10th Annual VES NY Empire Awards Honorees Announced

Adding to the list of previously announced honorees, VES NY members nominated or awarded VES Awards for work completed in 2021-2024 will receive special recognition at the June 27 event; tickets now on sale.

The New York Section of the Visual Effects Society (VES) has announced additional award recipients who will be honored at its 10th Annual VES NY Empire Awards taking place on June 27, 2024, in Manhattan. In addition to honoring Vico Sharabani with the VES NY Empire Award and Dr. Russ Andersson with the VES NY Empire Technology Award, the organization will recognize the achievements of other VES NY members whose work from 2021 to 2024 was nominated or won VES Awards.

These members include: 

  • Aaron Raff (A Murder at The End of the World)
  • Alex Lemke (The Tragedy of Macbeth)
  • David Eschrich (Warrior)
  • David Piombino (Severence, Verizon)
  • Jake Braver (Nyad, The Stand, The Pale Blue Eye)
  • Jiri Kilevnik (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings)
  • Leah Garner Orsini (Warrior)
  • Leslie Lerman (Timmy Failure)
  • Michael Huber (The Tragedy of Macbeth)
  • Nicole Melius (Severence)
  • Parker Chehak (See)
  • Randy Balsmeyer (Da 5 Bloods)
  • Vadim Turchin (Severence)
  • Yebin Ahn (Zillow)

Sharabani, The-Artery founder and VFX supervisor, will receive the 2024 Empire Award in recognition of his groundbreaking contributions to the advertising and film industry over the past 26 years. His visual effects work spans dozens of films with directors such as Wes Anderson, Stephen Soderbergh, and Noah Baumbach. His portfolio includes high-profile commercials and experiential work for brands like Mercedes-Benz, Nike, and AT&T, along with iconic music videos for artists including Beyoncé, Coldplay, Nicki Minaj, Kanye West, and Bob Dylan. Considered a leading Autodesk Flame artist, Sharabani has mentored hundreds of emerging talents throughout his career in New York City.

Andersson is a computer scientist and expert in real-time computer vision and robotics. In 2003, he began developing SynthEyes, an innovative 3D camera tracking software application that has made its mark on Hollywood films and TV shows, including Black Panther, The Guardians of the Galaxy series, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Pan's Labyrinth, Lost, Stranger Things, and Game of Thrones. In 2023, Andersson and SynthEyes joined the VFX software company Boris FX.

Previous recipients of the VES Empire Award include award-winning title designer and visual effects supervisor Randy Balsmeyer; director Darren Aronofsky; visual effects supervisor and graphics research pioneer Lesley Robson-Foster.

Tickets and additional information are available here.

The 10th Annual VES NY Celebration is sponsored by Dell Technologies, SideFX, and ActionVFX.

Source: VES NY

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Debbie Diamond Sarto is news editor at Animation World Network.