Annie Awards Moves Online, VES Awards Nominees, Japan Academy Prizes

We're now deep in the Entertainment Industry's Awards Season. We've already had the non-event that was the non-Televised Golden Globes (who named Encanto Best Animated Feature) but the weeks and months ahead are set to be full of nomination announcements and awards ceremonies big and small. The biggest event for animation is The 49th Annie Awards, which revealed its nominees a few weeks ago.

ASIFA-Hollywood has announced that due to the surge in the Omicron COVID variant the 2022 ceremony would be shifting to a virtual format. The 2021 event took place online, but as the situation appeared to be improving this year was set to return to an in-person event. The ceremony will be live-streamed, so anyone around the world will be able to tune in to find out who the winners are.

The organisers have also delayed the ceremony by an additional two weeks, moving from February 26 to March 12 at 7:00 PM PT,  so that the production crew can have longer to prepare for the big night.

This week also saw the nomination for the Visual Effects Society's 20th VES Awards, which recognise the best in visual effects in live-action, animation and other media. Disney's Encanto is the most nominated animated film with six nominations, Denis Villeneuve's Dune leads the live-action field, also with six nods. Marvel's Disney Plus series Loki is the most nominated TV series and is not far behind with four nominations. VES has yet to confirm the exact date and nature of the event due to the current situation.

Here are the full list of nominees.

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 Corbould

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
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 Dawson

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

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, The Japan Academy Prize, Japan's answer to the Oscars or BAFTAs have announced their nominees. Japan's Academy does things a little differently, however. All the nominees are awarded "a prize for excellence", with the winner named the Top Prize. People often say that just to be nominated for an award is a prize in itself, in this case, it's literally true.

Nominated for animation of the year for 2022 are Belle, Fortune Favours Lady Nikuko, Evangelion 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon a Time, Sing A Bit Of Harmony, and Jujutsu Kaisen 0. It should be noted that Mamoru Hosoda has won the top prize five times before, including for The Girl Who Leapt Through Time in 2007, which was the first time the category was awarded. It seems highly likely he will make it six for six this year. The ceremony will (hopefully) take place on March 11 in Tokyo.