Production house/media company Bandito Brothers has partnered with producer Sean Cushing and director/VFX supervisor Stephen Lawes to launch design/VFX studio Cantina Creative LLC. The new venture is housed in Bandito Brothers’ Culver City complex on which construction was recently wrapped.
Cushing and Lawes formerly served as exec producer and creative director, respectively, at Pixel Liberation Front (PLF). Their PLF exploits included Lawes serving as a creative director on such films as Iron Man 2, Avatar and Terminator Salvation, and Cushing as a VFX producer on Iron Man, and Superman Returns.
Lawes also served in such capacities as compositing supervisor on Shutter Island, VFX art director on Speed Racer, compositor on The Key to Reserva, digital colorist on Superman Returns, and compositing supervisor/digital effects supervisor on Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. On the directorial front, Lawes’ credits include spots for such clients as US West, Barq’s Root Beer and McDonald’s/Disney via the then Duck Soup Produckions (now DUCK Studios).
Cushing’s credits also span VFX producer duties on Avatar and Terminator Salvation, and he has worked on numerous TV commercials and music videos over the years.
The VFX acumen and resources of Cantina Creative and the collaborative orientation of its partnership with Bandito Brothers translates into a situation in which “creative visions can be realized from concept through completion,” said Cushing.
Bandito CEO Mike “Mouse” McCoy related that having Cantina on the premises “rounds out our capabilities and adds another dimension to Bandito.”
Utah Leaders and Locals Rally To Keep Sundance Film Festival In The State
With the 2025 Sundance Film Festival underway, Utah leaders, locals and longtime attendees are making a final push — one that could include paying millions of dollars — to keep the world-renowned film festival as its directors consider uprooting.
Thousands of festivalgoers affixed bright yellow stickers to their winter coats that read "Keep Sundance in Utah" in a last-ditch effort to convince festival leadership and state officials to keep it in Park City, its home of 41 years.
Gov. Spencer Cox said previously that Utah would not throw as much money at the festival as other states hoping to lure it away. Now his office is urging the Legislature to carve out $3 million for Sundance in the state budget, weeks before the independent film festival is expected to pick a home for the next decade.
It could retain a small presence in picturesque Park City and center itself in nearby Salt Lake City, or move to another finalist — Cincinnati, Ohio, or Boulder, Colorado — beginning in 2027.
"Sundance is Utah, and Utah is Sundance. You can't really separate those two," Cox said. "This is your home, and we desperately hope it will be your home forever."
Last year's festival generated about $132 million for the state of Utah, according to Sundance's 2024 economic impact report.
Festival Director Eugene Hernandez told reporters last week that they had not made a final decision. An announcement is expected this year by early spring.
Colorado is trying to further sweeten its offer. The state is considering legislation giving up to $34 million in tax incentives to film festivals like Sundance through 2036 — on top of the $1.5 million in funds already approved to lure the Utah festival to its neighboring... Read More