Avatar: Fire and Ash was the big winner at the Visual Effects Society’s 24th Annual VES Awards, taking home seven awards in total, including the top prize of Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature.
Additional wins for Avatar: Fire and Ash included Outstanding Character in a Photoreal Feature for Varang, played by Oona Chaplin, Outstanding CG Cinematography, and the Emerging Technology Award, given to the Kora Fire Toolset.
The VES Awards spanned 25 categories across film, television, technology, gaming, special venue, and student projects.
In the animation categories, KPop Demon Hunters led the night with three awards, including the top prize of Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature, and Outstanding Character in an Animated Feature for Rumi.
Rounding out the top category wins, Sinners won the award for Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature, Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age won for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode, and BMW’s “Heart of Joy: Meet Okto the Octopus” won for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial.
Other winners included the video game Ghost of Yōtei (Outstanding Visual Arts in a Real-Time Project), Andor (Outstanding Special (Practical) Effects in a Photoreal Project), and Azimuth (Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project).
Acclaimed film Producer Jerry Bruckheimer was honoured with the VES Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by his longtime collaborator, F1: The Movie Director Joseph Kosinski.
Wētā Workshop Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer Sir Richard Taylor received this year’s VES Visionary Award, presented by Adam Savage.
In his acceptance speech, Jerry Bruckheimer addressed the artists in the room, saying: “You create the magic. You create the things that people go to theatres for. You’re the people that we dream about when we go to the movies, when we go into that dark space in the theatre, and the work that you do is truly phenomenal.”
Sir Richard Taylor said: “Thank you to the VES for this honour. It is a privilege to be part of this remarkable community and a joy to be with you all here on this special night. And if I can leave one thought with you, as I say to our team, there are only four tenets by which I operate, and that is simply: love of oneself, love of what you do, love of who you do it with, and love of who you do it for. If you can strike those four in your life, you’re doing pretty well.”
The VES Awards were held at The Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles, California.
The winners for the 24th Annual VES Awards were as follows:
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Richard Baneham
Peter Litvack
Eric Saindon
Nicky Muir
Steve Ingram
Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature
Sinners
Michael Ralla
James Alexander
Nick Marshall
Espen Nordahl
Donnie Dean
Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature
KPop Demon Hunters
Joshua Beveridge
Jacky Priddle
Benjamin Hendricks
Clara Chan
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode
Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age; “The Big Freeze” episode
Russell Dodgson
Tracey Gibbons
François Dumoulin
Gavin McKenzie
Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode
The Residence; “The Fall of the House of Usher” episode
Seth Hill
Tesa Kubicek
John Nelson
Gabriel Vargas
Outstanding Visual Arts in a Real-Time Project
Ghost of Yōtei
Jason Connell
Matt Vainio
Joanna Wang
Jasmin Patry
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial
BMW; “Heart of Joy | Meet Okto the Octopus”
Tom Raynor
Helen Tang
Jack Harris
Alex Kulikov
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project
The Wizard of Oz at Sphere
Ben Grossmann
Tamara Watts Kent
Dr. Irfan Essa
Matt Dougan
Glenn Derry
Outstanding Character in a Photoreal Feature
Avatar: Fire and Ash; Varang: Leader of the Ash Clan
Stephen Clee
Stuart Adcock
Keven Norris
Joseph Kim
Outstanding Character in an Animated Feature
KPop Demon Hunters; Rumi
Sophia (Seung Hee) Lee
Andrea Matamoros
Marc Souliere
Joshua Beveridge
Outstanding Character in an Episodic, Commercial, Game Cinematic, or Real-Time Project
IT: Welcome to Derry; The Pickle Monster in “The Thing in the Dark” episode
Philip Harris-Genois
Pierric Danjou
Chloé Ostiguy
Jonathan Bourdua
Outstanding Environment in a Photoreal Feature
Avatar: Fire and Ash; Bridgehead Industrial City
Gianluca Pizzaia
Steve Bevins
Dziga Kaiser
Zsolt Máté
Outstanding Environment in an Animated Feature
Zootopia 2; Marsh Market
Limei Z. Hshieh
Alexander Nicholas Whang
Joshua Fry
Ryan DeYoung
Outstanding Environment in an Episodic, Commercial, Game Cinematic, or Real-Time Project
Andor; The Senate District in the “Welcome to the Rebellion” episode
John O’Connell
Falk Boje
Hasan Ilhan
Kevin George
Outstanding CG Cinematography
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Steve Deane
A.J. Briones
Zachary Brake
Andrew Moffett
Outstanding Model in a Photoreal or Animated Project
Avatar: Fire and Ash; The Windtraders’ Gondola
Michael Smale
Sam Sharplin
Joe W. Churchill
Jacqi Dillon
Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature
Avatar: Fire and Ash; Simulating Pandora
Nicholas James Illingworth
Sarah C. Farmer
James Robinson
Ryan Bowden
Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature
KPop Demon Hunters
Filippo Maccari
Nikolaos Finizio
Daniel La Chapelle
Srdjan Milosevic
Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Episode, Commercial, Game Cinematic, or Real-Time Project
Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age; “The Big Freeze” episode
Edward Ferrysienanda
Kevin Christensen
Guy Schuleman
Kevin Tarpinian
Outstanding Compositing and Lighting in a Feature
F1: The Movie; Modern Race and POV Footage
Hugo Gauvreau
Chris Davies
Raushan Raj
Amaury Rospars
Outstanding Compositing and Lighting in an Episode
The Last of Us; A Storm of Ice, Fire and Flesh in the “Through the Valley” episode
Tobias Wiesner
Mark Julien
Owen Longstaff
Brendan Naylor
Outstanding Compositing and Lighting In A Commercial
BMW; “Heart of Joy | Meet Okto the Octopus”
Alex Kulikov
Jack Harris
Adam Chabane
Nicola Borsari
Outstanding Special (Practical) Effects in a Photoreal Project
Andor; “Who Are You?”
Luke Murphy
Dean Ford
Jody Eltham
Darrell Guyon
Emerging Technology Award
Avatar: Fire and Ash; Kora Fire Toolset
Alexey Dmitrievich Stomakhin
John Edholm
Murali Ramachari
Aleksandr Isakov
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project
Azimuth
Thomas Teisseire
Cassandre Cinier
Martin Bluy
Mathis Giraudeau
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