Sands Films is a small, independent, British film production company, founded by producer Richard Goodwin and director Christine Edzard in the early 1970s, and based in

Rotherhithe Rotherhithe ( ) is a district of South London, England, and part of the London Borough of Southwark. It is on a peninsula on the south bank of the Thames, facing Wapping, Shadwell and Limehouse on the north bank, with the Isle of Dogs to the ea ...

, London. The company is known for making the film adaption of

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

' '' Little Dorrit'' in 1987, and for its production of costumes for period dramas. Sands Films is run by Christine Edzard and Olivier Stockman. Since 2005 the building has been open to the public regularly via the Sands Films Cinema Club and Music Room, adding to the "remarkable and very valuable operation, which not only creates in-house, but also opens a window on another world."

Background

The building that Sands Films occupies is a former

granary A granary, also known as a grain house and historically as a granarium in Latin, is a post-harvest storage building primarily for grains or seeds. Granaries are typically built above the ground to prevent spoilage and protect the stored grains o ...

, now a grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. The business was founded in 1975 and, since 1976, it has housed a small film stage, film theatre, picture library, workshops and costume stores. The Goodwins initially used the derelict building rent-free, on the basis they completely repaired and renovated the property. Managing director Olivier Stockman has worked for Sands Studios since 1980. In 2011, the company's annual turnover exceeded £1 million for the first time. After its rent almost quadrupled since 2000 and it had been asked to pay back-rent for an unrenovated part of the building, the company began to raise funds to purchase the property. This included selling shares at £500 each, and later in 2012, they successfully bought the property, with plans to modernise its production facilities. The studio and its struggle to survive increasing rent and costs was the subject of a

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Inside Out program in 2012. The BBC film also highlights the four generations who have worked at Sands since it was founded. As an independent film production studio Sands Films has its own soundproof stage, workshops, costume department, set construction workshop, cutting room, cinema and other services needed to make films. It is a self-sufficient and fully integrated production facility. Cinema and television companies as varied as

Working Title A working title is a preliminary name for a product or project. The usage is especially common in film and TV, gaming, music and publishing. It is often styled in trade publications as (wt) and is synonymous with production title and tentative ...

, Talkback,

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

, Freemantle, Ridley Scott Associates, Sky TV, the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is a theatre in Covent Garden, central London. The building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. The ROH is the main home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orch ...

, the New York Metropolitan Opera and Canal+ have used the facilities at Sands Films for their projects. The weekly film club is free, with donations invited, and is housed in a "cosy" cinema in the 18th century building which contains "a myriad of aesthetically pleasing spaces". These include music performances, book launches, political debates and theatre productions, as well as the non-digital Rotherhithe Picture Research Library which is an educational trust and is open to all at no cost. With the

covid-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

lockdown the studio intensified its live streaming activities. Stockman explained: Since then all Sands Films’ music events have been hybrid, with a live audience in the theatre, online viewers at home and unrestricted access remaining the same. While performers are paid a minimum guarantee, Stockman says:

Griff Rhys Jones Griffith Rhys Jones (born 16 November 1953) is a Welsh actor, comedian, writer and television presenter. He starred in a number of television series with his comedy partner, Mel Smith. He and Smith came to national attention in the 1980s for ...

has described Sands Films as "romantic and inspiring; efficient, fun and creative. I love working down there. I love the atmosphere. You feel lucky to be there and privileged to get stuck into the serious business of creating fantasy in such surroundings.”

Productions

Productions by Sands Films include '' Stories from a Flying Trunk'' (1979), '' The Nightingale'' (1981), '' Biddy'' (1983), ''

Little Dorrit ''Little Dorrit'' is a novel by English author Charles Dickens, originally published in Serial (literature), serial form between 1855 and 1857. The story features Amy Dorrit, youngest child of her family, born and raised in the Marshalsea pris ...

'' (1987), '' Old Ways New Ways'' (1988), '' The Fool'' (1989), ''

As You Like It ''As You Like It'' is a pastoral Shakespearean comedy, comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 and first published in the First Folio in 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wil ...

'' (1991), '' Amahl and the Night Visitors'' (1996), '' The IMAX Nutcracker'' (1997), '' The Children's Midsummer Night's Dream'' (2001) and '' The Good Soldier Schwejk'' (2018). The studio has delivered full production packages to companies requiring a London studio base, such as '' A Passage to India'' (1984) and '' Bright Star'' (2009). Sands Films was the production base for '' The Long Day Closes'' (1992), including the building of all sets. Sands Films supplied facilities to

's productions of ''

Anna Karenina ''Anna Karenina'' ( rus, Анна Каренина, p=ˈanːə kɐˈrʲenʲɪnə) is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in book form in 1878. Tolstoy called it his first true novel. It was initially released in serial in ...

'' (2012) and '' Les Miserables'' (2012), and to '' Touching the Void'' (2003). The studio was a co-production partner on '' A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia'' (1990), ''La luna en botella'' (2007) and ''Garbo: El espia'' (2009). Other films the company has been involved in for production services include

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English people, English author known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving ...

films produced by

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

- ''

Death on the Nile ''Death on the Nile'' is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 1 November 1937 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year. The UK edition retailed at ...

'') (1978), '' The Mirror Crack'd'' (1980), ''

Evil Under The Sun ''Evil Under the Sun'' is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in June 1941Chris Peers, Ralph Spurrier and Jamie Sturgeon. ''Collins Crime Club – A checklist of F ...

'' (1982) - and '' Seven Years in Tibet'' (1997). Sands hand-embroidered the costumes for the main characters in the BBC's 2015 series ''

Wolf Hall ''Wolf Hall'' is a 2009 historical novel by English author Hilary Mantel, published by Fourth Estate, named after the Seymour family's seat of Wolfhall, or Wulfhall, in Wiltshire. Set in the period from 1500 to 1535, ''Wolf Hall'' is a sym ...

''. In 2017, Sands Films produced ''The Good Soldier Schwejk'', written and directed by Christine Edzard and based on ''

The Good Soldier Švejk ''The Good Soldier Švejk'' () is an unfinished satirical dark comedy novel by Czech writer Jaroslav Hašek, published in 1921–1923, about a good-humored, simple-minded, middle-aged man who appears to be enthusiastic to serve Austria-Hungary i ...

'' by

Jaroslav Hašek Jaroslav Hašek (; 1883–1923) was a Czechs, Czech writer, Humorism, humorist, Satire, satirist, journalist, Bohemianism, bohemian, first anarchist and then communist, and commissar of the Red Army against the Czechoslovak Legion. He is best k ...

. The project partly was funded by the auction of a costume worn by

Mark Rylance Sir David Mark Rylance Waters (; born 18 January 1960) is an English actor, playwright and theatre director. He is known for his roles on stage and screen, having received numerous awards including an Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards, two Oliv ...

in the BBC's ''

''. Filming began in October 2024 for a new production called ''The Man with the Plan'' which will star

Simon Callow Simon Phillip Hugh Callow (born 15 June 1949) is an English actor. Known as a character actor on stage and screen, he has received numerous accolades including an Olivier Award and Screen Actors Guild Award as well as nominations for two BAFT ...

William Beveridge William Henry Beveridge, 1st Baron Beveridge, (5 March 1879 – 16 March 1963) was a British economist and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal politician who was a Progressivism, progressive, social reformer, and eugenicist who played a central role ...

and comedian Mark Thomas as the Narrator. Comedian Hal Cruttenden will also appear as

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

, and Andrew Tiernan as Nye Bevan. The film tells the story of a young woman of today who discovers Beveridge's 1942 report - the Plan - which led to the founding of the welfare state. On 12th and 13th April 2025, Sands Films held a filmed public event at their studios in Rotherhithe and invited political campaigners and activists to speak about their campaigns and issues, particularly in relation to the "giants" of Beveridge's report - squalor, idleness, disease and poverty. Mark Thomas hosted the event and all speeches delivered onstage were recorded on the day and made available online.

Making and supplying of period costumes

References

External links

Sands Films at IMDb

Sands Films website

Londonist Discovers Rotherhithe Picture Research Library

* ttps://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g186338-d12543125-Reviews-Sands_Films_Cinema_Club_and_Theatre-London_England.html TripAdvisor
Watch ''The Man with a Plan'' clips at DailyMotion
{{Authority control British film studios Film production companies of the United Kingdom Rotherhithe