Avatar: The Way of Water wins 9 VES Awards

James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” swept through every category at the 21st annual VES Awards on Wednesday night in an unprecedented wave of dominance, winning nine of a record-breaking 14 nominations, including best photorealistic film and the newest category, The. Emerging Technology Award, for innovative water tools.

Although the prestigious visual effects honor society (which has 4,500 members worldwide) has not been a reliable Oscar ringer in recent years. – the VFX winner has only been selected twice in the past six years – this now seems to be the conclusion of the continuation of “Avatar”.

Hosted by Patton Oswalt at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” (from Netflix) — the Oscar favorite for Best Animated Feature — won the Best Animated Feature trophy and took home three awards; Amazon’s “Thirteen Lives” won the supporting award, while Amazon Prime Video’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” won the episode award and took home three awards.

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“As we celebrate the 21st annual VES Awards, we are honored to continue to shine a light on the remarkable artistry and innovation in visual effects,” said VES President Lisa Cooke. “In each of our colleagues honored tonight, we see best-in-class work that elevates the art of storytelling and exemplifies a spirit of adaptability and ingenuity—talents that engage and uplift audiences now more than ever. The VES Awards is the only venue to showcase and honor these outstanding international artists across a wide range of disciplines, and we are extremely proud of all our winners and nominees!”

Academy Award-winning director Cameron presented the VES Lifetime Achievement Award to acclaimed producer and ex-wife Gale Anne Hurd (“The Terminator,” “Aliens,” “The Abyss,” “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” “Armageddon” and “The Walking Dead” series.) The company also presented the VES Board of Directors Award to former CEO Eric Roth.

See the full winners below.

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN PHOTOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS
“Avatar: The Path of Water”
Richard Baneham
Walter Garcia
Joe Letteri
Eric Saindon
JD Schwalm

SUPPORT FOR OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN PHOTO FUNCTION
“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 PHOTOGRAPHY EPISODE
“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”; Udûn
Jason Smith
Ron Ames
Nigel Sumner
Tom Proctor
Dean Clarke

SUPPORT FOR OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTO EPISODE
“Five Days at the 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 TRADE
Frito-Lay; Push it
Tom Raynor
Sophie Harrison
Ben Cronin
Martino Madeddu

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A SPECIAL LOCATION PROJECT
“ABBA Voyage”
Ben Morris
Edward Randolph
Stephen Aplin
Ian Comley

EXCELLENT ANIMATED CHARACTER PHOTOGRAPHY
“Avatar: The Path of Water”: Kiri
Anneka Fris
Rebecca Louise Leybourne
Guillaume Francois
Jung Rock Hwang

EXCELLENT 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

EXCELLENT USED ENVIRONMENT IN PHOTOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS
Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Reef
Jessica Cowley
Joe W. Churchill
Justin Stockton
Alex Nowotny

OUTSTANDING USED 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; City of Númenor
Dan Wheaton
Nico Delbecq
Dan Letarte
Julien Gauthier

EXCELLENT VIRTUAL CINEMATOGRAPHY IN A CG PROJECT
“Avatar: The Path of Water”
Richard Baneham
Dan Cox
Eric Reynolds
AJ Briones

EXCELLENT MODEL FOR PHOTO OR ANIMATION PROJECTS
“Avatar: The Way of the Water”: The Sea Dragon
Sam Sharplin
Stephan Skorepa
Ian Baker
Guillaume Francois

OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN PHOTOGRAPHIC FUNCTION
“Avatar: The Path of Water”: Water simulations
Jonathan 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

EXCELLENT EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL OR REAL-TIME PROJECTS
“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”: Udûn; Water and Magma
Rick Hankins
Aaron Bonar
Branko Grujcic
Laurent Carmel

EXCELLENT COMPOSITION AND LIGHTING IN ONE FUNCTION
“Avatar: The Way of Water”: Water Integration
Sam Cole
Francois Sugny
Florian Schroeder
Jean Matthews

EXCELLENT COMPOSITION AND LIGHTING IN ONE EPISODE
“Love, Death and Robots”: “Night of the Mini Dead”
Tim Emeis
Jose Maximiano
By Renaud Tissandi
Nacere Guerouaf

EXCELLENT COMPOSITION AND LIGHTING IN TRADE
Ladbrokes; Rocky
Greg Spencer
Theajo Dharan
Georgina Ford
Jonathan Westley

OUTSTANDING SPECIAL (PRACTICAL) EFFECTS IN A PHOTO 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 (COURTESY OF AUTODESK)
“A call. From the desert. To the see”
Mario Bertsch
Max Pollmann
Lukas Löffler
to Sander-Titgemeyer

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY AWARD
“Avatar: The Way of Water”: Water Toolkit
Alexei Stomakhin
Steve Lesser
Sven Joel Wretborn
Douglas McHale

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