The Visual Effects Society, the VFX industry’s professional global honorary society, has announced the winners of the 24th Annual VES Awards.
Encompassing 25 categories across film, television, technology, gaming, special venue, student projects and more, the night’s biggest winner was Avatar: Fire and Ash, which took home seven awards in total, including the top prize of Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature.
Additional wins for Avatar: Fire and Ash included Outstanding Character in a Photoreal Feature for Varang (played by Oona Chaplin, who was on hand at the awards as a presenter), Outstanding CG Cinematography, and the Emerging Technology Award, given to the Kora Fire Toolset.
In the animation categories, KPop Demon Hunters led the night with three awards, including the top prize of Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature, and Outstanding Character in an Animated Feature for Rumi.
Rounding out the top category wins, Sinners won the award for Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature, Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age won for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode, and BMW’s Heart of Joy: Meet Okto the Octopus won for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial.
Additional winners at the 24th Annual VES Awards included the video game Ghost of Yōtei (Outstanding Visual Arts in a Real-Time Project), Andor (Outstanding Special (Practical) Effects in a Photoreal Project) and Azimuth (Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project).
Acclaimed film producer Jerry Bruckheimer was honoured with the VES Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by his longtime collaborator, F1: The Movie director Joseph Kosinski.
In his acceptance speech, Bruckheimer addressed the artists in the room, saying: “You create the magic. You create the things that people go to theatres for. You’re the people that we dream about when we go to the movies, when we go into that dark space in the theatre, and the work that you do is truly phenomenal.”
Wētā Workshop co-founder and chief creative officer Sir Richard Taylor received this year’s VES Visionary Award, presented by Adam Savage.
Sir Richard Taylor shared in his acceptance speech: “Thank you to the VES for this honour. It is a privilege to be part of this remarkable community and a joy to be with you all here on this special night.
“And if I can leave one thought with you, as I say to our team, there’s only four tenets by which I operate, and that is simply: love of oneself, love of what you do, love of who you do it with, and love of who you do it for. If you can strike those four in your life, you’re doing pretty well.”
“The VES is honoured to recognise brilliant artistry and technological innovation across a wide range of disciplines,” said VES Board chair Kim Davidson.
“The craft of visual effects is constantly evolving to push the limits of our imaginations, and tonight’s inspiring winners and nominees represent best-in-class work from around the world. Congratulations to all!”
The full list of winners is available on the VES website.
