The 21st Annual VES Awards was held by the Visual Effects Society at Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills. James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water dominated the awards with nine wins.
With a record 14 nominations, James Cameron’s acclaimed sequel entered the Visual Effects Society ceremony. It surpassed the previous record for film established by the 2010 nominations for the original Avatar, which received 11 nominations. That day, it also took home the society’s marquee award before winning the VFX Oscar.
The Way of Water also won awards for character, environment, model, virtual cinematography, and the marquee prize for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature.
Amazon Studios, MGM, and United Artists Releasing’s harrowing account of the 2018 Thai cave rescue, Thirteen Lives, took home the award for Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature, while Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio for Netflix led the field for animation with three victories, including Visual Effects in an Animated Feature.
Along with the jury winners that were previously revealed, here are the 2023 VES Awards winners:
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
Avatar: The Way of Water
Richard Baneham
Walter Garcia
Joe Letteri
Eric Saindon
JD Schwalm
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Aaron Weintraub
Jeffrey Schaper
Cameron Carson
Emma Gorbey
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A COMMERCIAL
Frito-Lay; Push It
Tom Raynor
Sophie Harrison
Ben Cronin
Martino Madeddu
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power; Udûn
Jason Smith
Ron Ames
Nigel Sumner
Tom Proctor
Dean Clarke
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
Thirteen Lives
Jason Billington
Thomas Horton
Denis Baudin
Michael Harrison Brian Cox
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE
Five Days at Memorial; Day Two
Eric Durst
Danny McNair
Matt Whelan
Goran Pavles
John MacGillivray
OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio; Pinocchio
Oliver Beale
Richard Pickersgill
Brian Leif Hansen
Kim Slate
OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL OR REAL-TIME PROJECT
The Umbrella Academy; Pogo
Aidan Martin
Hannah Dockerty
Olivier Beierlein
Miae Kang
OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
Avatar: The Way of Water; Kiri
Anneka Fris
Rebecca Louise Leybourne
Guillaume Francois
Jung Rock Hwang
OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
Avatar: The Way of Water; Water Simulations
Johnathan Nixon
David Moraton
Nicolas James Illingworth
David Caeiro Cebrian
OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
Derek Cheung
Michael Losure
Kiem Ching Ong
Jinguang Huang
OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, OR REAL-TIME PROJECT
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power; Udûn; Water and Magma
Rick Hankins
Aron Bonar
Branko Grujcic
Laurent Kermel
OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A FEATURE
Avatar: The Way of Water; Water Integration
Sam Cole
Francois Sugny
Florian Schroeder
Jean Matthews
OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A COMMERCIAL
Ladbrokes; Rocky
Greg Spencer
Theajo Dharan
Georgina Ford
Jonathan Westley
OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN AN EPISODE
Love, Death + Robots; Night of the Mini Dead
Tim Emeis
José Maximiano
Renaud Tissandié
Nacere Guerouaf
OUTSTANDING SPECIAL (PRACTICAL) EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL PROJECT
Avatar: The Way of Water; Current Machine and Wave Pool
JD Schwalm
Richard Schwalm
Nick Rand
Robert Spurlock
OUTSTANDING MODEL IN A PHOTOREAL OR ANIMATED PROJECT
Avatar: The Way of Water; The Sea Dragon
Sam Sharplin
Stephan Skorepa
Ian Baker
Guillaume Francois
EMERGING TECHNOLOGY AWARD
Avatar: The Way of Water; Water Toolset
Alexey Dmitrievich Stomakhin
Steve Lesser
Sven Joel Wretborn
Douglas McHale
OUTSTANDING VIRTUAL CINEMATOGRAPHY IN A CG PROJECT
Avatar: The Way of Water
Richard Baneham
Dan Cox
Eric Reynolds
A.J Briones
OUTSTANDING CREATED ENVIRONMENT IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
Avatar: The Way of Water; The Reef
Jessica Cowley
Joe W. Churchill
Justin Stockton
Alex Nowotny
OUTSTANDING CREATED ENVIRONMENT IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio; In the Stomach of a Sea Monster
Warren Lawtey
Anjum Sakharkar
Javier Gonzalez Alonso
Quinn Carvalho
OUTSTANDING CREATED ENVIRONMENT IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, OR REAL-TIME PROJECT
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power; Adar; Númenor City
Dan Wheaton
Nico Delbecq
Dan Letarte
Julien Gauthier
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A REAL-TIME PROJECT
The Last of Us Part I
Erick Pangilinan
Evan Wells
Eben Cook
Mary Jane Whiting
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A SPECIAL VENUE PROJECT
ABBA: Voyage
Ben Morris
Edward Randolph
Stephen Aplin
Ian Comley
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A STUDENT PROJECT (AWARD SPONSORED BY AUTODESK)
A Calling. From the Desert. To the Sea
Mario Bertsch
Max Pollmann
Lukas Löffler
Till Sander-Titgemeyer
WINSOR McCAY AWARD (Juried winners)
Pete Docter
Evelyn Lambart
Craig McCracken
UB IWERKS AWARD (Juried winner)
Visual Effects Reference Platform
CERTIFICATE OF MERIT AWARD (Juried winner)
John Omohundro