Visual Effects Society Announces Winners of the 19th Annual VES Awards

Visual Effects Society Announces Winners of the 19th Annual VES Awards

The Midnight Sky is Top Feature Film; Soul is Top Animated Feature Film;
The Mandalorian Gets Top Broadcast Honors; Walmart Tops Commercials

Celebrities Join VFX Artists, Innovators in Virtually-produced Celebration

Los Angeles (April 6, 2021) – Today, the Visual Effects Society (VES), the industry’s professional global honorary society, held the 19th Annual VES Awards, the prestigious yearly celebration that recognizes outstanding visual effects artistry and innovation in film, animation, television, commercials and video games and the VFX supervisors, VFX producers and hands-on artists who bring this work to life.

Comedian Patton Oswalt served as host for the 10th time for the dynamic virtual production, that celebrated VFX talent in 25 awards categories. The Midnight Sky was named the photoreal feature winner, garnering two awards. Soul was named top animated film, winning five awards.  The Mandalorian was named best photoreal episode and garnered three awards. Walmart won top commercial honors.

Sacha Baron Cohen presented the VES Award for Creative Excellence to acclaimed visual effects supervisor, second unit director and director of photography Robert Legato, ASC.  Cate Blanchett presented the VES Lifetime Achievement Award to award-winning filmmaker Sir Peter Jackson – along with a star-studded tribute from Andy Serkis, Naomi Watts, Elijah Wood, Sir Ian McKellen, James Cameron and Gollum.  Presenters also included:  Helmers Zack Snyder and Pete Docter, actors Lauren Cohan, Danny DeVito, Jenna Elfman, Marcus Scribner, Chris Sullivan, Colman Domingo, Demian Bichir and Anson Mount and VES Chair Lisa Cooke. Jocelyn Moffatt, Autodesk Entertainment Industry Marketing Manager, presented the Autodesk Student Award.

Winners of the 19th Annual VES Awards are as follows:

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature

THE MIDNIGHT SKY
Matt Kasmir
Greg Baxter
Chris Lawrence
Max Solomon
David Watkins

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature

MANK
Wei Zheng
Peter Mavromates
Simon Carr
James Pastorius

Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature

SOUL
Pete Docter
Dana Murray
Michael Fong
Bill Watral

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode

THE MANDALORIAN, The Marshal
Joe Bauer
Abbigail Keller
Hal Hickel
Richard Bluff
Roy Cancino

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode

THE CROWN; Gold Stick
Ben Turner
Reece Ewing
Andrew Scrase
Jonathan Wood

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Real-Time Project

GHOST OF TSUSHIMA
Jason Connell
Matt Vainio
Jasmin Patry
Joanna Wang

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial

WALMART; Famous Visitors
Chris “Badger” Knight
Lori Talley
Yarin Manes
Matt Fuller

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project

THE BOURNE STUNTACULAR
Salvador Zalvidea
Tracey Gibbons
George Allan
Matthías Bjarnason
Scott Smith

Outstanding Animated Character in a Photoreal Feature

THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN; Ivan
Valentina Rosselli
Thomas Huizer
Andrea De Martis
William Bell

Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature

SOUL; Terry
Jonathan Hoffman
Jonathan Page
Peter Tieryas
Ron Zorman

Outstanding Animated Character in an Episode or Real-Time Project

THE MANDALORIAN; The Jedi; The Child
John Rosengrant
Peter Clarke
Scott Patton
Hal Hickel

Outstanding Animated Character in a Commercial

ARM & HAMMER; Once Upon a Time; Tuxedo Tom
Shiny Rajan
Silvia Bartoli
Matías Heker
Tiago Dias Mota

Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature

MULAN; Imperial City
Jeremy Fort
Matt Fitzgerald
Ben Walker
Adrian Vercoe

Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature

SOUL; You Seminar
Hosuk Chang
Sungyeon Joh
Peter Roe
Frank Tai

Outstanding Created Environment in an Episode, Commercial, or Real-Time Project

THE MANDALORIAN; The Believer; Morak Jungle
Enrico Damm
Johanes Kurnia
Phi Tran
Tong Tran

Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a CG Project

SOUL
Matt Aspbury
Ian Megibben

Outstanding Model in a Photoreal or Animated Project

THE MIDNIGHT SKY; Aether
Michael Balthazart
Jonathan Opgenhaffen
John-Peter Li
Simon Aluze

Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature

PROJECT POWER
Yin Lai Jimmy Leung
Jonathan Lyddon-Towl
Pierpaolo Navarini
Michelle Lee

Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature

SOUL
Alexis Angelidis
Keith Daniel Klohn
Aimei Kutt
Melissa Tseng

Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Episode, Commercial, or Real-Time Project

LOVECRAFT COUNTRY; Strange Case; Chrysalis
Federica Foresti
Johan Gabrielsson
Hugo Medda
Andreas Krieg

Outstanding Compositing in a Feature

PROJECT POWER
Russell Horth
Matthew Patience
Julien Rousseau

Outstanding Compositing in an Episode

LOVECRAFT COUNTRY; Strange Case; Chrysalis
Viktor Andersson
Linus Lindblom
Mattias Sandelius
Crawford Reilly

Outstanding Compositing in a Commercial

BURBERRY; Festive
Alex Lovejoy
Mithun Alex
David Filipe
Amresh Kumar

Outstanding Special (Practical) Effects in a Photoreal or Animated Project

FEAR THE WALKING DEAD; Bury Her Next to Jasper’s Leg
Frank Iudica
Scott Roark
Daniel J. Yates

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project

MIGRANTS
Antoine Dupriez
Hugo Caby
Lucas Lermytte
Zoé Devise

About the Visual Effects Society

The Visual Effects Society is a professional global honorary society dedicated to advancing the arts, sciences and applications of visual effects and to upholding the highest standards and procedures for the visual effects profession. It is the entertainment industry’s only official organization representing the extended global community of visual effects practitioners, including supervisors, artists, producers, technology developers, educators and studio executives.  VES’ more than 4,000 members in over 40 countries worldwide contribute to all areas of entertainment – film, television, commercials, animation, music videos, games, new media and special venues.

To learn more about the VES, visit www.vesglobal.org and follow us on Twitter: @VFXSociety. Read VFX Voice, our award-winning signature print and digital publication, at www.vfxvoice.com.