Visual Effects Society announces winners of the 21st annual VES Awards

The Visual Effects Society (VES), the industry’s global professional honorary society, held the 21^st 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.

Industry guests gathered at the Beverly Hilton Hotel to celebrate VFX talent in 25 awards categories and special honorees. Avatar: The Way of Water was named the photoreal feature winner, garnering nine awards. Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio was named top animated film, winning three awards.  The Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power was named best photoreal episode, winning three awards. Frito-Lay: Push It topped the commercial field.

Comedian/actor Patton Oswalt returned as host for the 10^th time. Academy Award- winning filmmaker James Cameron presented the VES Lifetime Achievement award to acclaimed producer Gale Anne Hurd. The Society’s current and former Board Chairs presented the VES Board of Directors Award to former Executive Director Eric Roth; the group included Lisa Cooke, current VES Chair; Jim Morris, VES, President of Pixar Animation and founding VES Chair; and former Chairs Jeffrey A. Okun, VES; Mike Chambers, VES; Carl Rosendahl, VES; and Jeff Barnes. Award presenters included: Academy-Award nominated filmmaker Rian Johnson, Academy-Award-winning filmmaker Domee Shi; actors Tig Notaro, Jay Pharoah, Tyler Posey, Randall Park, Angela Sarafyan, Bashir Salahuddin, Josh McDermitt and Danny Pudi. Dara Treseder, Autodesk’s Chief Marketing Officer, presented the VES-Autodesk Student Award.

“As we celebrate the 21^st Annual VES Awards, we’re honoured to keep shining a light on remarkable visual effects artistry and innovation,” said VES Chair Lisa Cooke. “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!”

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Winners of the 21^st Annual VES Awards are as follows:

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE

Avatar: The Way of Water

Richard Baneham

Walter Garcia

Joe Letteri

Eric Saindon

JD Schwalm

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE

Thirteen Lives

Jason Billington

Thomas Horton

Denis Baudin

Michael Harrison

Brian Cox

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 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 EPISODE

Five Days at Memorial; Day Two

Eric Durst

Danny McNair

Matt Whelan

Goran Pavles

John MacGillivray

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 COMMERCIAL

Frito-Lay; Push It

Tom Raynor

Sophie Harrison

Ben Cronin

Martino Madeddu

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A SPECIAL VENUE PROJECT

ABBA Voyage

Ben Morris

Edward Randolph

Stephen Aplin

Ian Comley 

OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE

Avatar: The Way of Water; Kiri

Anneka Fris

Rebecca Louise Leybourne

Guillaume Francois

Jung Rock Hwang

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 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 VIRTUAL CINEMATOGRAPHY IN A CG PROJECT

Avatar: The Way of Water

Richard Baneham

Dan Cox

Eric Reynolds

AJ Briones

OUTSTANDING MODEL IN A PHOTOREAL OR ANIMATED PROJECT

Avatar: The Way of Water; The Sea Dragon

Sam Sharplin

Stephan Skorepa

Ian Baker

Guillaume Francois

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 AN EPISODE

Love, Death and Robots; Night of the Mini Dead

Tim Emeis

José Maximiano

Renaud Tissandié

Nacere Guerouaf

OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A COMMERCIAL

Ladbrokes; Rocky

Greg Spencer

Theajo Dharan

Georgina Ford

Jonathan Westley

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 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

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY AWARD

Avatar: The Way of Water; Water Toolset

Alexey Stomakhin

Steve Lesser

Sven Joel Wretborn

Douglas McHale