THE 20TH ANNUAL VES AWARDS

1

2

VISUAL EFFECTS ARTISTRY IN THE SPOTLIGHT

By NAOMI GOLDMAN

Captions list all members of each Award-winning team even if some members were not present or out of frame. Some winners provided a video acknowledgment. For more Show photos and a complete list of nominees and winners of the 20th Annual VES Awards visit vesglobal.org.

All photos by: Danny Moloshok and Phil McCarten

1. Eric Roth, Executive Director of the Visual Effects Society, welcomes the crowd.

2. Acclaimed filmmaker Guillermo del Toro received the VES Award for Creative Excellence.

3. Lynwen Brennan, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Lucasfilm, receives the VES Lifetime Achievement Award. The Visual Effects Society held the 20th Annual VES Awards on March 8, recognizing 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, celebrated during the organization’s milestone 25th anniversary.

Industry guests gathered at The Beverly Hilton celebrated 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 Executive Vice President/ 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 Awardnominated director Denis Villeneuve; actors Alfred Molina, Tawny Newsome, Mouzam Makkar, Emma Caulfield Ford 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 esteemed colleagues, 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!”

3

4. The VES Award for Virtual Cinematography in a CG Project went to Encanto (We Don’t Talk About Bruno) and the team of Nathan Detroit Warner, Dorian Bustamante, Tyler Kupferer and Michael Woodside.

5. The VES Award for Outstanding Compositing & Lighting in an Episode went to Loki (Lamentis, Shuroo City Destruction) and the team of Paul Chapman, Tom Truscott, Biagio Figliuzzi and Attila Szalma.

6. The VES Award for Outstanding Compositing & Lighting in a Commercial went to Verizon (The Reset) and the team of David Piombino, Rajesh Kaushik, Manideep Sansietty and Tim Crean.

7. The VES Award for Outstanding Compositing & Lighting in a Feature went to Dune (Attack on Arrakeen) and the team of Gregory Haas, Francesco Dell’Anna, Abhishek Chaturvedi and Cleve Zhu.

8. The VES Award for Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode want to See (Rock-A-Bye) and the team of Chris Wright, Parker Chehak, Javier Roca, Tristan Zerafa and Tony Kenny.

9. The VES Award for Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature went to Last Night in Soho and the team of Tom Proctor, Gavin Gregory, Julian Gnass and Fabricio Baessa.

10. The VES Award for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project went to Green and the team of Camille Poiriez, Arielle Cohen, Eloïse Thibaut and Louis Florean.

10 4 5

6 7

8 9

11 12

13 14

15 16

11. The VES Award for Outstanding Created Environment in an Episode, Commercial or Real-Time Project went to Sheba (Hope Reef) and the team of Henrique Campanha, Baptise Roy, Luca Veronese and Timothee Maron, who received the award via video.

12. The VES Award for Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature went to Encanto (Antonio’s Room) and the team of Camille Andre, Andrew Finley, Chris Patrick O’Connell and Amol Sathe.

13. The VES Award for Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature went to Spider-Man: No Way Home (The Mirror Dimension) and the team of Eric Le Dieu de Ville, Thomas Dotheij, Ryan Olliffe and Claire Le Teuff.

14. The VES Award for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Real-Time Project went to Call of Duty (Vanguard) and the team of Yi-Chao Sandy Lin-Chiang, Joseph Knox, Gareth Richards and Shane Daley.

15. The VES Award for Outstanding Model in a Photoreal or Animated Project went to Dune (Royal Ornithopter ) and the team of Marc Austin, Anna Yamazoe, Michael Chang and Rachel Dunk.

16. The VES Award for Outstanding Special (Practical) Effects in a Photoreal Project went to Jungle Cruise and the team of JD Schwalm, Nick Rand, Robert Spurlock and Nick Byrd.

17 18

19

17. The VES Award for Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Episode, Commercial or Real-Time Project went to Foundation (Collapse of the Galactic Empire) and the team of Giovanni Casadei, Mikel Zuloaga, Steven Moor and Louis Manjarres who received the award via video.

18. The VES Award for Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature went to Raya and the Last Dragon and the team of Le Joyce Tong, Henrik Fält, Rattanin Sirinaruemarn and Jacob Rice.

19. The VES Award for Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature went to Dune (Dunes of Arrakis) and the team of Gero Grimm, Ivan Larinin, Hideki Okano and Zuny Byeongjun An. 20. The VES Award for Outstanding Animated Character in an Episode or Real-Time Project went to The Witcher (Nivellen The Cursed Man) and the team of Marko Chulev, Rasely Ma, Mike Beaulieu and Robin Witzsche.

21. The VES Award for Outstanding Animated Character in a Commerical went to Smart Energy (Einstein Knows Best, Einstein) and the team of Alex Hammond, Harsh Borah, Clare Williams and Andreas Graichen.

21 20

22 23

24 25

26 27

22. The VES Award for Outstanding Animated Character in a Photoreal Feature went to Finch (Jeff) and the team of Harinarayan Rajeev, Matthias Schoenegger, Simon Allen and Paul Nelson.

23. The VES Award for Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature went to Encanto (Mirabel Madrigal) and the team of Kelly McClanahan, Sergi Caballer, Mary Twohig and Jose Luis “Weecho” Velasquez.

24. The VES Award for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial went to Sheba (Hope Reef) and the team of Grant Walker, Sophie Harrison, Hernan Llano and Michael Baker who received the award via video.

25. The VES Award for Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature went to Encanto and the team of Scott Kersavage, Bradford Simonsen, Thaddeus P. Miller and Ian Gooding.

26. The VES Award for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode want to Foundation (The Emperor’s Peace) and the team of Chris MacLean, Addie Manis, Mike Enriquez, Chris Keller and Paul Byrne.

27. The VES Award for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature went to Dune and the team of Paul Lambert, Brice Parker, Tristan Myles, Brian Connor and Gerd Nefzer. Dune Director Denis Villeneuve, left, served as a presenter.

28 29

28. Jim Morris, VES, President of Pixar Animation and founding VES Chair.

29. Academy Awardwinning VFX pioneer Phil Tippett was on hand to present the VES Award for Creative Excellence to Guillermo del Toro. Accepting for del Toro was producer J. Miles Dale.

30. Lisa Cooke, VES Board Chair, who was a presenter, flanks VES Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Lynwen Brennan of Lucasfilm and VES Executive Director Eric Roth. 31. Jeff Barnes, former VES Chair, and Jeff Okun, VES, tag-teamed as presenters.

32. The VES Award for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project went to Jurassic World Adventure and the team of Eugenie von Tunzelmann, Maximilian McNair MacEwan, Stephen Goalby and Brad Silby.

32 30 31

33 34

35 36 37

38 39

33. Eric Bourque, Autodesk’s Senior Director of Engineering, presented the VES Award for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project.

34. Eric Roth, VES Executive Director, actor Alfred Molina and Jeff Okun, VES.

35. Actresses Tawny Newsome and Mouzam Makkar were both presenters.

36. Dune Director Denis Villeneuve and actress Deborah Cox were Awards presenters.

37. Emma Caulfied Ford was on hand as a presenter.

38. Jim Morris, VES and Lynwen Brennan share a moment backstage.

39. The 2022 VES Awards returned as a live in-person event.

40

40. VES Awards Committee members who paused for a photograph included, from left to right: Diego Rojas, Martin Rushworth, Olun Riley, Chuck Finance, Bob Coleman, Dan Rosen, Reid Paul, Lopsie Schwartz, Scott Kilburn and David Johnson, VES. Not pictured: Den Serras, Brent Armstrong, Rob Blau, Katie Brillhart, Stephen Chiu, Emma Clifton, Dave Gouge, George Macri, Sarah McGee, Jeff Okun, VES, Lisa Sepp-Wilson, David Valentin.

41. Backstage, left to right: Jeff Okun, VES; Jim Morris, VES, Pixar President; Lynwen Brennan, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Lucasfilm; VES Executive Director Eric Roth; Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy; VES Board Chair Lisa Cooke; and former VES Chair Jeff Barnes. 42. Actress/singer/ presenter Deborah Cox gave the crowd a taste of her soaring vocal range.

43. The VES Awards Show was an historic event as it marked the 20th year of the Awards gala.

44. Alfred Molina with his wife Jennifer Lee, the VES Award-winning director of Frozen and Chief Creative Officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios.

45. David (DJ) Johnson of Undertone FX was on hand as a presenter.

43

45 41 42

44

20TH ANNUAL VES AWARDS WRAP-UP

Following are excerpts from the acceptance speeches delivered by this year’s distinguished VES Honorees.

Guillermo del Toro, Recipient of the 2022 VES Award for Creative Excellence

What magic and beautiful collaboration it is when we jive together to create a moment – a sleight-of-hand trick in which we use every physical resource at our disposal. When we combine set design, physical effects and acting and make the audience buy into ‘that which would not be.’

The digital effects craft has inherited a multidisciplinary tradition: painting, sculpting, perspective, animation and optical effects. It is a beautiful, expressive and powerful art and one that more and more fuses with character animation and points to roads full of promise in our narrative future. We are heading towards a moment in which we will, indeed, one day tell stories that were impossible at any other moment in history.

And it is very important that we do it together.

Yes, we are all in this storytelling business together. We always have felt, and feel today, a great and disciplined kinship with what the VFX world has to offer.

I have partnered with many of you and have possibly bankrupted a couple of you. So it is with gratitude and enormous joy that I receive this honor. We must stand together in these times and reaffirm that what we have is an intimate partnership in telling a story and that we do it all together on a leveled ground, and that we honor each other when the time comes. This is that time and I salute you all. May we meet on the road many more times.

Lynwen Brennan, Executive Vice President/General Manager at Lucasfilm, Recipient of the 2022 VES Lifetime Achievement Award

I have always seen it as my job to provide a safe place to take risks, experiment and innovate and to encourage a culture of trust where we look out for each other as family. We have needed that in the past two years more than ever, and I have been in awe of how ILM and the whole visual effects industry has been able to pivot on a dime and completely overhaul our entire process to work remotely – and not only survive, but come out stronger.

If these last two years have shown us anything, it has shown us how fast we can change. Standing still has never been a trait of the visual effects industry – so why then is it taking us so long to make progress in increasing diversity in our ranks?

We can do better. Yes, we need to improve the pipeline into the industry and that takes some time, but the drop-off up the levels both to VFX supervisor and VFX producer is severe and can be addressed more immediately if we are intentional about it.

That doesn’t mean giving opportunity if not earned – no one wants that. But we tend to be creatures of habit and it is an industry built on relationships. We tend to give opportunities to people we know and who we have worked with before.

We are in the midst of a true boom in the industry where there is simply not enough visual effects talent in the world to satisfy the demand. Let’s use this moment to give some people chances based on their abilities, not just their resume – like my colleagues took a chance on me so many times. It will take each of us to make that commitment – on the productions, the studios and the VFX studios.

TOP TO BOTTOM: Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro. (Image courtesy of Netflix)

VES Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Lynwen Brennan with Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy.

Lynwen Brennan and her family.