VISUAL EFFECTS ARTISTRY IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Captions list all members of each Award-winning team even if some members were not present or out of frame. Some winners provided a video acknowledgment. For more Show photos and a complete list of nominees and winners of the 21st Annual VES Awards, visit vesglobal.org.

The Visual Effects Society held the 21st Annual VES Awards, the prestigious yearly celebration that recognizes outstanding visual effects artistry and innovation in film, animation, television, commercials, video games and special venues.

Comedian Patton Oswalt served as host for the 10th time to the nearly 1,200 guests gathered at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles on February 15, 2023 to celebrate VFX talent in 25 awards categories.

Avatar: The Way of Water was named the Photoreal feature winner, garnering nine awards. Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio was named top Animated film, winning three awards. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power was named best Photoreal episode, winning three awards. Frito-Lay: Push It topped the Commercial field.

Academy Award-winning filmmaker James Cameron presented the VES Lifetime Achievement award to acclaimed writer-producer Gale Anne Hurd.

The Society’s current and former Board Chairs presented the VES Board of Directors Award to former Executive Director Eric Roth. The group included Lisa Cooke, current VES Chair; Jim Morris, VES, President of Pixar Animation and founding VES Chair; and former Chairs Jeffrey A. Okun, VES; Mike Chambers, VES; Carl Rosendahl, VES; and Jeff Barnes.

Award presenters included: Academy-Award nominated filmmaker Rian Johnson, Academy-Award-winning filmmaker Domee Shi; actors Jay Pharoah, Tyler Posey, Randall Park, Angela Sarafyan, Bashir Salahuddin, Josh McDermitt and Danny Pudi. Dara Treseder, Autodesk’s Chief Marketing Officer, presented the VES-Autodesk Student Award.

For the first time, the VES presented The Emerging Technology Award, with the recipient being Avatar: The Way of Water; Water Toolset

10. The award for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial went to Frito-Lay; Push It and the team of Tom Raynor, Sophie Harrison, Ben Cronin and Martino Madeddu.

11. The award for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project went to ABBA Voyage and the team of Ben Morris, Edward Randolph, Stephen Aplin and Ian Comley. Accepting the award was Janet Lewin, Senior Vice President, Lucasfilm VFX and General Manager ILM.

12. The award for Outstanding Animated Character in a Photoreal Feature went to Avatar: The Way of Water; Kiri and the team of Anneka Fris, Rebecca Louise Leybourne, Guillaume Francois and Jung Rock Hwang.

13. Comedian and actor Jay Pharoah appeared as a presenter.

14. Academy-Awardwinning filmmaker Domee Shi was on hand as a presenter.

15. The award for Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature went to Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio; Pinocchio and the team of Oliver Beale, Richard Pickersgill, Brian Leif Hansen and Kim Slate.

22. The award for Outstanding Created Environment in an Episode, Commercial or Real-Time Project went to The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power; Adar; Númenor City and the team of Dan Wheaton, Nico Delbecq, Dan Letarte and Julien Gauthier.

23. Actor Danny Pudi was a presenter.

24. Actor Bashir Salahuddin attended as a presenter.

25. The award for Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a CG Project went to Avatar: The Way of Water and the team of Richard Baneham, Dan Cox, Eric Reynolds and AJ Briones.

26. The award for Outstanding Model in a Photoreal or Animated Project went to Avatar: The Way of Water; The Sea Dragon and the team of Sam Sharplin, Stephan Skorepa, Ian Baker and Guillaume Francois.

27. The award for Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature went to Avatar: The Way of Water; Water Simulations and the team of Johnathan Nixon, David Moraton, Nicolas James Illingworth and David Caeiro Cebrian.

28. The award for Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature went to Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and the team of Derek Cheung, Michael Losure, Kiem Ching Ong and Jinguang Huang.

29. The award for Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Episode, Commercial or Real-Time Project went to The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Udûn; Water and Magma and the team of Rick Hankins, Aron Bonar, Branko Grujcic and Laurent Kermel.

30. The award for Outstanding Compositing & Lighting in a Feature went to Avatar: The Way of Water; Water Integration and the team of Sam Cole, Francois Sugny, Florian Schroeder and Jean Matthews.

31. The award for Outstanding Compositing & Lighting in an Episode went to Love, Death and Robots; Night of the Mini Dead and the team of Tim Emeis, José Maximiano, Renaud Tissandié and Nacere Guerouaf.

32. The Award for Outstanding Compositing & Lighting in a Commercial went to Ladbrokes; Rocky and the team of Greg Spencer, Theajo Dharan, Georgina Ford and Jonathan Westley.

33. The award for Outstanding Special (Practical) Effects in a Photoreal Project went to Avatar: The Way of Water; Current Machine and Wave Pool and the team of JD Schwalm, Richard Schwalm, Nick Rand and Robert Spurlock.

34. The award for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project (Award Sponsored by Autodesk) went to A Calling. From the Desert. To the Sea and the team of Mario Bertsch, Max Pollmann, Lukas Löffler and Till SanderTitgemeyer. The award was presented to the team by Dara Treseder, Autodesk’s Chief Marketing Officer.

35. The Emerging Technology Award went to Avatar: The Way of Water; Water Toolset and the team of Alexey Stomakhin, Steve Lesser, Sven Joel Wretborn and Douglas McHale.

36. Actor Angela Sarafyan participated as a presenter.

37. Pixar’s Chief Technology Officer Steve May and Chair of the VES Technology Committee Sebastian Sylwan, VES were on hand to present the first ever Emerging Technology Award.

38. Actor Josh McDermitt attended as a presenter.

39. Former Executive Director Eric Roth makes an impassioned speech upon receiving his VES Board of Directors Award.

44. Eric Roth, former VES Executive Director, is flanked by former VES Board Chairs Jeff Okun, VES; Jeff Barnes; Mike Chambers, VES; Roth; current Chair Lisa Cooke; Pixar GM & President Jim Morris, VES; and Carl Rosendahl, VES.

45. Producer Gale Anne Hurd holds her VES Lifetime Achievement Award, flanked by VES Executive Director Nancy Ward, left, and current VES Chair Lisa Cooke.

46. Jim Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd show off Hurd’s VES Lifetime Achievement Award.

47. Jeffrey A. Okun, VES celebrates his 21st year as the VES Awards show producer.