LOS ANGELES --

The Visual Effects Society (VES) has unveiled the nominees for the 21st Annual VES Awards, the yearly celebration that recognizes outstanding visual effects artistry and innovation in features, animation, television, commercials and video games and the VFX supervisors, VFX producers and hands-on artists who bring this work to life.  Topping the field this year is Avatar: The Way of Water with 14 nominations–the most ever for any project. The record had been held by TV series The Mandalorian which tallied 13 VES nods in 2021 (winning three). Avatar: The Way of Water also surpasses the prior record for feature motion picture nominations which was 11 in 2010 for the original Avatar.

This year Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio is the top animated contender for VES honors with six nominations. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power leads the broadcast field with seven nominations.

Nominees in 25 categories were selected by VES members at 27 in-person and virtual nomination events conducted worldwide.  This year marks the presentation of the first VES Emerging Technology Award, which celebrates the creators of the technology behind the visuals and honors the inventors of a novel and uniquely innovative tool, device, software or methodology of outstanding value to the art and science of visual effects, gaming or animation.

Winners will be announed and honored at the 21st Annual VES Awards on Feb. 15 at The Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles.

“We’re honored to keep shining a light on remarkable visual effects artistry and innovation,” said VES chair Lisa Cooke.  “In all of our nominees, 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 nominees!”

Among the 25 categories is the VES Student Award. “For more than 16 years, since the founding of the VES Student Award, Autodesk has proudly ushered in and supported the rise of a new generation of VFX Talent,” said Dara Treseder, chief marketing officer, Autodesk, sponsor of the VES-Autodesk Student Award. “Visual effects are critical. They enable us to bring stories alive in ways that inspire, move, and challenge us. This year’s student film submissions showcase the power of artistry, the mastery of technical innovation, and the beauty of sophistication. Together with the VES, we are thrilled to celebrate these talented up-and-coming visual effects artists.”
 
Here’s a rundown of nominees for the 21st Annual VES Awards spanning 25 categories: 

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE 

Avatar: The Way of Water
Richard Baneham
Walter Garcia
Joe Letteri
Eric Saindon
JD Schwalm

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore
Christian Mänz
Olly Young
Benjamin Loch
Stephane Naze
Alistair Williams

Jurassic World: Dominion
David Vickery
Ann Podlozny
Jance Rubinchik
Dan Snape
Paul Corbould

The Batman
Dan Lemmon
Bryan Searing
Russell Earl
Anders Langlands
Dominic Tuohy

Top Gun: Maverick
Ryan Tudhope
Paul Molles
Seth Hill
Bryan Litson
Scott Fisher

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE

Death on the Nile
George Murphy
Claudia Dehmel
Mathieu Raynault
Jonathan Bowen
David Watkins

I Wanna Dance With Somebody
Paul Norris
Tim Field
Don Libby
Andrew Simmonds

The Fabelmans
Pablo Helman
Jennifer Mizener
Cernogorods Aleksei
Jeff Kalmus
Mark Hawker

The Gray Man
Swen Gilberg
Viet Luu
Bryan Grill
Cliff Welsh
Michael Meinardus

The Pale Blue Eye
Jake Braver
Catherine Farrell
Tim Van Horn
Scott Pritchard
Jeremy Hays

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

Mad God
Chris Morley
Phil Tippett
Ken Rogerson
Tom Gibbons

Strange World
Steve Goldberg
Laurie Au
Mark Hammel
Mehrdad Isvandi

The Bad Guys
Pierre Perifel
Damon Ross
Matt Baer
JP Sans

The Sea Beast
Joshua Beveridge
Christian Hejnal
Stirling Duguid
Spencer Lueders

Turning Red
Domee Shi
Lindsey Collins
Danielle Feinberg
Dave Hale
 

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE

House of the Dragon; The Black Queen
Angus Bickerton
Nikeah Forde
Sven Martin
Michael Bell
Michael Dawson

Prehistoric Planet; Ice Worlds
Lindsay McFarlane
Fay Hancocks
Elliot Newman
Kirstin Hall

Stranger Things 4; The Piggyback
Jabbar Raisani
Terron Pratt
Niklas Jacobson
Justin Mitchell
Richard E. Perry

The Boys; Payback
Stephan Fleet
Shalena Oxley-Butler
Tristan Zerafa
Anthony Paterson
Hudson Kenny

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

See; I See You
Chris Wright
Parker Chehak
Tristan Zerafa
Oscar Perea
Tony Kenny

Severance; Pilot
Vadim Turchin
Nicole Melius
David Piombino
David Rouxel

The Old Man; Episode III
Erik Henry
Matt Robken
Jamie Klein
Sylvain Théroux
J.D. Streett

Vikings: Valhalla; The Bridge
Ben Mossman
Melanie Callaghan
Matt Schofield
Chris Cooper
Paul Byrne
 

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A REAL-TIME PROJECT

God of War: Ragnarok
Christopher Lloyd
Carrie Watts
James Adkins
Kevin Huynh

Gotham Knights
Jay Evans
Bryan Theberge
Mathieu Houle
Alexandre Bélanger

Supermassive Games; The Quarry
Aruna Inversin
Paul Pianezza
Kevin Williams
Kimberly Cheifer

The Callisto Protocol
Glen Schofield
Steve Papoutsis
Chris Stone
Demetrius Leal

The Last of Us Part I
Erick Pangilinan
Evan Wells
Eben Cook
Mary Jane Whiting
 

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A COMMERCIAL

B&Q; Flip
Patrick Krafft
Holly Treacy
Alex Snookes

Frito-Lay; Push It
Tom Raynor
Sophie Harrison
Ben Cronin
Martino Madeddu

Ladbrokes; Rocky
Greg Spencer
Alex Fitzgerald
Mickey O’Donoghue
Adame Boutrif

Minions:  The Rise of Gru
Gerome Viavant
Gilles de Lusignan
Benjamin Le Ster

Virgin Media; Highland Rider
Amir Bazzazi
George Reid
Sebastian Caldwell
Alex Kulikov
 

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A SPECIAL VENUE PROJECT

ABBA: Voyage
Ben Morris
Edward Randolph
Stephen Aplin
Ian Comley

Avengers: Quantum Encounter
Alan Woods
Bernice Howes
Scott Sohan
Jason Fox

Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind
Christopher Smith
Meghan Short
William George
Jon Alexander

Jumanji: The Adventure
Martin Cutbill
Liam Thompson
Baptiste Roy
Marco Parenzi

Star Wars: Galactic Star Cruiser
Rob Blue
Patrick Kearney
Khatsho Orfali
Gabe Sabourin
Daniel Joseph

Stranger Things: The Experience
Javier Roca
Antoine Sitruk
Cale Jacox
Julien Forest
Camille Michaud
 

OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE

Avatar: The Way of Water; Kiri
Anneka Fris
Rebecca Louise Leybourne
Guillaume Francois
Jung-Rock Hwang

Beast; Lion
Alvise Avati
Bora Şahin
Chris McGaw
Krzysztof Boyoko

Disney’s Pinocchio; Honest John
Christophe Paradis
Valentina Rosselli
Armita Khanlarpour
Kyoungmin Kim

Slumberland; Pig
Fernando Lopes Herrera
Victor Dinis
Martine Chartrand
Lucie Martinetto
 

OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio; Geppetto
Charles Greenfield
Peter Saunders
Shami Lang-Rinderspacher
Noel Estevez-Baker

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio; Pinocchio
Oliver Beale
Richard Pickersgill
Brian Leif Hansen
Kim Slate

Strange World; Splat
Leticia Gillett
Cameron Black
Dan Lipson
Louis Jones

Turning Red; Panda Mei
Christopher Bolwyn
Ethan Dean
Bill Sheffler
Kureha Yokoo
 

OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL OR REAL-TIME PROJECT

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law; She-Hulk
Elizabeth Bernard
Jan Philip Cramer
Edwina Ting
Andrew Park

Skull & Bones; Sam
Jonas Skoog
Jonas Törnqvist
Goran Milic
Jonas Vikström

The Callisto Protocol; Jacob Lee
Martin Contel
Glauco Longhi
Jorge Jimenez
Atsushi Seo

The Umbrella Academy; Pogo
AIdan Martin
Hannah Dockerty
Olivier Beierlein
Miae Kang

OUTSTANDING CREATED ENVIRONMENT IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE

Avatar: The Way of Water; Metkayina Village
Ryan Arcus
Lisa Hardisty
Paul Harris
TaeHyoung David Kim

Avatar: The Way of Water; The Reef
Jessica Cowley
Joe W. Churchill
Justin Stockton
Alex Nowotny

Jurassic World Dominion; Biosyn Valley
Steve Ellis
Steve Hardy
Thomas Dohlen
John Seru

Slumberland; The Wondrous Cuban Hotel Dream
Daniël Dimitri Veder
Marc Austin
Pavan Rajesh Uppu
Casey Gorton

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

Lightyear; T’Kani Prime Forest
Lenora Acidera
Amy Allen
Alyssa Minko
Jose L. Ramos Serrano

Strange World; The Windy Jungle
Ki Jong Hong
Ryan Smith
Jesse Erickson
Benjamin Fiske

The Sea Beast; The Hunting Ship
Yohan Bang
Enoch Ihde
Denil George Chundangal
John Wallace

Wendell & Wild; The Scream Fair
Tom Proost
Nicholas Blake
Colin Babcock
Matthew Paul Albertus Cross

OUTSTANDING CREATED ENVIRONMENT IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, OR REAL-TIME PROJECT

Andor; Reckoning; Ferrix
Pedro Santos
Chris Ford
Jeff Carson-Bartzis
Alex Murtaza

The Book of Boba Fett; In the Name of Honor; Mos Espa
Daniel Schmid Leal
Phi Tran
Hasan Ilhan
Steve Wang

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power; Adar; Númenor City
Dan Wheaton
Nico Delbecq
Dan LeTarte
Julien Gauthier

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power; Adrift; Khazud Dûm
James Ogle
Péter Bujdosó
Lon Krung
Shweta Bhatnagar

OUTSTANDING VIRTUAL CINEMATOGRAPHY IN A CG PROJECT

ABBA: Voyage
Pär M. Ekberg
John Galloway
Paolo Acri
Jose Burgos

Avatar: The Way of Water
Richard Baneham
Dan Cox
Eric Reynolds
A.J Briones

Prehistoric Planet
Daniel Fotheringham
Krzysztof Szczepanski
Wei-Chuan Hsu
Claire Hill

The Batman; Rain Soaked Car Chase
Dennis Yoo
Michael J. Hall
Jason Desjarlais
Ben Bigiel
 

OUTSTANDING MODEL IN A PHOTOREAL OR ANIMATED PROJECT

Avatar: The Way of Water; The Sea Dragon
Sam Sharplin
Stephan Skorepa
Ian Baker
Guillaume Francois

The Sea Beast
Maxx Okazaki
Susan Kornfeld
Edward Lee
Doug Smith

Top Gun: Maverick; F-14 Tomcat
Christian Peck
Klaudio Ladavac
Aram Jung
Peter Dominik

Wendell & Wild Dream Faire
Peter Dahmen
Paul Harrod
Nicholas Blake

OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE

Avatar: The Way of Water; Fire and Destruction
Miguel Perez Senent
Xavier Martin Ramirez
David Kirchner
Ole Geir Eidsheim

Avatar: The Way of Water; Water Simulations
Johnathan M. Nixon
David Moraton
Nicolas Illingworth
David Caeiro Cebrian

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever; City Street Flooding
Matthew Hanger
Alexis Hall
Hang Yang
Mikel Zuloaga

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore
Jesse Parker Holmes
Grayden Solman
Toyokazu Hirai
Rob Richardson

 

OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE

Lightyear
Alexis Angelidis
Chris Chapman
Jung-Hyun Kim
Keith Klohn

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
Derek Cheung
Michael Losure
Kiem Ching Ong
Jinguang Huang

Strange World
Deborah Carlson
Scott Townsend
Stuart Griese
Yasser Hamed

The Sea Beast
Spencer Lueders
Dmitriy Kolesnik
Brian D. Casper
Joe Eckroat

OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, OR REAL-TIME PROJECT

Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities; Graveyard Rats
Amit Khanna
Oleg Memukhin
Mario Marengo
Josh George

Stranger Things 4; Hawkins Destructive Fissures
Ahmad Ghourab
Gavin Templer
Rachel Ajorque
Eri Ohno

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power; Udûn; Volcano Destruction
Kurt Debens
Hamish Bell
Robert Kelly
Gabriel Roccisano

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; Landing Rockets Forest Destruction
Miguel Santana Da Silva
Hongfei Geng
Jonathan Moulin
Maria Corcho

Avatar: The Way of Water; Water Integration
Sam Cole
Francois Sugny
Florian Schroeder
Jean Matthews

The Batman; Rainy Freeway Chase
Beck Veitch
Stephen Tong
Eva Snyder
Rachel E. Herbert

Top Gun: Maverick
Saul Davide Galbiati
Jean-Frederic Veilleux
Felix B. Lafontaine
Cynthia Rodriguez del Castillo
 

OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN AN EPISODE

House of the Dragon; The Black Queen; Dance of Dragons
Kevin Friederichs
Sean Raffel
Florian Franke
Andreas Steinlein

Love, Death and Robots; Night of the Mini Dead
Tim Emeis
José Maximiano
Renaud Tissandié
Nacere Guerouaf

The Book of Boba Fett; From the Desert Comes a Stranger; Luke Alike
Peter Demarest
Tami Carter
Brandon McNaughton
Sirak Ghebremusse

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power; Udûn; Tirharad Cavalry Charge
Sornalingam P
Ian Copeland
Nessa Mingfang Zhang
Yuvaraj S

OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A COMMERCIAL

Cartier; Tank
Stephane Pivron
Mathias Barday
Valentin Lesueur
Eric Lemains

Ladbrokes; Rocky
Greg Spencer
Theajo Dharan
Georgina Ford
Jonathan Westley

Samsung; Playtime is Over
Damien Canameras
Guillaume Dadaglio
Sébastien Podsiadlo
Christophe Plouvier

Samsung; The Spider and the Window
Marta Carbonell Amela
Stefan Susemihl
Lonni Wong
Jiyoung Lee

 

OUTSTANDING SPECIAL (PRACTICAL) EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL PROJECT

Avatar: The Way of Water; Current Machine and Wave Pool
JD Schwalm
Richie Schwalm
Nick Rand
Robert Spurlock

Black Adam; Robotic Flight
JD Schwalm
Nick Rand
Andrew Hyde
Andy Robot

Mad God
Phil Tippett
Chris Morley
Webster Colcord
Johnny McLeod

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power; Adrift; Middle Earth Storm
Dean Clarke
Oliver Gee
Eliot Naimie
Mark Robson

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

Boom
Romain Augier
Charles Di Cicco
Gabriel Augerai
Laurie Pereira De Figueiredo

Macula
Hady Abou Ghazale
Lothaire Rialhe
Marta Rodriguez-Noriega Nava
Jules Machicot

Maronii
Maxime Guitet
Dimitri Allonneau
Lucas Plata
Ngoc Mai Nguyen

 

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY AWARD

Avatar: The Way of Water; Depth Comp
Dejan Momcilovic
Tobias B. Schmidt
Benny Edlund
Joshua Hardgrave

Avatar: The Way of Water; Facial System
Byungkuk Choi
Stephen Cullingford
Stuart Adcock
Marco Revelant

Avatar: The Way of Water; Water Toolset
Alexey Dmitrievich Stomakhin
Steve Lesser
Sven Joel Wretborn
Douglas McHale

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio; 3D Printed Metal Armature
Richard Pickersgill
Glen Southern
Peter Saunders
Brian Leif Hansen

Turning Red; Profile Mover and CurveNets
Kurt Fleischer
Fernando de Goes
Bill Sheffler

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