Avatar: Fire and Ash leads at Visual Effects Society awards

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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