22nd Visual Effects Society (VES) Awards: ‘The Creator,’ ‘The Last of Us’ Top Winners, ‘Nyad’ Topples 20-Year Stat

The Creator led the winners list of the 22nd Visual Effects Society (VES) awards tonight with five wins. It entered the night with seven nominations, including two in the compositing and lighting category for feature film. It won the top award, Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature as the only Oscar nominee in the category, besting Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and Oppenheimer.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse won four of its seven nominations including Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature. In the category of Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature Nyad beat out Oscar nominee Napoleon in the night’s biggest upset. The last time a non-Oscar nominee for visual effects beat out an Oscar-nominated film in this category was 20 years ago, when The Last Samurai bested Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. Godzilla Minus One earned one nomination, Outstanding Animated Character in a Photoreal Feature, for the titular creature himself, but lost to Rocket from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

The Oscar nominees this year are: The Creator, Godzilla Minus One, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One and Napoleon.

The Last of Us led television wins with four from its six nods with Pedro Pascal’s other show, The Mandalorian picking up a win as well as the now-canceled Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty.

The Lifetime Achievement Award went to Joyce Cox and the Creative Excellence Award was given to William Shatner.

The 22nd Annual VES Awards were held at The Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles and hosted by Jay Pharoah. Here is the complete list of winners.

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE 

“Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” 
Ben Snow 
Diana Giorgiutti 
Khalid Almeerani 
Scott Benza 
Sam Conway 

“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” 
Stephane Ceretti 
Susan Pickett 
Alexis Wajsbrot 
Guy Williams 
Dan Sudick 

“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” 
Andrew Whitehurst 
Kathy Siegel
Robert Weaver 
Julian Hutchens 
Alistair Williams 

“Oppenheimer” 
Andrew Jackson 
Mike Chambers, VES 
Giacomo Mineo 
Dave Drzewiecki 
Scot Fisher 

“The Creator” – WINNER
Jay Cooper
Julian Levi
Ian Comley 
Charmaine Chan 
Neil Corbould, VES 

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE 

“John Wick: Chapter 4” 
Janelle Croshaw Ralla 
Reina Sparks 
Jonathan Rothbart 
Javier Roca 
Gerd Nefzer 

“Killers of the Flower Moon” 
Pablo Helman
Brian Barlettani
Sam Bassett
Brandon Keys McLaughlin 

“Napoleon”
Charley Henley
Sarah Tulloch
Luc-Ewen Martin-Fenouillet 
Simone Coco
Neil Corbould, VES 

“Nyad” – WINNER
Jake Braver
Fiona Campbell Westgate 
R. Christopher White 
Mohsen Mousavi 

“Society of the Snow” 
Félix Bergés 
Micaela Gagliano 
Laura Pedro 
Ezequiel Larrú 
Pau Costa 

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE 

“Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget” 
Jon Biggins
Jim Lewis 
Charles Copping 
Matthew Perry 

“Elemental” 
Peter Sohn 
Denise Ream 
Sanjay Bakshi 
Stephen Marshall 

“Nimona” 
Archie Donato 
Yancy Lindquist 
Theodore Ty 
Anthony Kemp 

“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” – WINNER
Alan Hawkins 
Christian Hejnal 
Michael Lasker 
Matt Hausman 

“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” 
Matthieu Rouxel 
Marie Balland 
Jacques Daigle 
Vincent Leroy 

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE 

“Ahsoka”; Season 1; Dreams and Madness 
Richard Bluff 
Jakris Smittant 
Paul Kavanagh 
Enrico Damm 
Scott Fisher 

“Loki”; Season 2; Glorious Purpose 
Christopher Townsend 
Allison Paul 
Matthew Twyford 
Christopher Smallfield 
John William Van Der Pool 

“Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” 
Sean Konrad 
Jessica Smith
Jed Glassford 
Khalid Almeerani 
Paul Benjamin 

“The Last of Us”; Season 1; Infected – WINNER
Alex Wang 
Sean Nowlan 
Stephen James 
Simon Jung 
Joel Whist 

“The Mandalorian”; Season 3; The Return 
Grady Cofer 
Abbigail Keller 
Victor Schutz IV 
Cameron Neilson Scott Fisher 

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE 

“A Murder at The End of the World”; Season 1; Crypt 
Aaron Raff
Tavis Larkham 
Douglas Stichbury 
Mat Ellin 

“Citadel”; Season 1; Secrets in Night Need Early Rains 
Wesley Froud 
Scott Shapiro 
Aladino Debert 
Greg Teegarden 

“Ted Lasso”; Season 3; Mom City 
Gretchen Bangs 
Bill Parker 
Lenny Wilson 

“The Crown”; Season 6; Dis-Moi Oui 
Ben Turner 
Reece Ewing 
Oliver Bersey 
Joe Cork 

“Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty”; Season 2; Beat LA – WINNER
Raymond McIntyre Jr. 
Victor DiMichina
Javier Menéndez Platas 
Damien Stantina 

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A REAL-TIME PROJECT 

Alan Wake 2 – WINNER
Janne Pulkkinen 
Johannes Richter 
Daniel Kończyk 
Damian Olechowski 

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty 
Jakub Knapik
 Paweł Mielniczuk 
Maciej Włodarkiewicz 
Kacper Niepokólczycki 

Immortals of Aveum 
Joseph Hall 
Kevin Boyle 
Dave Bogan 
Julia Lichtblau 

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 
Jacinda Chew 
Jeannette Lee 
Bryanna Lindsey 
Alan Weider 

Mortal Kombat 1 
Christopher Chapman 
Scott Quinn
James DeSousa
Jeff Palmer 
Matt Gilmore 

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A COMMERCIAL 

Accenture; Changing Tree 
Simon French 
Vic Lovejoy 
David Filipe 
Matteo La Motta 

Apple; Air Pods Pro; Quiet The Noise 
Iain Murray
Oscar Wendt
Dean Robinson 
Sergio Morales Paz 

Coca-Cola; Masterpiece – WINNER
Ryan Knowles 
Antonia Vlasto 
Gregory McKneally 
Dan Yargici 

Jean Paul Gaultier; Divine Perfume 
Stéphane Pivron 
Cécile Hubin 
Guillaume Dadaglio 
Mathias Barday 

Virgin Media; Goat Glider 
Ben Cronin 
George Reid 
Sam Driscoll 
Christian Baker 

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A SPECIAL VENUE PROJECT (tie)

Hypersphere 360; SeaWorld Abu Dhabi 
Daren Ulmer 
Cedar Connor 
Lindsey Sprague 
Ryan Kravetz 

Postcard From Earth – WINNER
Aruna Inversin 
Eric Wilson 
Corey Turner 
Bill George 

Rembrandt Immersive Artwork – WINNER
Andrew McNamara 
Sebastian Read 
Andrew Kinnear 
Sam Matthews 

“The Marvels:” Goose the Flerken Cat 
Tim Kafka
Mari Suarez
Toya Drechsler 
Sebastian Niño Florez 

“Zootopia: Hot Pursuit” 
Blaine Kennison 
Jeanne Angel 
Darin Hollings 
Aaron Arendt 

OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE 

“Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom”; Topo the Octopus 
Thomas Ward
Andrew Butler
Felix Slinger-Thompson 
Jacob Burstein 

“Godzilla Minus One”; Godzilla 
Kosuke Taguchi 
Takashi Yamazaki 

“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3”; Rocket – WINNER
Nathan McConnel 
Andrea De Martis 
Antony Magdalinidis 
Rachel Williams 

“Wonka”; Oompa Loompa 
Dale Newton 
Kunal Ayer 
Valentina Ercolani 
Gabor Foner 

OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE 

“Elemental”; Ember 
Gwendelyn Enderoglu 
Jared Fong
Jonathan Hoffman 
Patrick Witting 

“Elemental”; Wade 
Max Gilbert 
Jacob Kuenzel 
Dave Strick 
Benjamin Su 

“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”; Spot – WINNER
Christopher Mangnall 
Craig Feifarek 
Humberto Rosa 
Nideep Varghese 

“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem”; Superfly 
Gregory Coelho 
Anne-Claire Leroux 
Simon Cuisinier 
Olivier Pierre 

OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, GAME CINEMATIC OR REAL-TIME PROJECT 

Diablo IV; Inarius and Lilith Cinematic; Lilith
Matt Onheiber 
Jason Huang 
Maia Neubig 

“Shadow and Bone”; Season 2; No Funerals; Nichevo’ya the Shadow Monster 
José María del Fresno 
Matthieu Poirey 
Carlos Puigdollers 
Guillermo Ramos 

“The Last of Us”; Endure & Survive; Bloater – WINNER
Gino Acevedo 
Max Telfer 
Pascal Raimbault 
Fabio Leporelli 

“The Nevers”; It’s a Good Day; Robot Dog 
Christian Leitner 
Bernd Nalbach 
Sebastian Plank 
Martin Wellstein 

Virgin Media; Goat Glider; The Goat 
Sam Driscoll 
Kanishk Chouhan 
Suvi Jokiniemi 
Chloe Dawe 

OUTSTANDING CREATED ENVIRONMENT IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE 

“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3”; Knowhere 
Omar Alejandro Lavrador Ibanez 
Fabien Julvecourt
Klaudio Ladavac
Benjamin Patterson 

“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny”; Underwater Wreck Environment 
Johan Gabrielsson 
Adrian Tsang 
Stefan Andersson 
Martin Eneroth 

“John Wick: Chapter 4”; Place de L’Étoile 
Manuel Gaudreau 
Fabrice Vienne 
Vignesh Ravi 
Laurent Makowski 

“The Creator”; Floating Village – WINNER
John Seru
Guy Williams 
Vincent Techer 
Timothée Maron 

OUTSTANDING CREATED ENVIRONMENT IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE 

“Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget”; Chicken Island 
Charles Copping 
Matthew Perry 
Jim Lewis 
Jon Biggins 

“Elemental”; Element City 
Chris Bernardi 
Brandon Montell 
David Shavers 
Ting Zhang 

“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”; Mumbattan City – WINNER
Taehyun Park 
YJ Lee
Pepe Orozco 
Kelly Han 

“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem”; Midtown Manhattan 
Olivier Mitonneau 
Eddy Frechou 
Guillaume Chevet 
Arnaud Philippe-Giraux 

OUTSTANDING CREATED ENVIRONMENT IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, GAME CINEMATIC OR REAL-TIME PROJECT 

“Loki”; Season 2: 1983; World’s Fair White City 
Christian Waite 
Ben Aickin 
Francesco Ferraresi 
Pieter Warmington 

“Star Trek: Strange New Worlds”; The Broken Circle 
Nathaniel Larouche 
Owen Deveney 
Mujia Liao
Alex Morin 

“The Last Of Us”; Look for the Light; Salt Lake City 
Pascal Raimbault
Nick Cattell
Jasper Hayward 
Kristine-Joeann Jasper 

“The Last of Us:” Post-Outbreak Boston – WINNER
Melaina Mace
Adrien Lambert
Juan Carlos Barquet 
Christopher Anciaume 

OUTSTANDING VIRTUAL CINEMATOGRAPHY IN A CG PROJECT 

“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” – WINNER
Joanna Davison 
Cheyana Wilkinson 
Michael Cozens 
Jason Desjarlais 

“Migration” 
Guylo Homsy 
Damien Bapst 
Antoine Collet 
David Dangin 

“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” 
Rich Turner
Randolph Lizarda 
Daniela Campos Little 
Thomas Campos 

“The Creator” 

Roel Coucke 
Christopher Potter 
Amanda Johnstone-Batt 
Jeremy Bloch 

OUTSTANDING MODEL IN A PHOTOREAL OR ANIMATED PROJECT 

“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3”; The Arête 
Kenneth Johansson 
Jason Galeon
Tim Civil
Artur Vil 

“Peter Pan & Wendy”; Jolly Roger 
Patrick Comtois 
Thomas Gallardo 
Harrison Stark 
David Thibodeau 

“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”; Spider HQ 
Dongick David Sheen 
Mark JeongWoong Lee 
Mikaela Bantog
René Völker 

“The Creator”; Nomad – WINNER
Oliver Kane
Mat Monro 
Florence Green 
Serban Ungureanu 

OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE 

“Napoleon” 
Koen Hofmeester 
Gianmichele Mariani 
Clair Bellens
Hernan Llano Duque 

“Nyad”; Stormy Waters 
Korbinian Meier 
Sindy Saalfeld 
David Michielsen 
Andreas Vrhovsek 

“The Creator” – WINNER
Ludovic Ramisandraina 
Raul Essig
Mathieu Chardonnet 
Lewis Taylor 

“The Nun 2” 
Laurent Creusot 
Sebastien Podsiadlo 
Michael Moercant 
Benjamin Saurine 

OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE 

“Elemental” 
Kristopher Campbell 
Greg Gladstone
Jon Reisch
Kylie Wijsmuller 

“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” – WINNER
Pav Grochola 
Filippo Maccari 
Naoki Kato 
Nicola Finizio 

“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” 
Louis Marsaud 
Paul-Etienne Bourde 
Serge Martin 
Marine Pommereul 

“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” 
Simon Pate 
Christophe Vazquez 
Milo Riccarand 

OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, GAME CINEMATIC OR REAL-TIME PROJECT 

“Citadel”; Secrets in Night Need Early Rains; Ocean Water 
James Reid 
Mathew Rotman 
Filipp Elizarov 
Nardeep Chander 

“Invasion”; Season 2; A Voice from the Other Side 
Zybrand Jacobs
Alex Marlow
Tim Jenkinson
Tobias Grønbeck Andersen 

“Loki”; Season 2; Science/Fiction; Spaghettification 
Rafael Camacho 
Jonathan Lyddon-Towl 
Julien Legay
Benedikt Roettger 

“The Mandalorian”; Season 3; Lake Monster Attack Water – WINNER
Travis Harkleroad 
Florian Wietzel 
Rick Hankins 
Aron Bonar 

“Willow”; Children of the Wyrm; Crone Duststorm and Magical Effects 
Michael Cashmore 
Robert Zeltsch 
Jiyong Shin
Audun Ase 

OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A FEATURE 

“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3”
Indah Maretha 
Beck Veitch 
Nathan Abbot 
Steve McGillen 

“John Wick: Chapter 4”; Apartment Massacre Videogame Style 
Javier Roca 
Julien Forest 
Thomas Bourdis 
Dominik Kirouac 

“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” 
Bret St.Clair
Kieron Cheuk-Chi Lo 
Kelly Christophers 
Rowan Young 

“The Creator”; Bar – WINNER
Phil Prates 
Min Kim 

Nisarg Suthar 
Toshiko Miura 

“The Creator”; Spaceships 
Ben O-Brien
Juan Espigares Enriquez 
Wesley Roberts
Hayes Brien 

OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN AN EPISODE 

“The Last of Us”; Endure and Survive; Infected Horde Battle – WINNER
Matthew Lumb 
Ben Roberts 
Ben Campbell 
Quentin Hema 

“The Last of Us”; Infected; Boston 
Casey Gorton 
Francesco Dell’Anna 
Vaclav Kubant 
Natalia Valbuena 

“The Mandalorian”; Season 3; The Return 
Sam Wirch 
Tory Mercer 
Donny Rausch 
Erich Ippen 

“Willow”; Children of the Wyrm 
Jeremy Sawyer 
Steve Hardy 
Martin Tardif 
Miguel Macaya Ten 

OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A COMMERCIAL 

Accenture; Changing Tree 
David Filipe 
Matteo La Motta 
Jordan Dunstall 
Taran Spear 

Coca-Cola; Masterpiece – WINNER
Ryan Knowles 
Greg Mckneally 
Taran Spear 
Jordan Dunstall 

Smirnoff; Cocktail 
Vittorio Barabani 
Peter Hodsman 
Giacomo Verri 
Marc Greyvenstein 

Starfield 
Jimmy Bullard 
Ajit Menon 
Ruairi Twohig 
Karim Moussa 

OUTSTANDING SPECIAL (PRACTICAL) EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL PROJECT 

“I’m a Virgo”
John McLeod 
Scott Kirvan 
Alec Gillis 
Carl Miller 

“Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” 
Neil Corbould, VES 
Ray Ferguson 
Keith Dawson 
Chris Motjuoadi 

“Oppenheimer” – WINNER
Scott Fisher 
James Rollins 
Mario Vanillo 

“Society of the Snow” 
Pau Costa
Carlos Laguna 
Guillermo F. Aldunate 
Eloy Cervera 

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY AWARD 

“Blue Beetle”; Machine Learning Cloth 
JohnMark Gibbons 
Allen Ruilova 
Momme Carl 
David Minor 

“Elemental”; Volumetric Neural Style Transfer 
Vinicius C. Azevedo 
Byungsoo Kim 
Raphael Ortiz
|Paul Kanyuk 

“The Flash;” Volumetric Capture – WINNER
Stephan Trojansky 
Thomas Ganshorn 
Oliver Pilarski 
Lukas Lepicovsky 

“Wish”; Dynamic Screen Space Textures for Coherent Stylization 
Brent Burley 
Daniel Teece 
Brian J. Green 

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A STUDENT PROJECT (AWARD SPONSORED BY AUTODESK) 

Au 8ème Jour 
Flavie Carin 
Agathe Sénéchal 
Alicia Massez 
Elise Debruyne 

L’Animal Sauce Ail 
Aurélien Duchez 
Ysaline Debut 
Diane Mazella 
Camille Rostan 

Loup y es-tu? 
Célina Lebon 
Louise Laurent 
Emma Fessart 
Annouck François 

Silhouette – WINNER
Alexis Lafuente 
Antoni Nicolaï 
Chloé Stricher 
Elliot Dreuille