Desert Cactus Films

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Desert Cactus Films A new production company specializing in Music Videos and Live Events, with a strong focus on Visual FX.

“Genres like fantasy, horror, and sci-fi can be a great lens through which to view our current moment in history. As I w...
19/09/2025

“Genres like fantasy, horror, and sci-fi can be a great lens through which to view our current moment in history.

As I was writing ‘Margaret the Brave’ I was greatly concerned with the direction the country was headed in. Now, years later, big tech and social media have convinced us we’re more divided than ever- when the truth is we’ve never been so close to achieving working class solidarity.

This is why the powers that be want to stir the pot and keep us fighting amongst ourselves. This is why they use the algorithm to fuel anger and fear. While they try to make us believe our differences are unreconcilable, it conveniently keeps the focus off of them, and prevents progress that would benefit the vast majority of Americans.

Don’t fall for it. Stay focused.

There are so many issues we agree on- so many substantial changes we’d be able to make if we could simply put our differences aside and come together with a common goal.

Healthcare, housing, and wages are not left/right issues- they unite all of us, and the sooner we realize this the sooner we can bring about a real change for the better.

The only path out of this darkness is through open dialogue, healthy debate, and a total rejection of violence. I implore you all to talk to your neighbors, try to mend broken relationships, and most of all- practice peace.”

-Danny

Great news! “Margaret the Brave” just received its 10th official selection!!! We’re thrilled to announce we’ll be screen...
17/09/2025

Great news! “Margaret the Brave” just received its 10th official selection!!! We’re thrilled to announce we’ll be screening in the Desert Waves Film Festival at Downtown Cinemas here in Las Vegas on October 11th, 6:40 pm 📽️

This will be our final local screening for the foreseeable future, so if you haven’t had the opportunity to watch it yet- this is your chance!!!

For the dungeon scene, we worked with our art directors .art and  to build a full-size brick wall for the interior of th...
16/09/2025

For the dungeon scene, we worked with our art directors .art and to build a full-size brick wall for the interior of the cell, using sculpted foam and paint! We then set it up inside to film with our actor so we’d have a base layer of footage to build around in post.

This allowed us to A) have a real element behind our actor that would help blend the on-set plate with the final matte painting, and B) avoid having to deal with any green screen spill around his hair, which would have looked a lot worse.

We also created miniature bars, hanging chains, and a lock for the outside of the cell which were shot at home.

There’s so much that went into achieving these shots, we should probably do a full VFX breakdown video for them someday- but for now check out these stills!

HUGE NEWS! “Margaret the Brave” is an official selection of FilmQuest - one of the biggest genre film festivals in North...
10/09/2025

HUGE NEWS! “Margaret the Brave” is an official selection of FilmQuest - one of the biggest genre film festivals in North America!!! They also hold the distinction of being the #1 best rated festival on FilmFreeway.

This year they had a record breaking 1,550 short films submitted, so we’re incredibly honored to have been selected. Stay tuned as we return to Utah for an epic lineup of fantasy, sci-fi, horror and more!

The festival will run October 23rd - November 1st! We will share details of the schedule as soon as they become available!

Here we come Reno! Margaret the Brave is an official selection of the 2025 Cordillera International Film Festival!!!We a...
06/09/2025

Here we come Reno! Margaret the Brave is an official selection of the 2025 Cordillera International Film Festival!!!

We are so stoked to be screening again in our home state on Saturday, September 27th @ 4:30 pm in the NV Program 2 block!

We’ll be in good company with some other wonderful Nevada filmmakers and can’t wait to see the lineup of shorts and features they’ll be showcasing!

Stay tuned for more exciting festival news coming soon!

Here are some stills from our first music video: Noose (2018) Written and performed by Paige Overton.

It was made as pa...
05/09/2025

Here are some stills from our first music video: Noose (2018) Written and performed by Paige Overton.

It was made as part of the music video lab for the Las Vegas Film Festival on an allotted budget of $400. We only ended up using $250 ($50 of that went to pizza) and the entire video, from concept to completion, took two weeks.

The crew was just myself directing and Rachel producing, so we were able to move at our own pace and fly through post production. As someone who struggles with ADHD, I’ve found it’s super important for me to be able to switch tasks freely- so we figured out a routine that allowed me to jump back and forth between compositing in After Effects and filming green screen elements while finished shots were exporting.

We filmed all the performance and story segments inside Paige Overton’s garage over two nights. The miniature and VFX elements were filmed inside the trailer we were living in at the time. Despite the limited amount of space, we were able to make it work. The stagecoach, cactuses, and horses were all really small so I was able to use green poster boards as a backdrop.

This project was a huge breakthrough for us and single-handedly set us on the path we’re on today. Our following music video, “Violent Water”, was essentially an expanded version of the techniques we used on this one.

“Noose” - Written & Performed by 
Director/Editor/VFX Artist: Danny Chandia
Producer: Rachel Johnson
Starring:
 
Jan Flugum
 
 
Lights provided by 



We’re excited to announce that Margaret the Brave is an Official Selection of the 2025 Fayetteville Film Festival!We’ll ...
03/09/2025

We’re excited to announce that Margaret the Brave is an Official Selection of the 2025 Fayetteville Film Festival!

We’ll be screening inside the beautiful Fayetteville Public Library in Arkansas on Friday, September 19th @ 3:15 pm!

We’re honored to be showing alongside so many wonderful shorts and features, and hope that if you’re out there- you’ll come and see what the Las Vegas film community has put together!

Stay tuned for more festival updates coming soon!

We worked with our key matte painter, Yashaswi Karthik, for over a year and a half via Zoom calls. Since he’s based out ...
01/09/2025

We worked with our key matte painter, Yashaswi Karthik, for over a year and a half via Zoom calls. Since he’s based out of Mumbai, we’d have to coordinate meetings usually very early in the morning, to go over shots with him two or three times a week. We used Blender to create the environments based on the storyboards and animatics. In total, there are over 150 VFX shots in Margaret the Brave. 

Yash’s other job is as a concept artist for Ubisoft- so he has experience in creating the worlds of the Assassin’s Creed video game franchise. We were super fortunate to be able to work with him, and couldn’t be more proud to show some more of his work here!



Just got back from a long drive out to Portland for the wonderful  film festival, and I’m so delighted to announce that ...
13/08/2025

Just got back from a long drive out to Portland for the wonderful film festival, and I’m so delighted to announce that we’ve brought back an award with us!!! I won “Best Director of a Short” for Margaret the Brave!

This is my first directing award and I am so incredibly honored and grateful! The selection of films we were showing with was amazing, and I hope the friends we made there will play a part in many future projects! It was truly an inspiring group of filmmakers to spend time with. Thanks so much 😌

Here at  ready to watch some amazing artistry on a really big screen inside the Empirical Theater, and excited to see Ma...
08/08/2025

Here at ready to watch some amazing artistry on a really big screen inside the Empirical Theater, and excited to see Margaret with a brand new audience this Sunday!!

☀️ New music video coming soon! 🌎
13/01/2025

☀️ New music video coming soon! 🌎

Great news to start the year! “Margaret the Brave” will make its Nevada premiere at the 2025 Dam Short Film Festival. We...
02/01/2025

Great news to start the year! “Margaret the Brave” will make its Nevada premiere at the 2025 Dam Short Film Festival. We’re honored to be showing in the Nevada Filmmakers Block on Friday, February 14th, 5:45 pm.

More details on their website: damshortfilm.org

Everyone’s invited to come celebrate Valentine’s Day with us in Boulder City! Hope to see you there!!!

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