Together Films has acquired world rights excluding Canada to Kenya-Jade Pinto’s feature doc debut “The Sandbox” ahead of its world premiere on March 17 in CPH:DOX’s flagship international competition section DOX:AWARD.
“The Sandbox” explores modern border control, where surveillance, AI and militarization decide who lives and who dies, using testimony from survivors, journalists and witnesses.
From the Arizona desert to the drone-policed Mediterranean, migrants flee unforgiving landscapes while rescuers face the task of keeping them safe.
Meanwhile, tools tested at borders spill into databases and daily life, collapsing distance between watcher and watched. No villain stands at the center of the film, only processes and protocols.
Pinto comments: “There was a moment, standing at the border wall that bisects the town of Sasabe – between the USA and Mexico – that I realized I’m not really trying to tell a “tech” story. I understand this will likely be the entry point for many: a futuristic, algorithmic hook that implicates drones, robo-dogs, and AI. But on that day the wind was snaking its way through giant steel rods that jut out of the ground like a rusted-out grin and it all felt eerily familiar. A tidal metronome. If I closed my eyes I could just as easily have been standing on the shoreline of a Greek Island. Just as the ocean steals many of the lives who dare cross it, so too does the harsh landscape of the Sonoran desert. We are not so far away from one another, each of us.”
Pinto is an Indo-Kenyan-Canadian documentary photographer, whose work has been published in The Globe and Mail and Business Insider, and on Al Jazeera. She has participated in DOC Institute’s Breakthrough Program as well as HotDocs’ Emerging Filmmaker Program and Incubator. In 2021, she was invited to be a National Geographic Explorer.
Jess Reilly, head of sales and acquisitions at Together Films, said: “We are thrilled to be representing ‘The Sandbox’ From the moment we saw the film, we recognized both its urgent cinematic power and its international sales and impact potential. It speaks to one of the defining issues of our time – the rapid expansion of surveillance, AI and militarized border infrastructures – in a way that is both deeply human and globally resonant.”
“The Sandbox” is produced by Shasha Nakhai and Pinto for Canadian outlet Compy Films with Rich Williamson, Bob Moore and Jennifer Baichwal exec producing. The film has been commissioned by TVO and Knowledge Network with Alexandra Roberts as commissioning editor and Shane Smith as production executive. EyeSteelFilm will also distribute the film domestically in Canada.
“The Sandbox” has been produced with the participation of EyeSteelFilm, Canada Media Fund, Telefilm Canada, Ontario Creates, TVO, Ford Foundation JustFilms, Knowledge Network, Hot Docs Funds, Rogers Telefund, and Canadian federal and provincial tax credits.
The film has been developed with the support of Canadian Creative Accelerator, DOC Institute, Hot Docs Accelerator, Hot Docs Forum & Deal Maker, Hot Docs Netflix Incubator, Women Make Movies, and the Voices of Canada Roundtables at DOC NYC.