Name

sandbox films

Legal name

Sandbox Films, LLC

Website

https://sandboxfilms.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Documentary Film Production

NAICS

Motion Picture and Sound Recording Industries (512)

SIC

Services-Motion Picture & Video Tape Production (7812), Services-Allied To Motion Picture Production (7819)

akta.pro primary industry

Feature-Length Documentaries (MPADADAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Financing & Investment (Equity, Debt, Gap, Slate) (MPADAAAB), Docuseries & Episodic Nonfiction (TV/Streaming) (MPADADAB)

Keywords

• Documentary film production
• Science documentary filmmaking
• Nonprofit film studio
• Co-production financing
• Artist-driven storytelling

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

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

Revenue model

1. Philanthropic/Grant Funding: As a nonprofit studio and subsidiary of the Simons Foundation (a 501(c)(3) organization), Sandbox Films is philanthropically supported, allowing them to take risks on creative and experimental approaches and provide artist-friendly equity financing.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels8 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Sandbox Films is a nonprofit documentary production studio that co-produces and finances feature-length science documentaries, providing creative support, editorial guidance, and artist-friendly equity financing to independent filmmakers. The studio partners with visionary filmmakers and global production companies to develop, produce, and distribute science-themed documentaries through major streaming platforms and theatrical distributors.

Product overview

Sandbox Films is a documentary studio that illuminates the art and beauty of scientific inquiry. Founded in 2020, the company provides creative and financial support for artist-driven documentary projects that explore the world with curiosity, creativity, and humanity. Their portfolio includes Academy Award-nominated FIRE OF LOVE, Sundance Jury Prize winners ALL LIGHT, EVERYWHERE and NOCTURNES, Werner Herzog's FIREBALL, Penny Lane's CONFESSIONS OF A GOOD SAMARITAN, Emmy-winning FATHOM, and many other critically acclaimed science documentaries. Films are released through major streaming platforms including Netflix, Apple TV+, HBO/HBO Max, Hulu, National Geographic Documentary Films, Amazon Prime, and NEON. The company also runs the ELEMENTAL short documentary series featuring international filmmakers exploring stories through the periodic table elements.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Wild Inside A documentary following Flaco, a Eurasian eagle-owl that escaped from the Central Park Zoo and navigated New York City, exploring themes of animal life and freedom. Targeted at mainstream audiences interested in nature documentaries.
• André is an Idiot A documentary following André, a dying man making a documentary about facing mortality with irreverence and humor. Distributed via Netflix.
• ELEMENTAL: Atomic Tales & Periodic Fables A series of short documentaries exploring lives through the elements of the periodic table, directed by award-winning and emerging filmmakers from around the world.
• Time and Water Icelandic writer Andri Snær Magnason turns his archives into a time capsule about the death of his country's glaciers and loss of his grandparents. Released theatrically.
• Fire of Love Academy Award-nominated documentary telling the story of volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft, who captured unprecedented volcanic footage. Distributed theatrically by NEON and via National Geographic Documentary Films and Disney+/Hulu.
• All Light, Everywhere Sundance Special Jury Prize-winning exploration of cameras, weapons, policing, and the complexity of objective perspective.
• Nocturnes An immersive film following two observers decoding nocturnal moths in the Eastern Himalayas on the border of India and Bhutan.
• Fathom Follows two whale researchers conducting groundbreaking fieldwork in Alaska and the South Pacific, exploring whale communication. Emmy-winning documentary released via Apple TV+.
• How to Survive a Pandemic An inside look at the global race to develop COVID-19 vaccines, winner of the 2023 News & Doc Emmy for Outstanding Science & Technology Documentary. Released via HBO/HBO Max.
• Fireball Werner Herzog and Clive Oppenheimer explore meteors, their origins, and their impacts on civilization across billions of years. Co-produced with Apple Original Films and distributed via Apple TV+ and Amazon Prime Video.
• Oliver Sacks: His Own Life Documentary about neurologist Oliver Sacks telling his life story months before his death. Distributed via Apple TV+ and Amazon Prime Video.
• In Silico A young filmmaker documents a neuroscientist's audacious 10-year quest to simulate the entire human brain on supercomputers. Released via Apple TV+.
• Human Nature Documentary investigating CRISPR technology and the ethical choices that could alter the future of humanity, nominated for three News & Documentary Emmy Awards. Distributed via Amazon Prime Video.
• Red Heaven Six young scientists spend 365 days in a NASA-led simulation of the surface of Mars, exploring the psychological challenges of space colonization. Distributed via Apple TV+.
• The Most Unknown Nine scientists from different disciplines embark on a chain of encounters to explore one another's greatest experiments. CPH:DOX-recognized film.
• Confessions of a Good Samaritan Director Penny Lane's journey to understand altruism after donating a kidney to a stranger, exploring the science and ethics of organ transplantation. Released on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.
• The Edge of All We Know Follows physicists searching for answers about black holes while a global network builds a telescope to photograph a black hole for the first time. Distributed via Netflix.
• The Arc of Oblivion A filmmaker's quest to build an ark in Maine becomes an exploration of archives, record-keeping, and human memory. Werner Herzog serves as Executive Producer.
• Phenomena A psychedelic odyssey into the fabric of the universe through practical experiments that blur lines between art and science.
• Underland A deep-dive beneath Earth's surface into places rarely seen by human eyes, adapted from Robert Macfarlane's bestselling book.
• A Life Illuminated Follows marine biologist Dr. Edie Widder as she descends into the ocean's depths and captures footage of deep-sea bioluminescence.
• Retrieval Explores postmortem sperm retrieval following the sudden death of a loved one and the science of DNA legacy.
• Metropolis Documentary directed by Anupama Srinivasan and Anirban Dutta; an intimate exploration of city life and human connection.
• Totality Documentary by Kate Davis and David Heilbroner about total solar eclipses.
• Daughters of the Forest An immersive documentary following two indigenous mycologists in Mexico reconciling ancestral knowledge with modern science.
• Give It A Shot Follows the global race to develop a new male contraceptive, featuring Dr. Sujoy Guha in India and teams in California and Virginia.
• The Lake An environmental documentary about the fight to save Utah's Great Salt Lake from an unprecedented catastrophe.
• How Deep Is Your Love Scientists explore the deep sea to collect undiscovered species while confronting the prospect of deep-sea mining.
• Untitled Animal Project Documentary by Jessica Kingdon exploring the relationship between humans and animals.

Quantifiable outcome

• Academy Award nomination for FIRE OF LOVE (2023)
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• Sundance Institute Documentary FundcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Sandbox Fund is administered by the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund in collaboration with Sandbox Films. It offers grants, mentorship, and engagement opportunities for independent artists whose work explores the link between culture and science through innovative storytelling. The fund supports projects from across the globe at all stages of development, production, and post-production.
• CPH:DOXmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Sandbox Films Science Pitch Prize at CPH:FORUM awards $25,000 to an outstanding science documentary presented at CPH:DOX festival. The prize recognizes projects demonstrating innovation, artistic merit, and commitment to inclusivity.
• AFO (Against the Odds Film Festival)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAFO Camp 4Science workshop nurtures new science documentaries through mentorship, development support, and industry networking. The workshop culminates in a pitching session where top pitches receive the Sandbox Award – cash prizes.
• NEONmajorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorNEON acquired theatrical distribution rights for All Light Everywhere and distributes Fire of Love theatrically.
• National Geographic Documentary FilmsmajorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorNational Geographic Documentary Films is a distribution partner for Fire of Love and Time and Water.
• Apple Original FilmsmajorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorApple Original Films co-produced Fireball (Visitors from Darker Worlds) with Sandbox Films.
• Werner HerzogcoreOthersWerner Herzog serves as Founding Advisor of Sandbox Films, playing a key role in its creation and vision. He directed Fireball (Visitors from Darker Worlds) and serves as Executive Producer on The Arc of Oblivion.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights2 records

Broad incumbents

• Participant Media: Mission-driven media company producing documentary and narrative feature films on social and scientific issues; comparable as a values-driven studio financing artist projects with major streamer distribution, though much larger and broader in scope than Sandbox.
• National Geographic Documentary Films: Documentary production and distribution arm of National Geographic; comparable as a distribution partner (acquired Fire of Love and Time and Water) and as a broader incumbent in the science-and-nature documentary category where Sandbox operates.

Direct peers

• Kartemquin Films: Long-standing Chicago-based nonprofit documentary studio producing award-winning social-issue films; directly comparable as a similarly structured nonprofit production house with festival-circuit output and filmmaker-driven development model.
• Concordia Studio: Nonprofit documentary studio backed by a major foundation (Laurene Powell Jobs' Emerson Collective) producing premium nonfiction; structurally similar to Sandbox as a foundation-supported doc producer targeting streamer and theatrical distribution.
• Field of Vision: Nonprofit filmmaker-driven documentary production company producing short and feature-length docs with major-platform distribution; closely comparable as a mission-led doc studio with a similar festival-and-streaming distribution footprint.
• Impact Partners: Film financing and production company specializing in documentary and socially-engaged feature films; comparable as a documentary financier/producer sourcing projects from independent filmmakers for premium platform buyers.
• Dogwoof: UK-based leading documentary sales, distribution, and production company; comparable as a documentary specialist with theatrical and platform distribution muscle, and a former employer of Sandbox's Head of Distribution.
• Chicken & Egg Pictures: Nonprofit organization mentoring and funding women documentary filmmakers; comparable as a foundation-backed doc support organization and a co-founder entity of Sandbox advisor Wendy Ettinger.

Regional players

• NEON: Independent theatrical distribution and production company that acquired and distributed Sandbox's Fire of Love and All Light Everywhere; comparable as a partner-distributor in the indie doc/feature space, though operating commercially rather than as a nonprofit.

Emerging players

• XTR: Documentary-focused streaming platform and production company; comparable as a doc-first organization combining production and distribution across premium nonfiction, including science-adjacent titles.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/sandboxfilms

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles13 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 sandbox films