When the nominations for the 2022 Visual Effects Society awards were announced last month, no-one likely expected any movie other than Avatar: The Way of Water to lead the nominations. And that it did in style, besting its predecessor's record nomination haul by four. Now, it bests The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers' win haul by one, winning in all categories where it was eligible. It claims nine VES awards, while the animated categories are dominated by Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, which wins three. All the details below.
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature
Avatar: The Way of Water (Richard Baneham, Walter Garcia, Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon and J. D. Schwalm)
Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature
Thirteen Lives (Denis Baudin, Jason Billington, Brian Cox, Michael Harrison and Thomas Horton)
Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (Cameron Carson, Emma Gorbey, Jeffrey Schaper and Aaron Weintraub)
Outstanding Special (Practical) Effects in a Photoreal Project
Avatar: The Way of Water (Nick Rand, J. D. Schwalm, Richie Schwalm and Robert Spurlock) - Current machine and wave pool
Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a CG Project
Avatar: The Way of Water (Richard Baneham, A. J. Briones, Dan Cox and Eric Reynolds)
Outstanding Composition and Lighting in a Feature
Avatar: The Way of Water (Sam Cole, Jean Matthews, Florian Schroeder and Francois Sugny) Water integration
Outstanding Model in a Photoreal or Animated Project
Avatar: The Way of Water (Ian Baker, Guillaume Francois, Sam Sharplin and Stephan Skorepa) - The sea dragon
Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature
Avatar: The Way of Water (Ryan Arcus, Lisa Hardisty, Paul Harris and David Kim Tae Hyoung) - Metkayina village
Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (Quinn Carvalho, Javier Gonzalez Alonso, Warren Lawtey and Anjum Sakharkar) - In the stomach of a sea monster
Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature
Avatar: The Way of Water (David Caeiro Cebrian, Nicolas Illingworth, David Moraton and Johnathan M. Nixon) - Water simulations
Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (Derek Cheung, Huang Jin Guang, Michael Losure and Ong Kiem Ching)
Outstanding Animated Character in a Photoreal Feature
Avatar: The Way of Water (Guillaume Francois, Anneka Fris, Hwang Jung Rock and Rebecca Louise Leybourne) - Kiri
Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (Oliver Beale, Brian Leif Hansen, Richard Pickersgill and Kim Slate) - Pinocchio
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project
A Calling. From the Desert to the Sea (Mario Bertsch, Lukas Loffler, Max Pollmann and Till Sander-Titgemeyer)
Emerging Technology Award
Avatar: The Way of Water (Alexey Dmitrievich Stomakhin, Steve Lesser, Douglas McHale and Sven Joel Wretborn) - Water toolset
Certificate of Merit Award
John Omohundro
Ub Iwerks Award
Visual Effects Reference Platform
Winsor McCay Award
Pete Docter
Evelyn Lambart
Craig McCracken