The Visual Effects Society (VES) has announced the Society’s newest Honorary VES members: Director and animator Don Bluth; VFX supervisor and filmmaker John Bruno; director, production designer and VFX specialist Robert Stromberg; and animation and optical effects supervisor Harry Walton. The honorees will be celebrated at a special event in October. Additional honorees are to be named.
Honorary VES Member: Don Bluth. Bluth is one of the most acclaimed directors and animators in the entertainment industry, with a passion for the art and beauty of animation that has fueled his film career for more than four decades. He is the recipient of The Winsor McCay Award, presented by the Annie Awards, which is considered one of the highest honors for career contributions to the art of animation. Bluth is best known for directing the animated films The Secret of NIMH, An American Tail, The Land Before Time, All Dogs Go to Heaven, Anastasia and Titan A.E.; for his involvement in the LaserDisc games Dragon’s Lair and SpaceAce; and for competing with former employer Walt Disney Productions during the years leading up to the films that became the Disney Renaissance. In 2020, Bluth launched a new animation studio called Don Bluth Studios with animator Lavalle Lee. The studio is focused on bringing a “renaissance of hand-drawn animation” and establishing new characters and ideas that will start as children’s books and then be pitched to TV networks and online streaming services.
Honorary VES Member: John Bruno. VFX artist and filmmaker Bruno won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects for his work on The Abyss, and earned five additional Oscar nominations and two BAFTA Award nominations for visual effects for his work on Ghostbusters, Poltergeist II, Batman Returns, Cliffhanger and True Lies. Known for his prolific collaborations with director James Cameron, Bruno also supervised a wide range of groundbreaking visual effects work on Titanic and Avatar. After an early stint at ILM for the film Poltergeist, Bruno became a founding visual effects member and commercial director at both Boss Film Studios and Digital Domain where he supervised their first feature–True Lies. And having previously designed the visual effects for James Cameron’s Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Bruno was asked to co-direct, with Cameron and Stan Winston, the Universal Studios Hollywood attraction, Terminator 2/3D: Battle Across Time. Bruno is a member of the Directors Guild of America, the Art Directors Guild, the Screen Actors Guild, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences where he served on the Visual Effects Branch Nominating Committee for nearly two decades.
Honorary VES Member Robert Stromberg. Director, production designer and VFX specialist Stromberg became the first production designer to win back-to-back Oscars–for his work on James Cameron’s Avatar and Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland, two of the highest-grossing films in history. Stromberg has won five Emmy Awards for Visual Effects for his work on Boardwalk Empire, John Adams, Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: The Next Generation. Both a premier storyteller and digital artist at the forefront of emerging technology, Stromberg made his directorial debut with the Disney film Maleficent. He also directed The Martian VR Experience, the pioneering immersive companion piece to Ridley Scott’s The Martian, through The Virtual Reality Company (VRC), where he serves as chief creative officer and CEO, and Ridley Scott and Associates (RSA) Films. Stromberg leads VRC’s involvement with new technologies including AI and its application for visual and narrative storytelling. He also continues to work with RSA directing major brand commercials with companies such as PEPSICO, Emirates Airlines and AbbVie.
Honorary VES Member: Harry Walton. Animation and VFX supervisor, matte artist and optical compositor Walton has had a storied career spanning more than five decades, producing 3-D character animation and visual effects for motion pictures, television, commercials, video games and special venue projects. He has held senior roles in animation and optical effects for companies including Industrial Light & Magic, Sony ImageWorks, Flat Earth Productions, Brain Zoo Studios, Insomniac Games, Phil Tippett Company, New Horizons Pictures and Electronic Arts. Walton is known for his work on theatrical films Innerspace, RoboCop, Howard The Duck, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Guardians of the Galaxy, Batman Returns, Terminator 2, The Nightmare Before Christmas; on television series including Land of The Lost and Gumby; and classic commercials for Pillsbury Dough-Boy, Green Giant and Wrigley’s Gum. Walton received a Monitor Award for Best Electronic Special Effects for his work on James and The Giant Peach.
As previously announced, producer and VFX industry leader Brooke Breton, VES was named recipient of the 2024 VES Founders Award. The Society designated VFX producer/supervisor Reid Paul and VFX producer Ronald B. Moore with Lifetime VES memberships. The 2024 class of VES Hall of Fame inductees includes Tim McGovern, VES; Thad Beier; Maya Deren; and Dorothy Davenport.
