Seeing in the Dark

What does it take to explore the darkest corners of our oceans?

Nowadays, we know that the deep ocean isn’t a barren wasteland. It teems with life, with creatures lighting up the dark using spectacular bioluminescence. Exploring this world requires innovative tools to illuminate the dark and dive into the ocean depths.

Edie Widder is a trailblazing deep-sea biologist who has spent decades engineering ways to explore the secrets of the creatures that inhabit the deep sea. Her story is the subject of the upcoming Sandbox Films documentary, A Life Illuminated, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2025. The film highlights her groundbreaking discoveries, her experiences in the field and the stories behind the science.

Join us as Widder sits down with Jess Harrop, executive director of Sandbox Films, for a conversation that will span everything from how Widder first became fascinated by bioluminescence to what it’s like to encounter fantastic life forms such as the elusive giant squid. Come hear more about how Widder helped reveal a world hidden below the waves.

Widder is a MacArthur Fellow, a deep-sea explorer and a conservationist. As a world authority on marine bioluminescence, Widder has racked up hundreds of dives in deep-diving submersibles, both as a passenger and a pilot. She has helped develop new tools for deep-sea exploration that have produced observations of animals and behaviors never seen before, including the first video of a giant squid filmed in its natural habitat. She has authored more than 100 scientific papers and a book: Below the Edge of Darkness: A Memoir of Exploring Light and Life in the Deep Sea, which the New York Times book review described as a “thrilling blend of hard science and high adventure.”

Harrop is an Emmy and Peabody Award-winning documentary filmmaker who has dedicated her career to inspiring passion about science through film. She is the executive director of Sandbox Films, where she oversees all project decisions and company strategy and acts as an executive producer for Sandbox Films documentaries — including the Oscar-nominated film Fire of Love, the Sundance Special Jury Prize-winning All Light, Everywhere, the Emmy-winning Fathom, and Werner Herzog’s Fireball. Harrop has produced content for a variety of outlets, including Netflix, Showtime, Discovery, National Geographic and PBS. She holds a degree in ecology and evolutionary biology and a certificate in theater from Princeton University, where she also co-taught an undergraduate film course on communicating climate change.