Kavan Cardoza and the Future of Cinema

September 29, 2025
Author: Matias Basso

We spoke to California-based director Kavan Cardoza (aka Kavan the Kid) about his shift from traditional filmmaking to the frontier of AI cinema. We discussed authorship in machine-generated art, the founding of Phantom X, and how his projects like Echo Hunter combine classic film techniques and real actors with generative tools. Kavan also offered a sharp reading of where AI is taking feature films and what it means to build a directing career in this new context.

From Film School to AI Experiments

From the start, Kavan’s energy was unmistakable. Calm, sharp, and in total command of the terrain he’s helping to shape. He comes from film school, rap videos, rose through the ranks as a creative director in music and branding, and eventually got tired of waiting for the budget to match the vision.

“I’d always wanted to make films,” he told me, but “even to make an independent film prior to AI or even a short would require substantial funding… a lot of the ideas I had were fairly grandiose in scope.” That tension, between vision and access, led him to photography. But even then, he was essentially making his way to cinema: shooting at home, building entire worlds in Photoshop, always chasing stories.


The Arrival of Generative Tools

Then came Midjourney. “It wasn’t great, but I could already see the potential. I knew it was gonna be the future.” Kavan got in early, back when prompts felt a bit like code and every image was a half-formed blob. “I was like… this is the worst it’s ever gonna be. It’s gonna get better.” And it did, much faster than he expected.

What sets Kavan apart is that he wasn’t just experimenting. He was writing journal entries predicting what this technology would do. He was already thinking in story. The leap from prompt to project was only a matter of time. “As the tools continued to progress, it opened the door to start experimenting with more complex stories.”


Echo Hunter and the First Full Productions

He first tested the waters with fan films: Power Rangers, Spawn, Batman. Then, he stopped playing with other people’s IPs. “We felt the tools had finally hit the turning point to where we could now start telling our stories.” And so Echo Hunter was eventually born.

Echo Hunter is not a quick demo or a stylistic flex. It’s a film. Produced with SAG-AFTRA actors. Scored by composer Miguel Johnson. Scripted, sound-designed, and edited by Kavan himself. “There’s a fear that AI will replace jobs… but we want to make sure we include as many people as possible when it comes to making this full production.”

He describes his workflow with a mix of pride and precision. Facial capture with Arcana. Voice performances intact. Character likeness built from photographic capture. “You’re still creating things that are new,” he insists. “People are creating things I’ve never seen before”.


Authorship in AI Projects

I asked him about authorship, that old, slippery question. His answer was immediate. “I’m using this machine, but I’m still the author behind the work.” Prompts, lighting, camera moves, blocking, all come from him of course. The machine provides output, not vision. He likens it to training as an artist: “I am training my own data in my brain… the machine is essentially doing the same thing.”


The Birth of Phantom X

This insistence on authorship shows how Phantom X operates too. Founded with Mike J. Mitch and Sav (Steffan Buster) in early 2025, the studio never took outside investment. “We wanted to own our company and make sure we were at the head of the direction.” They launched with a Batman fan film that was pulled down by Warner Bros in five days, but not before it caught the attention of major studios.

Suddenly, meetings were happening. Agencies were reaching out. “We haven’t ever had to go looking for work.” That momentum carried into Echo Hunter, and now into shorts, advertising work, and the early stages of a feature he intends to release by 2026.


Looking Ahead to Features

“I have like three fully developed ideas… the question will be which one?” he told me. His plan is to start in late 2025 and work across six to eight months. Writing, production, and post will all happen in parallel. “Echo Hunter, from ideation to completion, took three months and that was 22 minutes.”

His bet is that by the end of this year, AI tools will make the next leap: “Probably six to eight months is my prediction” until AI filmmaking becomes indistinguishable from live action.


The Risk of Spectacle

But he’s not naive. He sees how AI content risks getting stuck in the loop of short-form spectacle. “Do you want to be like an influencer or do you want to be a filmmaker?” For him, it’s the latter. “We’re past the point of making stuff that says, “Oh, wow, look at how cool this looks, like that I made it with AI.’ Now it’s like, what’s the meat behind all of this? What’s the story? What’s captivating me…?”


Phantom X’s Collaborative Model

That clarity shows in how Phantom X brings on new artists. They don’t take their IP. They pay them to develop. “We just don’t have the capacity to take on all the projects, so we need more people. But then we want to encourage them on their creative endeavors.” It’s a studio model built around creative sovereignty, and one that’s already growing.


Work Ethic and Optimism

Kavan’s optimism is grounded in experience. He knows the grind: “I was getting to the point of spending seven days, 14 hours a day… I did that for like a year of never leaving my computer.” But he also knows what a good story can do. “A good story will always eventually be seen… it will be shared.”

Advice for New AI Filmmakers

Before we closed, I asked him if someone starting now today could make a living as an AI-based director. His answer was fast. “100%.”


Where to Watch and Follow

Both Echo Hunter films are available now. The feature will come soon, too. And when it does, I suspect Kavan will be remembered the way cinema history remembers Karloff: as a figure who thrived in the transition.

Kavan’s Company: https://www.phantomx.ai/kavan

His creative partners:

https://www.phantomx.ai/mike

https://www.phantomx.ai/sav 

https://www.arcanalabs.ai/

Phantom X Founders:

Kavan Cardoza (@Kavanthekid)

Michael Mitchell (@mike_j_mitch)

Steffan Busser (@SkillsAndVariety)

The Star Wars fan film on his IG: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DF8LFWaR_Aj/

Echo Hunter on his YouTube channel:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-lfTmZp1DE

And the just-released prequel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7feeEOWYkv4

Hosted by Matias Basso

Podcast Produced by Delirio AI Production House  

With the support of: Freepik