What Sideshow Inc does

Sideshow Inc is a privately held, founder-controlled independent film production and post-production company headquartered in Los Angeles, California. Founded by Iranian-born, US-based filmmaker Ramin Niami, the company operates a dual business: producing original independent feature films and documentaries, and providing specialized post-production services including sound recording, sound mixing, Digital Imaging Technician (DIT) work, and creation of delivery materials such as M&E tracks and Digital Cinema Packages (DCPs). The company has produced or co-produced more than ten feature films spanning 1993 to 2021, including Somewhere in the City (1998), Paris (2003), Babe's and Ricky's Inn (2013), Shirin in Love (2014), Magic Lantern (2018), The Box (2021), and Eye Without a Face (2021), with two additional titles (Fade Away and Michael: Now and Then) currently in post-production.

The business is organized around three revenue mechanics: (a) licensing of self-produced films to theatrical distributors and platforms such as AMC Independent, HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, TMC, Amazon Prime Video, Tubi, Apple TV, Vudu, and Gravitas Ventures; (b) post-production service fees billed to filmmakers and production companies; and (c) co-production and producer-for-hire fees (for example, the co-produced Magic Lantern with director Amir Naderi). Distribution spans theatrical, premium cable, transactional VOD, and free ad-supported streaming across the US and UK. The post-production team, anchored by sound supervisor Reza Narimizadeh, has contributed to Academy Award-winning films A Separation (2012) and The Salesman (2016), both directed by Asghar Farhadi.

The company operates with approximately 7 employees and appears to be bootstrapped, with no disclosed institutional funding. Its effective customer base is threefold: end-audiences reached through distribution channels, filmmakers and production companies engaging post-production services, and platform/distribution partners licensing content. Pricing is not publicly disclosed and revenue figures are unavailable; economics are typical of boutique independent film production, with episodic releases and multi-year windows for licensing monetization.

Name

Sideshow Inc

Legal name

Sideshow, Inc.

Website

https://sideshowfilms.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Sideshow Inc is a Los Angeles-based independent film production and post-production company that produces multicultural feature films and documentaries while providing sound editing, mixing, and DCP services to filmmakers and production companies.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Los Angeles

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Sideshow, Inc. is an independent film production company that writes, produces, and distributes theatrical feature films and documentaries with multicultural themes, including works such as Somewhere in the City, Paris, Shirin in Love, Eye Without a Face, and Magic Lantern. The company additionally operates a post-production services division offering sound recording, sound mixing, DIT (Digital Imaging Technician), M&E track creation, and DCP creation for external film projects, with credits on Academy Award-winning features A Separation (2012) and The Salesman (2016). Films are released theatrically and on VOD platforms including HBO, Showtime, Amazon Prime, Tubi, and Gravitas Ventures.

Product overview

Sideshow Inc is a film production company that operates as a unified production house producing independent films and providing post-production services. The company produces theatrical feature films (Somewhere in the City, Paris, Shirin in Love, Eye Without a Face, The Box, Fade Away), documentary features (Babe's and Ricky's Inn, Michael: Now and Then), and co-produced Amir Naderi's Magic Lantern. Their post-production division offers sound recording, mixing, DIT services, and delivery materials including M&E tracks and DCP creation. Films have been released theatrically and on platforms including HBO, Showtime, Amazon Prime, Tubi, and Gravitas Ventures.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Somewhere in the City Underground comedy feature film starring Sandra Bernhard, Peter Stormare, Bai Ling, Robert John Burke, and Ornella Muti, with original score by Velvet Underground co-founder John Cale; premiered at Tribeca Film Festival and distributed theatrically in the US by Artistic License/HBO.
• Paris Neo-noir feature film about a Los Angeles lawman who travels through the underworld of Los Angeles and Vegas to help a Chinese immigrant escape sex trafficking; released on Showtime/Warner Brothers Home Video, Amazon Prime, and Tubi.
• Babe's and Ricky's Inn Documentary feature about a legendary blues club in Los Angeles that harbored the greatest live blues music for 54 years; won the Audience Award at the Pan African Film Festival.
• Shirin in Love Romantic comedy directed by Ramin Niami starring Nazanin Boniadi and Amy Madigan, set in Beverly Hills about a journalist whose engagement is threatened by a mysterious young man; released theatrically in the US by AMC Independent/Vision Films.
• Magic Lantern Feature film directed by Amir Naderi starring Monk Serrell-Freed as a projectionist whose cinema is being converted to digital, a nostalgic requiem to true cinema; premiered at Venice and Busan International Film Festivals.
• The Box Psychological thriller feature written and directed by Sasha Sibley and produced by Ramin Niami, starring Graham Jenkins, Michelle Bernard, Aaron Groben, and Andrew Ableson, about an obsessive struggling actor who finds himself trapped in a nightmare surrounded by mirrors.
• Eye Without a Face Psychological thriller/horror feature directed by Ramin Niami about an agoraphobic young man who hacks webcams and suspects a woman is a serial killer; released on VOD in US/Canada by Gravitas Ventures, in the UK by 101 Films/Miracle Media, and on HBO Central Europe.
• Manhattan By Numbers Feature film directed by Amir Naderi and produced by Ramin Niami about a laid-off newspaperman with 24 hours to find the back rent he owes or be put out in the street; screened at New York New Directors and New Films Festival, Chicago Film Festival, Venice Film Festival, Toronto Film Festival, and Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, with a 2018 retrospective at Centre Pompidou and MoMA.
• Post-Production Services Comprehensive post-production services including sound recording, sound mixing, DIT (Digital Imaging Technician), and delivery materials including M&E (Music & Effects) tracks and DCP (Digital Cinema Package) creation; provided to external film productions with credits on Academy Award-winning features A Separation (2012) and The Salesman (2016).

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Focus Features: Specialty film label under a major studio releasing arthouse and international cinema theatrically in the US. Comparable as a larger incumbent that competes for the same festival titles and multicultural arthouse audience that Sideshow's films target.
• Lionsgate: Major independent studio with a deep specialty and arthouse division (Lionsgate/Summit/Roadside). Comparable as a broad incumbent whose boutique labels overlap with Sideshow's indie arthouse positioning at a much larger scale.

Direct peers

• Bleecker Street: Independent film production and distribution company focused on theatrical and VOD release of prestige and arthouse titles, similar in scale and positioning to Sideshow's producer-distributor hybrid model.
• Magnolia Pictures: Independent film distributor focused on specialty, documentary, and international cinema, including genre titles released theatrically and on VOD. Comparable as a key distributor in the same indie/VOD ecosystem where Sideshow's titles circulate.
• Kino Lorber: US distributor of arthouse, classic, and international cinema via theatrical, home video, and streaming channels. Comparable for its role in releasing and curating niche international and art-house film libraries of similar scale to Sideshow's catalog.
• Oscilloscope Laboratories: Boutique independent film distributor specializing in curated arthouse, documentary, and international cinema. Comparable as a small-scale distributor of the festival-touring, art-house titles Sideshow produces.
• IFC Films: Long-running US distributor of independent and international cinema across theatrical, premium cable (formerly IFC Midnight), and VOD channels. Comparable as a buyer and platform for the type of multicultural arthouse features Sideshow produces.
• NEON: Independent film distributor that acquires and releases festival-premiering arthouse and international cinema in the US. Comparable as a similarly festival-circuit-credentialed buyer/publisher of multicultural, art-house-leaning feature films.
• A24: Independent film production and distribution company built on festival-circuit prestige, multicultural arthouse cinema, and director-driven projects — directly comparable to Sideshow's model of producing festival-touring features with multicultural themes.

Others

• Gravitas Ventures: Independent film distributor specializing in VOD and direct-to-digital release across multiple platforms. Comparable as a named distribution partner for Sideshow's Eye Without A Face and an analog for the kind of buyer that monetizes sub-budget multicultural features.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/sideshow-inc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 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 Sideshow Inc