Camp Sandbox
15 filmmakers.
15 scientists.
Infinite connections.
An interdisciplinary journey like no other.
Camp Sandbox is the signature annual gathering hosted by Sandbox Films, an award-winning documentary studio and a subsidiary of the Simons Foundation. By fostering intellectual exchange and building connections between filmmakers and scientists from across the globe, Camp Sandbox advances our mission to illuminate the art and beauty of scientific inquiry through nonfiction film.
“A mind meld and melt of the highest order where exceptional people across these two fields generously and virtuosically shared their life’s work!”
– Taryn Gould, filmmaker
Held in idyllic natural settings, Camp Sandbox convenes 15 scientists and 15 filmmakers – ranging from distinguished professors and Academy Award winners to up-and-coming researchers and storytellers – for three days of generative discourse. Each attendee is invited to deliver a short presentation on an aspect of their work that holds strong personal resonance.
Encouraging openness and vulnerability, Camp Sandbox is a place to not only share successes, but also the failures, questions, and doubts that power discovery. Whether it’s the harrowing tale of managing a space launch, the nerve-wracking recollection of filming acts of resistance, or a rumination on professional limits, stories shared at camp thrill, educate, and inspire deep reflection.
“Wonderful, amazing, rejuvenating, chronically interesting.”
– Reid Davenport, filmmaker
To enrich these conversations, each camp also welcomes a select group of industry mentors – leading voices in film distribution and science communication – who advise on bringing bold, complex ideas to broad audiences.
“This experience is absolutely of of the best times I’ve had in my life! It truly opened up the way I view the world.”
– Thavisha Dharmawardena, computational astronomer
But the magic of Camp Sandbox isn’t confined to the presentations. Relationships deepen over chef-crafted meals with rotating seating assignments, ensuring constant cross-pollination. It’s over lunch where an Emmy-winning director and a computational biophysicist bond over a love of fireflies. It’s at the campfire where a structural geologist and evolutionary anthropologist discuss getting science out of the ivory tower and into the public sphere. And it’s on the final night that a plasma physicist and legendary filmmaker, surrounded by stars, begin to dream up something entirely new.
“The intellectual and emotional generosity of the participants. Everyone wanted to share their best ideas… and did so in a way that connected to their passions. It was a unique opportunity to see what stands behind the most creative undertakings. Stunning.”
– Sherry Turkle, sociologist
Over the years Camp Sandbox has been the birthplace of compelling science documentaries, including 2022’s Oscar-nominated Fire of Love. Yet there are no expectations of deliverables – only the hope that attendees leave feeling energized, inspired, and seen. While we love and support film projects that begin at camp, we also see success in new friendships being made, a new research partnership, or a new way of seeing the world.
“I don’t think I’ll ever forget this. As it was ending, I thought, ‘I can’t believe we’ll never all be together again.'”
– Theodore Kim, computer scientist
Camp Sandbox is, at its core, a testament to curiosity and where it can take us.
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Past Attendees