The Visual Effects Society (VES) has selected the State of Texas for its newest regional Section. The VES Board of Directors formally authorized the Section’s creation at its January 2024 Board meeting. The VES Texas Section joins the dynamic worldwide community, which has Sections in Australia, San Francisco’s Bay Area, France, Georgia (U.S.), Germany, India, London, Los Angeles, Montreal, New York, New Zealand, Oregon, Toronto, Vancouver and Washington state. Now in its 27th year, the Society is thriving with almost 5,000 members in more than 45 countries worldwide.
“We are thrilled to welcome our newest Visual Effects Society Section in the State of Texas,” said Nancy Ward, VES executive director. “The Society’s presence gets stronger every year–due in large part to our local leadership who gather and connect our members around the world. Our determination to reach all corners of the globe and to all of the disciplines across the VFX spectrum has yielded us a very rich, talented membership, and that commitment to diversity and inclusion will continue to be a driving force of the organization.”
“VES members in Texas are excited to be recognized as an official Section of the Visual Effects Society,” said Colin Campbell, veteran VES Board member who was instrumental in forming the new Section. “Texas has a long history of filmmaking distinction dating back almost 100 years with Wings, filmed in the heart of Texas and honored as the first film to win the Academy Awards for both Best Picture and Best Effects. Continuing with this legacy of excellence, our members are comprised of professionals with experience working with some of the biggest names in the industry, including ILM, Sony Pictures Imageworks, Digital Domain and Blizzard/Activision, among others. They represent a diverse cross-section of moving image artistry: feature film and television visual effects, game development, cinematic production, animation, architectural visualization and educators. With the creation of VES Texas, it’s an exciting time to be a Texan in the VFX-related moving image industry!”
As a group, VES Texas members share a common vision in their goals for the Section: outreach to partner with professional industry organizations; working with educational institutions within the state to train and mentor future generations of Texas artists; membership growth to increase its presence within the entertainment community; and social gatherings to promote community and camaraderie.
The new VES Texas Section is gearing up quickly to offer benefits and opportunities to all VES members in Texas. Once it holds its first meeting, the Section will elect officers and begin its outreach to grow and support the VES presence in the region.
Harvey Weinstein hit with new sex crime charge in New York
Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a new sex crime charge in New York, as he awaits retrial in his landmark #MeToo case.
Details of the new allegations were not immediately available. He was charged with committing a criminal sex act.
The jailed ex-movie mogul has long maintained that any sexual activity was consensual.
Prosecutors revealed last week that Weinstein had been indicted on additional sex crime charges that weren't part of the case that led to his now-overturned 2020 conviction. But the new indictment was sealed until his arraignment.
Prosecutors have said that the grand jury heard evidence of up to three alleged assaults — two in hotels in the Tribeca neighborhood and one at a lower Manhattan residential building. The purported incidents took place from the mid-2000s to 2016, prosecutors said.
But it's not clear whether any of those allegations underlie the new indictment.
While bracing for the new charges, Weinstein also is awaiting retrial after New York state's highest court this spring overturned his 2020 conviction on rape and sexual assault charges involving two women. The high court, called the Court of Appeals, ordered a new trial, which is tentatively scheduled to begin Nov. 12.
The Court of Appeals ruled that the then-trial judge unfairly allowed testimony against him based on allegations that were not part of the case. That judge's term expired in 2022, and he is no longer on the bench.
Prosecutors have said they'll seek to fold the new charges into the retrial, but Weinstein's lawyers say it should be a separate case.
Weinstein, who also was convicted in 2022 in a Los Angeles rape case, remains behind bars while awaiting his New York retrial.
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