‘Dune’ and ‘Encanto’ Lead Visual Effects Society Awards Nominations

Bill Desowitz
·10 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
IndieWire The Craft Top of the Line
IndieWire The Craft Top of the Line

Denis Villeneuve’s sweeping “Dune” and Disney’s Golden Globe-winning animated musical, “Encanto” each scored six nominations Tuesday to lead the 20th annual VES Awards nominations (awards ceremony details are in pandemic flux). Marvel’s trippy “Loki,” meanwhile, led the broadcast field with four nominations for the Disney+ series.

Competing for feature visual effects are the frontrunning “Dune,” “Godzilla vs. Kong,” “The Matrix Resurrections,” Daniel Craig’s Bond finale, “No Time to Die,” and Marvel’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” and “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” All have been shortlisted for the VFX Oscar, with “Dune” as the heavy favorite, in which DNEG supplied windblown sand, raging sandstorms, flying insect-like ornithopters, and the iconic CG sandworms.

More from IndieWire

Supporting visual effects nominees include “Candyman,” “Last Night in Soho,” “Nightmare Alley,” “The Last Duel,” and “The Tragedy of Macbeth.”

The animated feature visual effects race pits “Encanto” against Pixar’s “Luca,” Disney’s “Raya and the Last Dragon,” Universal/Illumination’s “Sing 2,” and Netflix/Sony’s “The Mitchells vs. The Machines.” The magical realism of the Colombian-based “Encanto” has the edge here with its six nominations.

“Dune” additionally collected nominations for environment (Arrakeen City), model (Royal Ornithopter), effects simulations (Dunes of Arrakis), compositing & lighting (Attack on Arrakeen and Hologram & Hunter Seeker).

“Encanto” additionally earned nominations for animated character (Mirabel Madrigal), environment (Antonio’s Room), CG cinematography (We Don’t Talk about Bruno), model (Casita Madrigal), effects simulations.

“Encanto” - Credit: Disney
“Encanto” - Credit: Disney

Disney

On the TV side, “Loki” (Journey Into Mystery) competes against Apple TV+’s “Foundation” (The Emperor’s Peace), Netflix’s “Lost in Space” (Trust), HBO’s “The Nevers” (Ignition), and CBS All Access’ “The Stand.”

Supporting TV visual effects nominees include Fox’s 9-1-1 Lone Star (Hold the Line), Apple TV+’s “See” (Rock-A-Bye), Netflix’s cultural phenomenon, “Squid Game” (VIPS), Netflix’s DC “Sweet Tooth” (Sorry About All the Dead People), Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” (Chicago), and Disney+’s “The Mysterious Benedict Society” (A Bunch of Smart Orphans).

Lifetime Achievement and Creative Excellence recipients will be announced at a later date.

The nominees for the 20th Annual VES Awards in 25 categories are as follow:

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
“Dune”
Paul Lambert
Brice Parker
Tristan Myles
Brian Connor
Gerd Nefzer

“Godzilla vs. Kong”
John “D.J.” Des Jardin
Tamara Kent
Bryan Hirota
Kevin Smith
Mike Meinardus

“The Matrix Resurrections”
Dan Glass
Nina Fallon
Tom Debenham
Huw J Evans
James Schwalm

“No Time To Die”
Charlie Noble
Mara Bryan
Joel Green
Jonathan Fawkner
Chris Courbold

“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”
Christopher Townsend
Damien Carr
Joe Farrell
Sean Walker
Dan Oliver

“Spider-Man: No Way Home”
Kelly Port
Julia Neighly
Chris Waegner
Scott Edelstein
Dan Sudick

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
“Candyman”
Andrew Zink
James McQuaide
Josh Simmonds
Drew Dir
Ryan Evans

“Last Night in Soho”
Tom Proctor
Gavin Gregory
Julian Gnass
Fabricio Baessa

“Nightmare Alley”
Dennis Berardi
Ryan MacDuff
Mark Hammond
David Roby
Geoff Hill

“The Last Duel”
Gary Brozenich
Helen Judd
Jessica Norman
Yann Blondel
Stefano Pepin

“The Tragedy of Macbeth”
Alex Lemke
Michael Huber
Michael Ralla
Benedikt Laubenthal

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
“Encanto”
Scott Kersavage
Bradford Simonsen
Thaddeus P. Miller
Ian Gooding

“Luca”
Enrico Casarosa
Andrea Warren
David Ryu
Jon Reisch

“Raya and the Last Dragon”
Kyle Odermatt
Osnat Shurer
Kelsey Hurley
Paul Felix

“Sing 2”
Patrick Delage
Nathalie Vancauwenberghe
Christophe Lourdelet
Boris Jacq

“The Mitchells vs. The Machines”
Alan Hawkins
Carey A. Smith
Mike Lasker
Nicola Lavender

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE
“Foundation: The Emperor’s Peace”
Chris MacLean
Addie Manis
Mike Enriquez
Chris Keller
Paul Byrne

“Loki: Journey Into Mystery”
Dan DeLeeuw
Allison Paul
Sandra Balej
David Seager

“Lost in Space: Trust”
Jabbar Raisani
Terron Pratt
Juri Stanossek
Niklas Jacobson
Paul Benjamin

“The Nevers: Ignition”
Johnny Han
Jack Geist
Justin Mitchell
Emanuel Fuchs
Michael Dawson

“The Stand”
Jake Braver
Phillip Hoffman
Laurent Hugueniot
Vincent Papaix

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE
“9-1-1 Lone Star: Hold the Line”
Brigitte Bourque
Tyler Deck
Jason Gottlieb
Josephine Noh
Elia Popov

“See: Rock-A-Bye”
Chris Wright
Parker Chehak
Javier Roca
Tristan Zerafa
Tony Kenny

“Squid Game: VIPS”
Jaihoon Jung
Hyejin Kim
Hyungrok Kim
Sungman Jun

“Sweet Tooth: Sorry About All the Dead People”
Rob Price
Danica Tsang
Matt Bramante
Jayme Vandusen

“The Handmaid’s Tale: Chicago”
Brendan Taylor
Stephen Lebed
Kayla Cabral
Brannek Gaudet

“The Mysterious Benedict Society: A Bunch of Smart Orphans”
Philippe Thibault
Marie-Pierre Boucher
Alexis Belanger
Gabriel Beauvais

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A REAL-TIME PROJECT
“Battlefield 2042”
Anders Egleus
Jeremy Chubb
Gray Horsfield
Sean Ellis

“Call of Duty: Vanguard”
Sandy Lin-Chiang
Joseph Knox
Gareth Richards
Shane Daley

“Forza Horizon 5”
Don Arceta
Valentyn Minytskyi
Conar Cross
George Ilenei

“Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart”
Grant Hollis
Yancy Young
Steven Russell
Sean Applegate

“Returnal: Playstation 5”
Harry Krueger
Tony Salkovuo
Risto Jankkila
Sharman Jagadeesan

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A COMMERCIAL
“Far Cry 6: Chicharrón Run”
Niklas Ström
Kajsa Kurtén
Nicklas Andersson
Adrian Tsang

“Lego: Rebuild the World”
Fabian Frank
Anandi Peiris
Kiril Mirkov
Platon Filimonov

“Lexus: Parking Spot”
Alex Thomas
Andrew McLintock
JD Yepes
Clement Renaudin

“Sheba: Hope Reef”
Grant Walker
Sophie Harrison
Hernan Llano
Michael Baker

“Zillow: The Journey”
Ben Kwok
Ashley Goodwin
Oliver Varteressian
Yebin Ahn
Tom Bussell

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A SPECIAL VENUE PROJECT
“Hôtel de la Marine”
Franck Lambertz
Hugues Allart
Olivier Jarry
Pierre Jury

“Jurassic World Adventure”
Eugénie von Tunzelmann
Maximilian McNair MacEwan
Stephen Goalby
Brad Silby

OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
“Finch: Jeff”
Harinarayan Rajeev
Matthias Schoenegger
Simon Allen
Paul Nelson

“Flora & Ulysses: Ulysses”
Pierre-Loïc Hamon
Sachin Tyagi
Nandini Nambiar
Loïc Mireault

“Jungle Cruise: Aguirre”
Alexander Lee
Claus Pedersen
Rasely Ma
Gary Wu

“Venom: Let There Be Carnage: Carnage”
Richard Spriggs
Ricardo Silva
Lucas Cuenca
Federico Frassinelli

OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
“Encanto: Mirabel Madrigal”
Kelly McClanahan
Sergi Caballer
Mary Twohig
Jose Luis “Weecho” Velasquez

“Luca: Luca”
Gwendelyn Enderoglu
Laurie Nguyen Kim
Tanja Krampfert
Maria Lee

“Raya and the Last Dragon: Tuk Tuk”
Brian Menz
Punn Wiantrakoon
Erik Hansen
Vicky YuTzu Lin

“The Mitchells vs. The Machines: Katie Mitchell”
Lindsey Olivares
Kurt Judson
Soh-I Jeong
Rohini Kumar

OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN AN EPISODE OR REAL-TIME PROJECT
“Lisey’s Story”; The Long Boy
Mohsen Mousavi
Salauddin “Sallu” Kazi
Mattias Brunosson
Pablovsky Ramos-Nieves

“Love, Death & Robots”: Snow in the Desert; Hirald
Maxime Luere
Zoé Pelegrin-Bomel
Laura Guerreiro
Florent Duport

“The Witcher”: Leshy Eskel; Tree Branch Creature
Hannes Faupel
Stéphane Paccolat
Ivan Cadena Ayala
Laurent Fortin

“The Witcher”: Nivellen the Cursed Man
Marko Chulev
Rasely Ma
Mike Beaulieu
Robin Witzsche

“Y: The Last Man”; Ampersand
Mike Beaulieu
Michael Dharney
Peter Pi
Aidana Sakhvaliyeva

OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN A COMMERCIAL
“Avanti West Coast”: Feel Good Travel; Terri
Tom Raynor
Chloe Dawe
Suvi Jokiniemi
Alex Doyle

“Far Cry 6”: Chicharrón
Elin Laven
Gustav Ahren
Anton Stattin
Simon Decombel

“France Télévision”: Sumo
Geoffroy Barbet-Massin
Vincent Venchiarutti
Antoine Antin
Mathias Lachal

“ING”: Do Your Thing; Roary the Lion
Chris Welsby
Clementine Supiot
Kiril Mirkov
Arnau Gilabert

“Smart Energy”: Einstein Knows Best; Einstein
Alex Hammond
Harsh Borah
Clare Williams
Andreas Graichen

OUTSTANDING CREATED ENVIRONMENT IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
“Dune”: Arrakeen City
Rhys Salcombe
Seungjin Woo
Jeremie Touzery
Marc Austin

“Jungle Cruise”: Waterfall Canyon
Mark McNicholl
Frédéric Valleur
Hamish Beachman
Mark Wainwright

“Spider-Man: No Way Home”: The Mirror Dimension
Eric Le Dieu de Ville
Thomas Dotheij
Ryan Olliffe
Claire Le Teuff

“The Suicide Squad”: Valle Del Marre
Nick Cattell
Jason Desjarlais
Matt Fitzgerald
Jerome Moo

OUTSTANDING CREATED ENVIRONMENT IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
“Encanto”: Antonio’s Room
Camille Andre
Andrew Finley
Chris Patrick O’Connell
Amol Sathe

“Luca”: Portorosso Piazza
Airton Dittz, Jr.
Jack Hattori
Michael Rutter
Joshua West

“Raya and the Last Dragon”: Talon
Mingjue Helen Chen
Chaiwon Kim
Virgilio John Aquino
Diana Jiang LeVangie

“Sing 2”: Crystal Theater
Ludovic Ramière
Théo Rivoalen
Henri Deruer
Frédéric Mainil

“Vivo”: Mambo Cabana
Bertrand Bry-Marfaing
Josef Dylan Swift
Geeta Basantani
Jeremy Kim

OUTSTANDING CREATED ENVIRONMENT IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, OR REAL-TIME PROJECT
“Foundation”: Trantor Cityscape
Samuel Simanjuntak
Melaina Mace
Benjamin Ruiz
Alessandro Vastalegna

“Hawkeye”: Echoes; Manhattan Bridge
Nicholas Hodgson
David Abbott
Nick Cattell
Jin Choi

“Hawkeye”: Season 1, Episode 6; Rockefeller Center
John O’Connell
Tiffany Yung
Orion Terry
Ho Kyung Ahn

“Sheba”: Hope Reef
Henrique Campanha
Baptiste Roy
Luca Veronese
Timothee Maron

OUTSTANDING VIRTUAL CINEMATOGRAPHY IN A CG PROJECT
“Encanto”: We Don’t Talk about Bruno
Nathan Detroit Warner
Dorian Bustamante
Tyler Kupferer
Michael Woodside

“Godzilla vs. Kong”: Ocean Battle
Shawn Hull
Robert Wiese
Steven Tom
Eric Petey

“Loki”: Lamentis; Race to the Ark
Jesse Lewis-Evans
Luke Avery
Autumn Durald Arkapaw
Scott Inkster

“Raya and the Last Dragon”
Rob Dressel
Adolph Lusinsky
Paul Felix

“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”
Sebastian Trujillo
Louis-Daniel Poulin
Nathan Abbot
Shannon Justison

OUTSTANDING MODEL IN A PHOTOREAL OR ANIMATED PROJECT
“Black Widow”: The Red Room
Tristan John Connors
Bo Kwon
James Stuart
Ryan Duhaime

“Dune”: Royal Ornithopter
Marc Austin
Anna Yamazoe
Michael Chang
Rachael Dunk

“Encanto”: Casita Madrigal
Jonathan Lin
Chris Patrick O’Connell
Christoffer Pedersen
Alberto Abril

“The Suicide Squad”: Jotunheim
Simon Dean Morley
Cedric Enriquez Canlas
Layne Howe
Alberto R. S. Hernandez

OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
“Dune”: Dunes of Arrakis
Gero Grimm
Ivan Larinin
Hideki Okano
Zuny An

“Godzilla vs. Kong”: Ocean Water & Battle Destruction
Jonathan Freisler
Nahuel Alberto Letizia
Eloi Andaluz Fullà
Saysana Rintharamy

“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”: Water, Bubbles & Magic
Simone Riginelli
Claude Schitter
Teck Chee Koi
Arthur Graff

“The Suicide Squad”: Corto Maltese City Destruction
David R. Davies
Rogier Fransen
Sandy Sutherland
Brandon James Fleet

OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
“Encanto”
Francisco Rodriguez
Christopher Hendryx
Brent Burley
David Hutchins

“Luca”
Amit Baadkar
Greg Gladstone
Emron Grover
Tim Speltz

“Raya and the Last Dragon”
Le Joyce Tong
Henrik Fält
Rattanin Sirinaruemarn
Jacob Rice

“Sing 2”
Richard Adenot
Guillaume Gay
Frédéric Valz-Gris
Antoine Brémont

OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, OR REAL-TIME PROJECT
“Foundation”: Collapse of the Galactic Empire
Giovanni Casadei
Mikel Zuloaga
Steven Moor
Louis Manjarres

“Loki”: Journey Into Mystery; Alioth Cloud
George Kuruvilla
Menno Dijkstra
Matthew Hanger
Jiyong Shin

“The Nevers”
David Stopford
Michele Stocco
Mike Hsu
Justin Mitchell

“WandaVision”: Vision’s Destruction
Sylvain Nouveau
Hakim Harrouche
Omar Meradi
Laurent Meste

OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A FEATURE
“Black Widow”: Red Room Crashing Back to Earth
Michael Melchiorre
Simon Twine
Daniel Harkness
Tim Crowson

“Dune”: Attack on Arrakeen
Gregory Haas
Francesco Dell’Anna
Abhishek Chaturvedi
Cleve Zhu

“Dune”: Hologram & Hunter Seeker
Patrick Heinen
Jacob Maymudes
Tj Burke
James Jooyoung Lee

“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”: Macau City
Jeremie Maheu
Mathieu Dupuis
Karthic Ramesh
Jiri Kilevnik

“Spider-Man: No Way Home”: Liberty Island Battle & Christmas Swing Finale
Zac Campbell
Frida Nerdal
Louis Corr
Kelvin Yee

OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN AN EPISODE
“Loki”: Lamentis; Shuroo City Destruction
Paul Chapman
Tom Truscott
Biagio Figliuzzi
Attila Szalma

“The Falcon and the Winter Soldier”: New World Order
Nathan Abbot
Beck Veitch
Markus Reithoffer
James Aldous

“WandaVision”: Goodbye, Vision
David Zaretti
Bimpe Alliu
Michael Duong
Mark Pascoe

“WandaVision”: The Hex
Charles Labbé
Xavier Fourmond
Reuben Barkataki
Vanessa Delarosbil

OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A COMMERCIAL
Toyota – “Never Stop”
Michael Ralla
Alejandro Villabon
Alexander Osvaldsson
Paul Krist

Toyota – “Upstream”
JD Yepes
Paul Krist
Carlos Adarraga Gomez
Minsang Lee

Verizon: “The Reset”
David Piombino
Rajesh Kaushik
Manideep Sanisetty
Tim Crean

Zillow: “The Journey”
Ben Kwok
Yebin Ahn
Robert Bruce
Tuna Unalan

OUTSTANDING SPECIAL (PRACTICAL) EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL PROJECT
“Eternals”
Neil Corbould
Keith Corbould
Ray Ferguson
Chris Motjuoadi

“Jungle Cruise”
JD Schwalm
Nick Rand
Robert Spurlock
Nick Byrd

“The Matrix Resurrections”
JD Schwalm
Brendon O’Dell
Michael Kay
Pau Costa Moeller

“The Tomorrow War”
JD Schwalm
Wayne Rowe
Jim Schwalm
Haukur Karlsson

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A STUDENT PROJECT
“Green”
Camille Poiriez
Arielle Cohen
Eloise Thibaut
Louis Florean

“Le Souffleur de Rêves”
Lea Desrozier
Paul Denis
Gregoire Hoarau
Lisa Ripper

“Neoshin” Episode 01: Cold Blood
Sebastian Selg
Ramon Schauer
Jiayan Chen
Bea Hoeller

“Relativity”
Hugo Astesano
Loïc Ciaux
Guillaume Hulot
Loïc Remy

Best of IndieWire

Sign up for Indiewire's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.