the Visual Effects Society (VES), the industry’s professional global honorary society, announced the nominees for the 18th 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. ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL and THE LION KING garner the most feature film nominations with five nominations each; TOY STORY 4 is the top animated film contender with five nominations; and GAME OF THRONES and THE MANDALORIAN tie to lead the broadcast field with six nominations each.

Nominees in 25 categories were selected by VES members via events hosted by 11 of our Sections, including Australia, the Bay Area, Germany, London, Los Angeles, Montreal, New York, New Zealand, Toronto, Vancouver and Washington. The VES Awards will be held on January 29 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. As previously announced, the VES Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to Academy, DGA and Emmy Award winning director-producer-screenwriter Martin Scorsese. The VES Visionary Award will be presented to acclaimed director-producer-screenwriter Roland Emmerich. And the VES Award for Creative excellence will be presented to acclaimed visual effects supervisor Sheena Duggal. Award-winning actor-comedian-author Patton Oswalt will once again host the VES Awards.

“The artistry, ingenuity and passion of visual effects practitioners around the world have come together to create truly remarkable imagery in a variety of media,” said Mike Chambers, VES Chair. “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!”

“The Visual Effects Society Student Award recognizes the incredible work produced by up-and-coming talent from around the world. The passion, imagination, and artistry shown by the next generation of artists and storytellers is truly inspiring, and collaborating with the VES to recognize that talent is a huge honor,” said Diana Colella, VP Business Strategy & Marketing, Media & Entertainment, Autodesk.

The nominees for the 18th Annual VES Awards in 25 categories are as follow:

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature

ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL

Richard Hollander, Kevin Sherwood, Eric Saindon, Richard Baneham, Bob Trevino

AVENGERS: ENDGAME

Daniel DeLeeuw, Jen Underdahl, Russell Earl, Matt Aitken, Daniel Sudick

GEMINI MAN

Bill Westenhofer, Karen Murphy-Mundell, Guy Williams, Sheldon Stopsack, Mark Hawker

STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER

Roger Guyett, Stacy Bissell, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan, Dominic Tuohy

THE LION KING

Robert Legato, Tom Peitzman, Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones

 

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature

1917

Guillaume Rocheron, Sona Pak, Greg Butler, Vijay Selvam, Dominic Tuohy

FORD V FERRARI

Olivier Dumont, Kathy Siegel, Dave Morley, Malte Sarnes, Mark Byers

JOKER

Edwin Rivera, Brice Parker, Mathew Giampa, Bryan Godwin, Jeff Brink

THE AERONAUTS

Louis Morin, Annie Godin, Christian Kaestner, Ara Khanikian, Mike Dawson

THE IRISHMAN

Pablo Helman, Mitch Ferm, Jill Brooks, Leandro Estebecorena, Jeff Brink

 

Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature

FROZEN 2

Steve Goldberg, Peter Del Vecho, Mark Hammel, Michael Giaimo

KLAUS

Sergio Pablosv, Matthew Teevan, Marcin Jakubowski, Szymon Biernacki

MISSING LINK

Brad Schiff, Travis KnightSteve Emerson, Benoit Dubuc

THE LEGO MOVIE 2

David Burgess, Tim Smith, Mark Theriault, John Rix

TOY STORY 4

Josh Cooley, Mark Nielsen, Bob Moyer, Gary Bruins

 

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode

GAME OF THRONES; The Bells

Joe Bauer, Steve Kullback, Ted Rae, Mohsen Mousavi, Sam Conway

HIS DARK MATERIALS; The Fight to the Death

Russell Dodgson, James Whitlam, Shawn Hillier, Robert Harrington

LADY AND THE TRAMP

Robert Weaver, Christopher Raimo, Arslan Elver, Michael Cozens, Bruno Van Zeebroeck

LOST IN SPACE - Episode: Ninety-Seven

Jabbar Raisani, Terron Pratt, Niklas Jacobson, Juri Stanossek, Paul Benjamin

STRANGER THINGS - Chapter Six: E Pluribus Unum

Paul Graff, Tom Ford, Michael Maher Jr., Martin Pelletier, Andy Sowers

THE MANDALORIAN; The Child

Richard Bluff, Abbigail Keller, Jason Porter, Hayden Jones, Roy Cancinon

 

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode

CHERNOBYL; 1:23:45

Max Dennison, Lindsay McFarlane, Clare Cheetham, Paul Jones, Claudius Christian Rauch

LIVING WITH YOURSELF; Nice Knowing You

Jay Worth, Jacqueline VandenBussche, Chris Wright, Tristan Zerafa

SEE; Godflame

Adrian de Wet, Eve Fizzinoglia, Matthew Welford, Pedro Sabrosa, Tom Blacklock

THE CROWN; Aberfan

Ben Turner, Reece Ewing, David Fleet, Jonathan Wood

VIKINGS; What Happens in the Cave

Dominic Remane, Mike Borrett, Ovidiu Cinazan, Tom Morrison, Paul Byrne

 

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Real-Time Project

Call of Duty Modern Warfare

Charles Chabert, Chris Parise, Attila Zalanyi, Patrick Hagar 

Control

Janne Pulkkinen, Elmeri Raitanen, Matti Hämäläinen, James Tottman, 

Gears 5

Aryan Hanbeck, Laura Kippax, Greg Mitchell, Stu Maxwell

Myth: A Frozen Tale

Jeff Gipson, Nicholas Russell, Brittney Lee, Jose Luis Gomez Diaz

Vader Immortal: Episode I

Ben Snow, Mike Doran, Aaron McBride, Steve Henricks

 

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial

Anthem Conviction

Viktor Muller, Lenka Likarova, Chris Harvey, Petr Marek

BMW Legend

Michael Gregory, Christian Downes, Tim Kafka, Toya Drechsler

Hennessy: The Seven Worlds

Carsten Keller, Selcuk Ergen, Kiril Mirkov, William Laban

PlayStation: Feel The Power of Pro

Sam Driscoll, Clare Melia, Gary Driver, Stefan Susemihl

Purdey's: Hummingbird

Jules Janaud, Emma Cook, Matthew Thomas, Philip Child

 

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project

Avengers: Damage Control

Michael Koperwas, Shereif Fattouh, Ian Bowie, Kishore Vijay, Curtis Hickman

Jurassic World: The Ride

Hayden Landis, Friend Wells, Heath Kraynak, Ellen Coss

Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run

Asa Kalama, Rob Huebner, Khatsho Orfali, Susan Greenhow

Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance

Jason Bayever, Patrick Kearney, Carol Norton, Bill George

Universal Sphere

James Healy, Morgan MacCuish, Ben West, Charlie Bayliss

 

Outstanding Animated Character in a Photoreal Feature

ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL; Alita

Michael Cozens, Mark Haenga, Olivier Lesaint, Dejan Momcilovic

AVENGERS: ENDGAME; Smart Hulk

Kevin Martel, Ebrahim Jahromi, Sven Jensen, Robert Allman

GEMINI MAN; Junior

Paul Story, Stuart Adcock, Emiliano Padovani, Marco Revelant

THE LION KING; Scar

Gabriel Arnold, James Hood, Julia Friedl, Daniel Fortheringham

 

Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature

FROZEN 2; The Water Nøkk

Svetla Radivoeva, Marc Bryant, Richard E. Lehmann, Cameron Black

KLAUS; Jesper

Yoshimishi Tamura, Alfredo Cassano, Maxime Delalande, Jason Schwartzman

MISSING LINK; Susan

Rachelle Lambden, Brenda Baumgarten, Morgan Hay, Benoit Dubuc

TOY STORY 4; Bo Peep

Radford Hurn, Tanja Krampfert, George Nguyen, Becki Rocha Tower

 

Outstanding Animated Character in an Episode or Real-Time Project

LADY AND THE TRAMP; Tramp

Thiago Martins, Arslan Elver, Stanislas Paillereau, Martine Chartrand

STRANGER THINGS 3; Tom/Bruce Monster

Joseph Dubé-Arsenault, Antoine Barthod, Frederick Gagnon, Xavier Lafarge

THE MANDALORIAN; The Child; Mudhorn

Terry Bannon, Rudy Massar, Hugo Leygnac

THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY; Pilot; Pogo

Aidan Martin, Craig Young, Olivier Beierlein, Laurent Herveic

 

Outstanding Animated Character in a Commercial

Apex Legends; Meltdown; Mirage

Chris Bayol, John Fielding, Derrick Sesson, Nole Murphy

Churchill; Churchie

Martino Madeddu, Philippe Moine, Clement Granjon, Jon Wood

Cyberpunk 2077; Dex

Jonas Ekman, Jonas Skoog, Marek Madej, Grzegorz Chojnacki

John Lewis; Excitable Edgar; Edgar

Tim van Hussen, Diarmid Harrison-Murray, Amir Bazzazi, Michael Diprose

 

Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature

ALADDIN; Agrabah

Daniel Schmid, Falk Boje, Stanislaw Marek, Kevin George

ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL; Iron City

John Stevenson-Galvin, Ryan Arcus, Mathias Larserud, Mark Tait

MOTHERLESS BROOKLYN; Penn Station

John Bair, Vance Miller, Sebastian Romero, Steve Sullivan

STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER; Pasaana Desert

Daniele Bigi, Steve Hardy, John Seru, Steven Denyer

THE LION KING; The Pridelands

Marco Rolandi, Luca Bonatti, Jules Bodenstein, Filippo Preti

 

Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature

FROZEN 2; Giants’ Gorge

Samy Segura, Jay V. Jackson, Justin Cram, Scott Townsend

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: THE HIDDEN WORLD; The Hidden World

Chris Grun, Ronnie Cleland, Ariel Chisholm, Philippe Brochu

MISSING LINK; Passage to India Jungle

Oliver Jones, Phil Brotherton, Nick Mariana, Ralph Procida

TOY STORY 4; Antiques Mall

Hosuk Chang, Andrew Finley, Alison Leaf, Philip Shoebottom

 

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

GAME OF THRONES; The Iron Throne; Red Keep Plaza

Carlos Patrick DeLeon, Alonso Bocanegra Martinez, Marcela Silva, Benjamin Ross

LOST IN SPACE; Precipice; The Trench

Philip Engström, Benjamin Bernon, Martin Bergquist, Xuan Prada

THE DARK CRYSTAL: AGE OF RESISTANCE; The Endless Forest

Sulé Bryan, Charles Chorein, Christian Waite, Martyn Hawkins

THE MANDALORIAN; Nevarro Town

Alex Murtaza, Yanick Gaudreau, Marco Tremblay, Maryse Bouchard

Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a CG Project

ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL

Emile Ghorayeb, Simon Jung, Nick Epstein, Mike Perry

THE LION KING

Robert Legato, Caleb Deschanel, Ben Grossmann, AJ Sciutto

THE MANDALORIAN; The Prisoner; The Roost

Richard Bluff, Jason Porter, Landis Fields IV, Baz Idione

TOY STORY 4

Jean-Claude Kalache, Patrick Lin

 

Outstanding Model in a Photoreal or Animated Project

LOST IN SPACE; The Resolute

Xuan Prada, Jason Martin, Jonathan Vårdstedt, Eric Andersson

MISSING LINK; The Manchuria

Todd Alan Harvey, Dan Casey, Katy Hughes

THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE; Rocket Train

Neil Taylor, Casi Blume, Ben McDougal, Chris Kuhn

THE MANDALORIAN; The Sin; The Razorcrest

Doug Chiang, Jay Machado, John Goodson, Landis Fields IV

 

Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature

DUMBO; Bubble Elephants

Sam HancockVictor Glushchenko, Andrew Savchenko, Arthur Moody

SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME; Molten Man

Adam Gailey, Jacob Santamaria, Jacob Clark, Stephanie Molk

STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER

Don Wong, Thibault Gauriau, Goncalo Cababca, Francois-Maxence Desplanques

THE LION KING

David Schneider, Samantha Hiscock, Andy Feery, Kostas Strevlos

 

Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature

ABOMINABLE

Alex Timchenko, Domin Lee, Michael Losure, Eric Warren

FROZEN 2

Erin V. Ramos, Scott Townsend, Thomas Wickes, Rattanin Sirinaruemarn

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: THE HIDDEN WORLD; Water and Waterfalls

Derek Cheung, Baptiste Van Opstal, Youxi Woo, Jason Mayer

TOY STORY 4

Alexis Angelidis, Amit Baadkar, Lyon Liew, Michael Lorenzen

 

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

GAME OF THRONES; The Bells

Marcel Kern, Paul Fuller, Ryo Sakaguchi, Thomas Hartmann

Hennessy: The Seven Worlds

Selcuk Ergen, Radu Ciubotariu, Andreu Lucio, Vincent Ullmann

LOST IN SPACE; Precipice; Water Planet

Juri Bryan, Hugo Medda, Kristian Olsson, John Perrigo

STRANGER THINGS 3; Melting Tom/Bruce

Nathan Arbuckle, Christian Gaumond, James Dong, Aleksandr Starkov

THE MANDALORIAN; The Child; Mudhorn

Xavier Martin Ramirez, Ian Baxter, Fabio Siino, Andrea Rosa

 

Outstanding Compositing in a Feature

ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL

Adam Bradley, Carlo Scaduto, Hirofumi Takeda, Ben Roberts

AVENGERS: ENDGAME

Tim Walker, Blake Winder, Tobias Wiesner, Joerg Bruemmer

CAPTAIN MARVEL; Young Nick Fury

Trent Claus, David Moreno Hernandez, Jeremiah Sweeney, Yuki Uehara

STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER

Jeff Sutherland, John Galloway, Sam Bassett, Charles Lai

THE IRISHMAN

Nelson Sepulveda, Vincent Papaix, Benjamin O'Brien, Christopher Doerhoff

 

Outstanding Compositing in an Episode

GAME OF THRONES; The Bells

Sean Heuston, Scott Joseph, James Elster, Corinne Teo

GAME OF THRONES; The Long Night; Dragon Ground Battle

Mark Richardson, Darren Christie, Nathan Abbott, Owen Longstaff

STRANGER THINGS 3; Starcourt Mall Battle

Simon Lehembre, Andrew Kowbell, Karim El-Masry, Miklos Mesterhazy

WATCHMEN; Pilot; Looking Glass

Nathaniel Larouche, Iyi Tubi, Perunika Yorgova, Mitchell Beaton

 

Outstanding Compositing in a Commercial

BMW Legend

Toya Drechsler, Vivek Tekale, Guillaume Weiss, Alexander Kulikov

Feeding America; I Am Hunger in America

Dan Giraldo, Marcelo Pasqualino, Alexander Koester

Hennessy; The Seven Worlds

Rod Norman, Guillaume Weiss, Alexander Kulikov, Alessandro Granella

PlayStation: Feel the Power of Pro

Gary Driver, Stefan Susemihl, Greg Spencer, Theajo Dharan

 

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

ALADDIN; Magic Carpet

Mark Holt, Jay Mallet, Will Wyatt, Dickon Mitchell

GAME OF THRONES; The Bells

Sam Conway, Terry Palmer, Laurence Harvey, Alastair Vardy

TERMINATOR: DARK FATE

Neil Corbould, David Brighton, Ray Ferguson, Keith Dawson

THE DARK CRYSTAL: THE AGE OF RESISTANCE; She Knows All the Secrets

Sean Mathiesen, Jon Savage, Toby Froud, Phil Harvey

 

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project

DOWNFALL

Matias Heker, Stephen Moroz, Bradley Cocksedge

LOVE AND FIFTY MEGATONS

Denis Krez, Josephine Roß, Paulo Scatena, Lukas Löffler,

OEIL POUR OEIL

Alan Guimont, Thomas Boileau, Malcom Hunt, Robin Courtoise

THE BEAUTY

Marc Angele, Aleksandra Todorovic, Pascal Schelbli, Noel Winzen

 

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.visualeffectssociety.com and follow us on Twitter: @VFXSociety. Read VFX Voice, our award-winning signature print and digital publication, at www.vfxvoice.com.