‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ leads the night with seven wins; ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ tops animation categories

Tonight the Visual Effects Society (VES), the VFX industry’s professional global honorary society, held its 24th Annual VES Awards at The Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles, California.

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 tonight’s 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).

This year’s VES Awards hosts were comedy duo Randy and Jason Sklar (the Sklar Brothers), returning to this role for the second consecutive year. Acclaimed film producer Jerry Bruckheimer was honored with the VES Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by his longtime collaborator, F1: The Movie director Joseph Kosinski. Wētā Workshop co-founder and Chief Creative Officer Sir Richard Taylor received this year’s VES Visionary Award, presented by Adam Savage. Additional presenters included Enuka Okuma (Paradise), Haley Joel Osment (The Burbs, Happy Gilmore 2), Jazz Raycole (The Lincoln Lawyer), Lil Rel Howery (One of Them Days), Omar Benson Miller (Sinners), and singer/songwriter Raphael Saadiq (Sinners).

In his acceptance speech, Jerry Bruckheimer addressed the artists in the room, saying: “You create the magic. You create the things that people go to theaters for. You're the people that we dream about when we go to the movies, when we go into that dark space in the theater, and the work that you do is truly phenomenal.”

Sir Richard Taylor shared in his acceptance speech: “Thank you to the VES for this honor. 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 honored to recognize 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!”

Click through for the full list of winners for the 24th Annual VES Awards: https://vesglobal.org/press-releases/24th-annual-ves-awards-winners/

About the Visual Effects Society

The Visual Effects Society is a nonprofit global community of over 5,500 VFX professionals across 50+ countries, dedicated to advancing the arts, sciences, and applications of visual effects while upholding the highest standards for the profession. As the entertainment industry's only official organization representing the extended global VFX community—including supervisors, artists, producers, technology developers, educators, and studio executives—VES members contribute to all areas of entertainment: film, television, commercials, animation, games, and new media. To learn more, visit www.vesglobal.org and follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and X. Read our award-winning publication VFX Voice at www.vfxvoice.com.

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