Today, the Visual Effects Society (VES), the industry’s professional global honorary society, announced the nominees for 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.
The Mandalorian garners the most nominations and leads the broadcast field with 13 nominations. Soul is the top animated film contender with five nominations. Project Power and The Witches are the most-nominated features with three each. Nominees in 25 categories were selected by VES members via 32 virtual nomination events conducted across the globe.
Due to the pandemic, this year’s VES Awards will be produced virtually. The ceremony will stream worldwide on April 6 or 7, depending on the time zone.
“Traditions find a way to persist,” said Lisa Cooke, VES Board Chair. “With vision and a lot of hard work, we are proud to host our annual celebration of the artistry, ingenuity and passion of visual effects practitioners around the world – virtually. We are seeing best in class work that elevates the art of storytelling and engages the audience in new and innovative ways. The VES Awards is the only venue that showcases and honors these outstanding artists across a wide range of disciplines, and we are extremely proud of all our nominees!”
“Autodesk is proud to sponsor the Visual Effects Society Student Award for a 12th year, supporting incredible up-and-coming talent in the VFX and animation industry,” said Jocelyn Moffatt, Entertainment Industry Marketing Manager, Autodesk. “In a year fraught with disruption and adapting to new ways of learning and collaborating remotely, it is truly inspiring to see the level of creativity and ingenuity in each of every one of this year’s student submissions. Autodesk extends a huge congratulations to this year’s nominees.”
Select category nominees can be found below; the full list of nominees can be ound on the VES website.
Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature
Onward | Dan Scanlon, Kori Rae, Sanjay Bakshi, Vincent Serritella
Over the Moon | Glen Keane, Gennie Rim, Céline Desrumaux, David Alexander Smith
Soul | Pete Docter, Dana Murray, Michael Fong, Bill Watral
The Croods: A New Age | Joel Crawford, Mark Swift, PGA, Betsy Nofsinger, Jakob Hjort Jensen
Trolls World Tour | Walt Dohrn, Gina Shay, PGA; Kendal Cronkhite-Shaindlin, Matt Baer
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature
Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey | Brad Parker, Roma Van Den Bergh, Eric Guaglione, Carlos Monzon, Stefano Pepin
Project Power | Ivan Moran, Leslie Hough, Joao Sita, Matthew Twyford, Yves Debono
Tenet | Andrew Jackson, Mike Chambers, Andrew Lockley, David Lee, Scott Fisher
The Midnight Sky | Matt Kasmir, Greg Baxter, Chris Lawrence, Max Solomon, David Watkins
The Witches | Kevin Baillie, Sandra Scott, Sean Konrad, Glenn Melenhorst, Mark Holt
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode
Lovecraft Country “Jig-A-Bobo” | Kevin Blank, Robin Griffin, Pietro Ponti, Francois Dumoulin
Star Trek: Discovery “Su’Kal” | Jason Michael Zimmerman, Aleksandra Kochoska, Ante Dekovic, Ivan Kondrup Jensen
The Mandalorian “The Marshal” | Joe Bauer, Abbigail Keller, Hal Hickel, Richard Bluff, Roy Cancino
Timmy Failure | Rich McBride, Leslie Lerman, Nicolas Chevallier, Anders Beer, Tony Lazarowich
Westworld “Crisis Theory” | Jay Worth, Elizabeth Castro, Bruce Branit, Joe Wehmeyer, Mark Byers
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Real-Time Project
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla | Raphael Lacoste, Jean-Sebastien Guay, Virginie Cinq-Mars ,Thierry Beaumont
Cyberpunk 2077 | Jakub Knapik, Małgorzata Mitręga, Piotr Suchodolski, Krzysztof Krzyścin
Ghost of Tsushima | Jason Connell, Matt Vainio, Jasmin Patry, Joanna Wang
Spider-Man: Miles Morales “Reactor Finale” | Gavin Goulden, Jess Reed, Bryanna Lindsey, Mike Yosh
The Last of Us Part II | Neil Druckmann, Eben Cook, Erick Pangilinan, John Sweeney
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial
Arm & Hammer “Once Upon a Time” | Kiril Mirkov, Solomon Tiigah, Vanessa Duquesnay, Prashanth Paramasivam
Burberry “Singin’ in the Rain” | Fabian Frank, Ryan Hancocks, Rob Richardson, Alex Lovejoy
Hornbach “It Seems Impossible Until You Do It” | Ben Cronin, Tomek Zietkiewicz, Amir Bazzazi, Bruno Fukumothi
PlayStation “The Edge” | Diarmid Harrison-Murray, Tom Igglesden, Alex Gabucci, Tom Raynor
Walmart “Famous Visitors” | Chris “Badger” Knight, Lori Talley, Yarin Mares, Matt Fuller
Xbox “Us Dreamers” | Dan Seddon, Elexis Stearn, Fabian Frank, Zhenya Vladi
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project
Asteroid Hunters | Antoine Durr, Jini Durr, Bert Poole, Neishaw Ali
The Bourne Stuntacular | Salvador Zalvidea, Tracey Gibbons, George Allan, Matthías Bjarnason, Scott Smith
Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway | Ryan Donoghue, Becky Train, Blaine Kennison, Nick da Silva, Corban Prim
The March | Aruna Inversin, Peter Nelson, Kevin Williams, Sean Kealey
Outstanding Animated Character in a Photoreal Feature
Die Känguru-Chroniken; Kangaroo | Claudius Urban, Sebastian Badea, Dorian Knapp, Ruth Wiegand
Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey; Don Juan Diego | Eric Guaglione, Shuchi Singhal, Adrien Annesley, Mahmoud Ellithy
The One and Only Ivan; Ivan | Valentina Rosselli, Thomas Huizer, Andrea De Martis, William Bell
The Witches; Daisy | Jye Skinn, Sarah Fuller, Marco Iannaccone, Fredrik Sundqvist
Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature
Onward; Dad Pants | Kristopher Campbell, Jonas Jarvers, Rob Jensen, Jacob Kuenzel
Over the Moon; Chang’e | Siggi Orri Thorhannesson, Hyesook Kim, Javier Solsona, Alan Chen
Soul; Terry | Jonathan Hoffman, Jonathan Page, Peter Tieryas, Ron Zorman
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run; SpongeBob | Jacques Daigle, Guillaume Dufief, Adrien Montero, Liam Hill
Outstanding Animated Character in an Episode or Real-Time Project
The Crown “The Balmoral Test”; Imperial Stag | Ahmed Gharraph, Ross Burgess, Gabriela Ruch Salmeron, Joel Best
The Mandalorian “The Jedi”; The Child | John Rosengrant, Peter Clarke, Scott Patton, Hal Hickel
The Mandalorian “The Marshal”; Krayt Dragon | Paul Kavanagh, Zaini Mohamed Jalani, Michal Kriukow, Nihal Friedel
Timmy Failure “Mistakes Were Made”; Total | Maxime Masse, Hennadii Prykhodko, Luc Girard, Sophie Burie
Outstanding Animated Character in a Commercial
AFK Arena “Toilet”; Uzgahk | Chloe Dawe, Brad Noble, Tim van Hussen, Simon Legrand
Arm & Hammer “Once Upon a Time”; Tuxedo Tom | Shiny Rajan, Silvia Bartoli, Matias Heker ,Tiago Dias Mota
Far Cry “Legacy”; Anton | Maxime Luere, Leon Berelle, Rémi Kozyra, Dominique Boidin
Legends of Runeterra “Breathe”; Darius | Maxime Luere, Leon Berelle, Rémi Kozyra, Dominique Boidin
TK Maxx “The Lil Goat” | Kiril Mirkov, Silvia Bartoli, Chris Welsby, David Bryan
