1 day Ago By Varietybrentlang
Sandbox Films, an independent production company that focuses on making documentaries about environmental issues, has hired Caitlin Mae Burke as its head of production and development. In this position, Burke will work with Sandbox Films executive director Jessica Harrop to play a significant role in helping to decide which projects the company will finance, managing the company’s partnerships with Sundance and other organizations, and overseeing its documentaries from their development through their production and post-production. “To say I am humbled to join the team at Sandbox Films is an understatement: their expansive support of the most invigorating non-fiction films over the past several years has been truly inspiring in how to best support boundary-pushing artists,” Burke said in a statement.
“As a producer and arts administrator it is a gift to follow this example from within the organization setting it. I am ecstatic to follow Jess Harrop’s continued leadership in the field and roll up my sleeve in this unique opportunity at the intersection of unforgettable art and scientific inquiry.” Burke is an Emmy-winning producer and Oscar-shortlisted executive producer.
She joins Sandbox Films as it has over 20 feature documentaries currently in development and production as well as a shorts series in partnership with The New York Times’ Op-Docs. Burke’s work has been broadcast and screened in movie theaters internationally. Her most recent project, Scott Cummings’ “Realm of Satan,” premiered at the 2024 edition of Sundance.
As co-director of IF/Then Shorts at Field of Vision, she oversaw over 115 short documentaries from development to distribution as a supervising or executive producer, including “Between Earth and Sky,” which was Oscar shortlisted in 2023. “We are thrilled to have Caitlin join our team in this important role,” Harrop said. “She has the unique combination of skills both in overseeing a slate of film projects at a high level and direct production experience, working on a variety of boundary-breaking documentaries.
Her strong track record working with early-career artists aligns perfectly with our mission.” Since its inception in 2020, Sandbox Films has been responsible for some of the most innovative scientific documentaries of the last few years. In addition to 2022’s acclaimed “Fire of Love,” which was nominated for an Oscar for best documentary and won a Peabody, Sandbox is behind the Sundance Grand Jury winners “Nocturnes” and “All Light, Everywhere,” as well as Werner Herzog’s “Fireball” and the Emmy-winning films “Fathom” and “How to Survive a Pandemic.
” Outside of its co-productions, Sandbox partners with the Sundance Institute to give grants to artists telling stories about science, and has a NYC studio that includes an ATMOS-certified screening room that is made available to nonfiction storytellers..
