Visual Effects Society announces winners of the 20th Annual VES Awards

On 8 March, the Visual Effects Society (VES), the industry’s global professional honorary society, held the 20th Annual VES Awards, the prestigious yearly celebration that recognises outstanding visual effects artistry and innovation in film, animation, television, commercials, video games and special venues. This marks the Society’s 20th VES Awards program, and is being celebrated during the organisation’s milestone 25th Anniversary.

Industry guests gathered at the Beverly Hilton to celebrate VFX talent in 25 awards categories. Dune was named the photoreal feature winner, garnering four awards. Encanto was named top animated film, also winning four awards. Foundation; The Emperor’s Peace was named best photo-real episode. Sheba; Hope Reef topped the commercial field with two wins.

Pixar Animation president and founding VES chair Jim Morris presented the VES Lifetime Achievement award to Lucasfilm EVP/general manager Lynwen Brennan. Academy Award-winning VFX pioneer Phil Tippett, a VES member, presented the VES Award for Creative Excellence to Academy Award-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro. Presenters also included: Academy Award-nominated director Denis Villeneuve; actors Alfred Molina, Tawny Newsome, Mouzam Makkar, Emma Caulfield and Deborah Cox. Eric Bourque, Autodesk’s Senior Director of Engineering, Media & Entertainment presented the Autodesk Student Award.

“As we celebrate the Society’s 25th Anniversary and 20th Annual VES Awards, we’re honoured to keep shining a light on remarkable visual effects artistry and innovation. In all of our colleagues honoured tonight, we see best in class work that elevates the art of storytelling and exemplifies the spirit of adaptation and ingenuity — talents that have kept audiences engaged and uplifted, now, more than ever.  The VES Awards is the only venue that showcases and honours these outstanding global artists across a wide range of disciplines, and we are extremely proud of all our winners and nominees,” said VES chair Lisa Cooke. 

Winners of the 20th Annual VES Awards are as follows:

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE

Dune

• Paul Lambert
• Brice Parker
• Tristan Myles
• Brian Connor
• Gerd Nefzer

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE

 Last Night in Soho

• Tom Proctor
• Gavin Gregory
• Julian Gnass
• Fabricio Baessa

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE

Encanto

• Scott Kersavage
• Bradford Simonsen
• Thaddeus P. Miller
• Ian Gooding

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE

Foundation; The Emperor’s Peace

• Chris MacLean
• Addie Manis
• Mike Enriquez
• Chris Keller
• Paul Byrne

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE

See; Rock-A-Bye

• Chris Wright
• Parker Chehak
• Javier Roca
• Tristan Zerafa
• Tony Kenny

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A REAL-TIME PROJECT

Call of Duty: Vanguard

• Yi-chao Sandy Lin-Chiang
• Joseph Knox
• Gareth Richards
• Shane Daley

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A COMMERCIAL

Sheba; Hope Reef

• Grant Walker
• Sophie Harrison
• Hernan Llano
• Michael Baker

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A SPECIAL VENUE PROJECT

Jurassic World Adventure

• Eugénie von Tunzelmann
• Maximilian McNair MacEwan
• Stephen Goalby
• Brad Silby

OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE

Finch; Jeff

• Harinarayan Rajeev
• Matthias Schoenegger
• Simon Allen
• Paul Nelson

OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE

Encanto; Mirabel Madrigal

• Kelly McClanahan
• Sergi Caballer
• Mary Twohig
• Jose Luis “Weecho” Velasquez

OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN AN EPISODE OR REAL-TIME PROJECT

The Witcher; Nivellen the Cursed Man

• Marko Chulev
• Rasely Ma
• Mike Beaulieu
• Robin Witzsche

OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN A COMMERCIAL

Smart Energy; Einstein Knows Best; Einstein

• Alex Hammond
• Harsh Borah
• Clare Williams
• Andreas Graichen

OUTSTANDING CREATED ENVIRONMENT IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE

Spider-Man: No Way Home; The Mirror Dimension

• Eric Le Dieu de Ville
• Thomas Dotheij
• Ryan Olliffe
• Claire Le Teuff

OUTSTANDING CREATED ENVIRONMENT IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE

Encanto; Antonio’s Room

• Camille Andre
• Andrew Finley
• Chris Patrick O’Connell
• Amol Sathe

OUTSTANDING CREATED ENVIRONMENT IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, OR REAL-TIME PROJECT

Sheba; Hope Reef

• Henrique Campanha
• Baptiste Roy
• Luca Veronese
• Timothee Maron

OUTSTANDING VIRTUAL CINEMATOGRAPHY IN A CG PROJECT

Encanto; We Don’t Talk about Bruno

• Nathan Detroit Warner
• Dorian Bustamante
• Tyler Kupferer
• Michael Woodside

OUTSTANDING MODEL IN A PHOTOREAL OR ANIMATED PROJECT

Dune; Royal Ornithopter

• Marc Austin
• Anna Yamazoe
• Michael Chang
• Rachael Dunk

OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE

Dune; Dunes of Arrakis

• Gero Grimm
• Ivan Larinin
• Hideki Okano
• Zuny Byeongjun An

OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE

Raya and the Last Dragon

• Le Joyce Tong
• Henrik Fält
• Rattanin Sirinaruemarn
• Jacob Rice

OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, OR REAL-TIME PROJECT

Foundation; Collapse of the Galactic Empire

• Giovanni Casadei
• Mikel Zuloaga
• Steven Moor
• Louis Manjarres

OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A FEATURE

Dune; Attack on Arrakeen

• Gregory Haas
• Francesco Dell’Anna
• Abhishek Chaturvedi
• Cleve Zhu

OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN AN EPISODE

Loki; Lamentis; Shuroo City Destruction

• Paul Chapman
• Tom Truscott
• Biagio Figliuzzi
• Attila Szalma

OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A COMMERCIAL

Verizon; The Reset

• David Piombino
• Rajesh Kaushik
• Manideep Sanisetty
• Tim Crean

OUTSTANDING SPECIAL (PRACTICAL) EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL PROJECT

Jungle Cruise

• JD Schwalm
• Nick Rand
• Robert Spurlock
• Nick Byrd

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A STUDENT PROJECT

Green

• Camille Poiriez
• Arielle Cohen
• Eloise Thibaut
• Louis Florean