'The Midnight Sky,' 'Soul' Win Top Awards From Visual Effects Society

“The Mandalorian” wins three awards in the television categories, while “Lovecraft Country” wins two

AWARDS BEAT

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“The Midnight Sky” and “Soul” were the big film winners at the 19th annual VES Awards, which were presented on Tuesday night by the Visual Effects Society.

George Clooney’s cautionary sci-fi drama “The Midnight Sky” won two awards, including Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature, the VES category that most closely corresponds to the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. Winners in the category have gone on to win the Oscar 10 times in the past 18 years, but the last film to do so was “The Jungle Book” in 2017.

The Pixar film “Soul,” which was shortlisted but not nominated for the VFX Oscar, won five awards, the most of any film or television program. In addition to Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature, it won for its animated character, created environment, effects simulation and virtual cinematography.

“Project Power” also won two awards, while additional film prizes went to “Mank,” “The One and Only Ivan” and “Mulan.”

In the television categories, “The Mandalorian” won three awards, while “Lovecraft Country” won two.

Also during the show, Sacha Baron Cohen presented the VES Award for Creative Excellence to visual-effects supervisor and cinematographer Robert Legato, while Cate Blanchett presented the Lifetime Achievement Award to director Peter Jackson after a tribute whose participants included Naomi Watts and “Lord of the Rings” stars Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis, who also appeared as the “LOTR” character Gollum in doctored clips alongside director James Cameron and producer Jon Landau.

The awards were presented in a virtual ceremony hosted by a typically acerbic Patton Oswalt, whose first line was, “How bored do you have to be to watch the VES Awards at home on your computer?” The show gave each presenter a different exotic backdrop, and greeted each nominee with yet another snippet from a seemingly inexhaustible collection of classic-rock songs.

The winners:

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature
“The Midnight Sky”
Matt Kasmir, Greg Baxter, Chris Lawrence, Max Solomon, David Watkins

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature
“Mank”
Wei Zheng, Peter Mavromates, Simon Carr, James Pastorius

Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature
“Soul”
Pete Docter, Dana Murray, Michael Fong, Bill Watral

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode
“The Mandalorian”: “The Marshal”
Joe Bauer, Abbigail Keller, Hal Hickel, Richard Bluff, Roy Cancino

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode
“The Crown”: “Gold Stick”
Ben Turner, Reece Ewing, Andrew Scrase, Jonathan Wood

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Real-Time Project
“Ghost of Tsushima”
Jason Connell, Matt Vainio, Jasmin Patry, Joanna Wang

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial
Walmart; Famous Visitors
Chris “Badger” Knight, Lori Talley, Yarin Manes, Matt Fuller

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project
“The Bourne Stuntacular”
Salvador Zalvidea, Tracey Gibbons, George Allan, Matthías Bjarnason, Scott Smith

Outstanding Animated Character in a Photoreal Feature
“The One and Only Ivan”: Ivan
Valentina Rosselli, Thomas Huizer, Andrea De Martis, William Bell

Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature
“Soul”: Terry
Jonathan Hoffman, Jonathan Page, Peter Tieryas, Ron Zorman

Outstanding Animated Character in an Episode or Real-Time Project
“The Mandalorian”: “The Jedi”: The Child
John Rosengrant, Peter Clarke, Scott Patton, Hal Hickel

Outstanding Animated Character in a Commercial
Arm & Hammer; Once Upon a Time; Tuxedo Tom
Shiny Rajan, Silvia Bartoli, Matías Heker, Tiago Dias Mota

Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature
“Mulan”: Imperial City
Jeremy Fort, Matt Fitzgerald, Ben Walker, Adrian Vercoe

Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature
“Soul”; You Seminar
Hosuk Chang, Sungyeon Joh, Peter Roe, Frank Tai

Outstanding Created Environment in an Episode, Commercial, or Real-Time Project
“The Mandalorian”: “The Believer”: Morak Jungle
Enrico Damm, Johanes Kurnia, Phi Tran, Tong Tran

Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a CG Project
“Soul”
Matt Aspbury, Ian Megibben

Outstanding Model in a Photoreal or Animated Project
“The Midnight Sky”: Aether
Michael Balthazart, Jonathan Opgenhaffen, John-Peter Li, Simon Aluze

Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature
“Project Power”
Yin Lai Jimmy Leung, Jonathan Edward Lyddon-Towl, Pierpaolo Navarini, Michelle Lee

Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature
“Soul”
Alexis Angelidis, Keith Daniel Klohn, Aimei Kutt, Melissa Tseng

Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Episode, Commercial, or Real-Time Project
“Lovecraft Country”; “Strange Case; Chrysalis”
Federica Foresti, Johan Gabrielsson, Hugo Medda, Andreas Krieg

Outstanding Compositing in a Feature
“Project Power”
Russell Horth, Matthew Patience, Julien Rousseau

Outstanding Compositing in an Episode
“Lovecraft Country”: “Strange Case; Chrysalis”
Viktor Andersson, Linus Lindblom, Mattias Sandelius, Crawford Reilly

Outstanding Compositing in a Commercial
Burberry: Festive
Alex Lovejoy, Mithun Alex, David Filipe, Amresh Kumar

Outstanding Special (Practical) Effects in a Photoreal or Animated Project
“Fear the Walking Dead: Bury Her Next to Jasper’s Leg”
Frank Iudica, Scott Roark, Daniel J. Yates

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project
“Migrants”
Antoine Dupriez, Hugo Caby, Lucas Lermytte, Zoé Devise

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