James Cameron’s juggernaut Avatar: The Way of Water swept the awards in the feature competition at the 21st annual Visual Effects Society Awards on Wednesday night at the Beverly Hilton.

Its nine wins included one for the top category of outstanding VFX in a photoreal feature. The movie also collected trophies for animated character (for Kiri, played by Sigourney Weaver), practical effects (for the current machine and wave pool), compositing and lighting (water integration), effects simulations (water), model (the sea dragon), environments (the reef) and virtual cinematography. Additionally, its water toolset won the new VES award for emerging technology. The movie entered the evening with a record 14 noms (it earned multiple nominations in some of the categories that it won).

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio was a big winner in the feature animation field, winning a trio of prizes including one for outstanding VFX in an animated feature. Meanwhile The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power topped the episodic field with three trophies including one for outstanding VFX in a photoreal episode. Thirteen Lives won the award for supporting VFX in a photoreal feature.

Throughout the evening, a parade of VFX artists from the movie accepted awards for The Way of Water, leaving the biggest thanks for Cameron and producer Jon Landau.

Cameron took the stage to present the VES Lifetime Achievement to acclaimed filmmaker (and his former wife) Gale Anne Hurd, whose producing credits include the director’s The Terminator (for which she also shares a screenplay credit), Aliens and The Abyss. Calling Hurd “my friend, my mentor, and my very first producer,” Cameron said, “she empowers everyone within her force field to accomplish more than they ever thought they could. I’ve watched her rise to become one of the most powerful and influential female producers in an industry still unfortunately dominated by men.”

He added that since the early part of her career, she has “made films that feature strong female heroes, something almost unprecedented when she was starting out in the early ’80s.”

Receiving a standing ovation, Hurd spoke fondly of her time working with Cameron, and quipping that her job was keep him on budget “and believe it or not, I succeeded.” She also talked about her love of sci-fi and what VFX can do; called stop-motion pioneer Ray Harryhausen “my first VFX artist hero, crush”; and concluded by telling the VFX pros in the audience that “I’m in awe of the magic you create. … You are my heroes.”

Also at the ceremony, the Society’s current and former board chairs, including current chair Lisa Cooke, presented the VES Board of Directors Award to former executive director Eric Roth, who retired in 2022 after 19 years with the Society and received a warm standing ovation. Roth thanked the members saying, “you are part of an organization powered by volunteers doing the most extraordinary things in the most extraordinary ways.”

He then addressed the challenges of the business: VFX artists are still working long hours and not always with needed benefits. “This cannot be the model to get the most and the best out of such talented artists,” he asserted. “For those that don’t understand this. They are not faceless practitioners. They are your greatest asset.”

He asked, to applause, “Isn’t there some way we can tweak the business model?”

The show opened with a welcome from VES’ new exec director Nancy Ward; Patton Oswalt returned as host. The complete list of winners follows.

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE

Avatar: The Way of Water – Richard Baneham, Walter Garcia, Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, JD Schwalm (WINNER)

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore – Christian Mänz, Olly Young, Benjamin Loch, Stephane Naze, Alistair Williams

Jurassic World: Dominion – David Vickery, Ann Podlozny, Jance Rubinchik, Dan Snape, Paul Corbould

The Batman – Dan Lemmon, Bryan Searing, Russell Earl, Anders Langlands, Dominic Tuohy

Top Gun: Maverick – Ryan Tudhope, Paul Molles, Seth Hill, Bryan Litson, Scott Fisher

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE

Death on the Nile – George Murphy, Claudia Dehmel, Mathieu Raynault, Jonathan Bowen, David Watkins

I Wanna Dance With Somebody – Paul Norris, Tim Field, Don Libby, Andrew Simmonds

The Fabelmans – Pablo Helman, Jennifer Mizener, Cernogorods Aleksei, Jeff Kalmus, Mark Hawker

The Gray Man – Swen Gilberg, Viet Luu, Bryan Grill, Cliff Welsh, Michael Meinardus

The Pale Blue Eye – Jake Braver, Catherine Farrell, Tim Van Horn, Scott Pritchard, Jeremy Hays

Thirteen Lives – Jason Billington, Thomas Horton, Denis Baudin, Michael Harrison, Brian Cox (WINNER)

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio – Aaron Weintraub, Jeffrey Schaper, Cameron Carson, Emma Gorbey, Mad God, Chris Morley, Phil Tippett, Ken Rogerson, Tom Gibbons (WINNER)

Strange World – Steve Goldberg, Laurie Au, Mark Hammel, Mehrdad Isvandi

The Bad Guys– Pierre Perifel, Damon Ross, Matt Baer, JP Sans

The Sea Beast – Joshua Beveridge, Christian Hejnal, Stirling Duguid, Spencer Lueders

Turning Red – Domee Shi, Lindsey Collins, Danielle Feinberg, Dave Hale

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE

House of the Dragon “The Black Queen” – Angus Bickerton, Nikeah Forde, Sven Martin, Michael Bell, Michael Dawson

Prehistoric Planet “Ice Worlds” – Lindsay McFarlane, Fay Hancocks, Elliot Newman, Kirstin Hall

Stranger Things 4 “The Piggyback” – Jabbar Raisani, Terron Pratt, Niklas Jacobson, Justin Mitchell, Richard E. Perry

The Boys “Payback” – Stephan Fleet, Shalena Oxley-Butler, Tristan Zerafa, Anthony Paterson, Hudson Kenny

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power “Udûn” – Jason Smith, Ron Ames, Nigel Sumner, Tom Proctor, Dean Clarke (WINNER)

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE

Five Days at Memorial “Day Two” – Eric Durst, Danny McNair, Matt Whelan, Goran Pavles, John MacGillivray (WINNER)

See “I See You” – Chris Wright, Parker Chehak, Tristan Zerafa, Oscar Perea, Tony Kenny

Severance “Pilot” – Vadim Turchin, Nicole Melius, David Piombino, David Rouxel

The Old Man “Episode III” – Erik Henry, Matt Robken, Jamie Klein, Sylvain Théroux, J.D. Streett

Vikings: Valhalla “The Bridge” – Ben Mossman, Melanie Callaghan, Matt Schofield, Chris Cooper, Paul Byrne

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A REAL-TIME PROJECT

God of War: Ragnarok – Christopher Lloyd, Carrie Watts, James Adkins, Kevin Huynh

Gotham Knights – Jay Evans, Bryan Theberge, Mathieu Houle, Alexandre Bélanger

Supermassive Games “The Quarry” – Aruna Inversin, Paul Pianezza, Kevin Williams, Kimberly Cheifer

The Callisto Protocol – Glen Schofield, Steve Papoutsis, Chris Stone, Demetrius Leal

The Last of Us Part I – Erick Pangilinan, Evan Wells, Eben Cook, Mary Jane Whiting (WINNER)

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A COMMERCIAL

B&Q “Flip” – Patrick Krafft, Holly Treacy, Alex Snookes

Frito-Lay “Push It” – Tom Raynor, Sophie Harrison, Ben Cronin, Martino Madeddu (WINNER)

Ladbrokes “Rocky” – Greg Spencer, Alex Fitzgerald, Mickey O’Donoghue, Adame Boutrif

Minions: The Rise of Gru – Gerome Viavant, Gilles de Lusignan, Benjamin Le Ster

Virgin Media “Highland Rider” – Amir Bazzazi, George Reid, Sebastian Caldwell, Alex Kulikov

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A SPECIAL VENUE PROJECT

ABBA: Voyage – Ben Morris, Edward Randolph, Stephen Aplin, Ian Comley (WINNER)

Avengers: Quantum Encounter – Alan Woods, Bernice Howes, Scott Sohan, Jason Fox

Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind – Christopher Smith, Meghan Short, William George, Jon Alexander

Jumanji: The Adventure – Martin Cutbill, Liam Thompson, Baptiste Roy, Marco Parenzi

Star Wars: Galactic Star Cruiser – Rob Blue, Patrick Kearney, Khatsho Orfali, Gabe Sabourin, Daniel Joseph

Stranger Things: The Experience – Javier Roca, Antoine Sitruk, Cale Jacox, Julien Forest, Camille Michaud

OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE

Avatar: The Way of Water: Kiri – Anneka Fris, Rebecca Louise Leybourne, Guillaume Francois, Jung-Rock Hwang (WINNER)

Beast: Lion – Alvise Avati, Bora Şahin, Chris McGaw, Krzysztof Boyoko

Disney’s Pinocchio: Honest John – Christophe Paradis, Valentina Rosselli, Armita Khanlarpour, Kyoungmin Kim

Slumberland: Pig – Fernando Lopes Herrera, Victor Dinis, Martine Chartrand, Lucie Martinetto

OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio: Geppetto – Charles Greenfield, Peter Saunders, Shami Lang-Rinderspacher, Noel Estevez-Baker

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio: Pinocchio – Oliver Beale, Richard Pickersgill, Brian Leif Hansen, Kim Slate (WINNER)

Strange World: Splat – Leticia Gillett, Cameron Black, Dan Lipson, Louis Jones

Turning Red: Panda Mei – Christopher Bolwyn, Ethan Dean, Bill Sheffler, Kureha Yokoo

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

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law: She-Hulk – Elizabeth Bernard, Jan Philip Cramer, Edwina Ting, Andrew Park

Skull & Bones: Sam – Jonas Skoog, Jonas Törnqvist, Goran Milic, Jonas Vikström

The Callisto Protocol: Jacob Lee – Martin Contel, Glauco Longhi, Jorge Jimenez, Atsushi Seo

The Umbrella Academy: Pogo – AIdan Martin, Hannah Dockerty, Olivier Beierlein, Miae Kang (WINNER)

OUTSTANDING CREATED ENVIRONMENT IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE

Avatar: The Way of Water: Metkayina Village – Ryan Arcus, Lisa Hardisty, Paul Harris TaeHyoung David Kim

Avatar: The Way of Water: The Reef – Jessica Cowley, Joe W. Churchill, Justin Stockton, Alex Nowotny (WINNER)

Jurassic World Dominion: Biosyn Valley – Steve Ellis, Steve Hardy, Thomas Dohlen, John Seru

Slumberland: The Wondrous Cuban Hotel Dream – Daniël Dimitri Veder, Marc Austin, Pavan Rajesh Uppu, Casey Gorton

OUTSTANDING CREATED ENVIRONMENT IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio: In the Stomach of a Sea Monster – Warren Lawtey, Anjum Sakharkar, Javier Gonzalez Alonso, Quinn Carvalho (WINNER)

Lightyear: T’Kani Prime Forest – Lenora Acidera, Amy Allen, Alyssa Minko, Jose L. Ramos Serrano

Strange World: The Windy Jungle – Ki Jong Hong, Ryan Smith, Jesse Erickson, Benjamin Fiske

The Sea Beast: The Hunting Ship – Yohan Bang, Enoch Ihde, Denil George Chundangal, John Wallace

Wendell & Wild: The Scream Fair – Tom Proost, Nicholas Blake, Colin Babcock, Matthew Paul Albertus Cross

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

Andor “Reckoning”: Ferrix – Pedro Santos, Chris Ford, Jeff Carson-Bartzis, Alex Murtaza

The Book of Boba Fett “In the Name of Honor”: Mos Espa – Daniel Schmid Leal, Phi Tran, Hasan Ilhan, Steve Wang

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power “Adar”: Númenor City – Dan Wheaton, Nico Delbecq, Dan LeTarte, Julien Gauthier (WINNER)

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power “Adrift”: Khazud Dûm – James Ogle, Péter Bujdosó, Lon Krung, Shweta Bhatnagar

OUTSTANDING VIRTUAL CINEMATOGRAPHY IN A CG PROJECT

ABBA: Voyage – Pär M. Ekberg, John Galloway, Paolo Acri, Jose Burgos

Avatar: The Way of Water – Richard Baneham, Dan Cox, Eric Reynolds, A.J Briones (WINNER)

Prehistoric Planet – Daniel Fotheringham, Krzysztof Szczepanski, Wei-Chuan Hsu, Claire Hill

The Batman: Rain Soaked Car Chase – Dennis Yoo, Michael J. Hall, Jason Desjarlais, Ben Bigiel

OUTSTANDING MODEL IN A PHOTOREAL OR ANIMATED PROJECT

Avatar: The Way of Water: The Sea Dragon – Sam Sharplin, Stephan Skorepa, Ian Baker, Guillaume Francois (WINNER)

The Sea Beast – Maxx Okazaki, Susan Kornfeld, Edward Lee, Doug Smith

Top Gun: Maverick: F-14 Tomcat – Christian Peck, Klaudio Ladavac, Aram Jung, Peter Dominik

Wendell & Wild: Dream Faire – Peter Dahmen, Paul Harrod, Nicholas Blake

OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE

Avatar: The Way of Water: Fire and Destruction – Miguel Perez Senent, Xavier Martin Ramirez, David Kirchner, Ole Geir Eidsheim

Avatar: The Way of Water: Water Simulations – Johnathan M. Nixon, David Moraton, Nicolas Illingworth, David Caeiro Cebrian (WINNER)

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever: City Street Flooding – Matthew Hanger, Alexis Hall, Hang Yang, Mikel Zuloaga

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore – Jesse Parker Holmes, Grayden Solman, Toyokazu Hirai, Rob Richardson

OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE

Lightyear – Alexis Angelidis, Chris Chapman, Jung-Hyun Kim, Keith Klohn

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish – Derek Cheung, Michael Losure, Kiem Ching Ong, Jinguang Huang (WINNER)

Strange World – Deborah Carlson, Scott Townsend, Stuart Griese, Yasser Hamed

The Sea Beast – Spencer Lueders, Dmitriy Kolesnik, Brian D. Casper, Joe Eckroat

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

Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities: Graveyard Rats – Amit Khanna, Oleg Memukhin, Mario Marengo, Josh George

Stranger Things 4: Hawkins Destructive Fissures – Ahmad Ghourab, Gavin Templer, Rachel Ajorque, Eri Ohno

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: “Udûn” Volcano Destruction – Kurt Debens, Hamish Bell, Robert Kelly, Gabriel Roccisano

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: “Udûn” Water and Magma – Rick Hankins, Aron Bonar, Branko Grujcic, Laurent Kermel (WINNER)

OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A FEATURE

Avatar: The Way of Water: Landing Rockets Forest Destruction – Miguel Santana Da Silva, Hongfei Geng, Jonathan Moulin, Maria Corcho

Avatar: The Way of Water: Water Integration – Sam Cole, Francois Sugny, Florian Schroeder, Jean Matthews (WINNER)

The Batman: Rainy Freeway Chase – Beck Veitch, Stephen Tong, Eva Snyder, Rachel E. Herbert

Top Gun: Maverick – Saul Davide Galbiati, Jean-Frederic Veilleux, Felix B. Lafontaine, Cynthia Rodriguez del Castillo

OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN AN EPISODE

House of the Dragon: “The Black Queen” Dance of Dragons – Kevin Friederichs, Sean Raffel, Florian Franke, Andreas Steinlein

Love, Death and Robots: Night of the Mini Dead – Tim Emeis, José Maximiano, Renaud Tissandié, Nacere Guerouaf (WINNER)

The Book of Boba Fett: “From the Desert Comes a Stranger” – Luke Alike, Peter Demarest, Tami Carter, Brandon McNaughton, Sirak Ghebremusse

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power “Udûn” Tirharad Cavalry Charge – Sornalingam P, Ian Copeland, Nessa Mingfang Zhang, Yuvaraj S

OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A COMMERCIAL

Cartier “Tank” – Stephane Pivron, Mathias Barday, Valentin Lesueur, Eric Lemains

Ladbrokes “Rocky” – Greg Spencer, Theajo Dharan, Georgina Ford, Jonathan Westley (WINNER)

Samsung “Playtime is Over” – Damien Canameras, Guillaume Dadaglio, Sébastien Podsiadlo, Christophe Plouvier

Samsung “The Spider and the Window” – Marta Carbonell Amela, Stefan Susemihl, Lonni Wong, Jiyoung Lee

OUTSTANDING SPECIAL (PRACTICAL) EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL PROJECT

Avatar: The Way of Water: Current Machine and Wave Pool – JD Schwalm, Richie Schwalm, Nick Rand, Robert Spurlock (WINNER)

Black Adam: Robotic Flight – JD Schwalm, Nick Rand, Andrew Hyde, Andy Robot, Mad God, Phil Tippett, Chris Morley, Webster Colcord, Johnny McLeod

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power “Adrift” Middle Earth Storm – Dean Clarke, Oliver Gee, Eliot Naimie, Mark Robson

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

A Calling. From the Desert to the Sea – Mario Bertsch, Max Pollmann, Lukas Löffler, Till Sander-Titgemeyer (WINNER)

Boom – Romain Augier, Charles Di Cicco, Gabriel Augerai, Laurie Pereira De Figueiredo

Macula – Hady Abou Ghazale, Lothaire Rialhe, Marta Rodriguez-Noriega Nava, Jules Machicot

Maronii – Maxime Guitet, Dimitri Allonneau, Lucas Plata, Ngoc Mai Nguyen

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY AWARD

Avatar: The Way of Water: Depth Comp – Dejan Momcilovic, Tobias B. Schmidt, Benny Edlund, Joshua Hardgrave

Avatar: The Way of Water: Facial System – Byungkuk Choi, Stephen Cullingford, Stuart Adcock, Marco Revelant

Avatar: The Way of Water: Water Toolset – Alexey Dmitrievich Stomakhin, Steve Lesser, Sven Joel Wretborn, Douglas McHale (WINNER)

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio: 3D Printed Metal Armature – Richard Pickersgill, Glen Southern, Peter Saunders, Brian Leif Hansen

Turning Red: Profile Mover and CurveNets – Kurt Fleischer, Fernando de Goes, Bill Sheffler