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

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 20^th VES Awards program, and is being celebrated during the organization’s milestone 25^th 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 photoreal episode. Sheba; Hope Reef topped the commercial field with two wins.

Jim Morris, VES, President of Pixar Animation and founding VES Chair, presented the VES Lifetime Achievement award to EVP/General Manager of Lucasfilm, Lynwen Brennan.  Academy Award-winning VFX pioneer Phil Tippett, VES 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 honored to keep shining a light on remarkable visual effects artistry and innovation,” said VES Chair Lisa Cooke.  “In all of our colleagues honored 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 honors these outstanding global artists across a wide range of disciplines, and we are extremely proud of all our winners and nominees!”

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