International VFX and design company Smoke & Mirrors has named Jeff Stevens to serve as creative director at its New York office. Additionally, the studio has secured its first-ever representation in the Midwest, signing Matt Bucher and his company, Obsidian Reps.
Stevens won a Gold Lion at the Cannes Advertising Festival in 2010 for a title sequence for that year’s OFFF Festival. He joined The Mill in 2009 as design director, charged with overseeing the development and integration of the new Design department with VFX and Digital. While there he worked on high-profile projects such as IBM’s “Data Anthem,” which brought data viz scans to life in a surrealistic narrative style. Other brands he has worked with include Ford, Coca-Cola, Verizon, L’Oreal and Pantene.
A graduate of Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD), Stevens has also worked at Charlex in NY, where he managed the design team, and at editorial and design boutique Splice Here in Minneapolis, where he was creative director.
This is the third major hire this year for Smoke & Mirrors which brought on new managing director Mary Knox in February and executive producer Daniel Cohen in April. Knox and Stevens replace Jo Morgan, longtime managing director of the company, and Sean Broughton, former CD and one of the co-founders, who left the company at the beginning of this year.
Gary Szabo, managing director of Smoke & Mirrors in London, said that the new hires position the company well on both sides of the Atlantic with operations connected through a fully integrated technical network. Smoke & Mirrors also has offices in Shanghai and Sao Paulo. In London, Smoke & Mirrors has recently launched a live-action production company, Rock Hound, which is soon to open in the U.S. A new website showcasing the international work is launching in early June.
Recent commercial clients in the States include agencies such as BBDO, mcgarrybowen, KBS+ and JWT, and brands such as BMW, Mountain Dew, Reebok, ESPN, Google, Jaguar, Land Rover, Verizon, Absolut, MTV and Coke. Smoke & Mirrors also recently completed CGI and VFX for the pilot of Hannibal, an NBC series directed by David Slade (Twilight, Breaking Bad) that aired in April.
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