Under the new leadership of exec director Eric Roth, The Visual Effects Society (VES) is looking to the film industry to beef up its star power in announcing the Honorary Committee for the 2005 VES Awards being held Feb. 16 at the Hollywood Palladium. Chaired by George Lucas, the committee includes Peter Jackson, John Lasseter, James Cameron, John Dykstra, Richard Edlund, Peter Ellenshaw, Roland Emmerich, Ken Ralston, Richard Taylor, Stan Winston, Dennis Muren, Ed Zwick, Doug Trumbull, John Swallow, Paula Wagner, Danny DeVito, Samuel Jackson and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The sheer caliber of this Honorary Committee shows that the VES Awards, as an event, has truly come of age, Roth said. From George Lucas to Edward Zwick, the VES celebrates the best of the best in visual effects.
Jeffrey Okun, VES Awards director, added, The Society is very grateful that this extremely talented group of busy industry professionals have agreed to take the time to serve on the VES Awards Honorary Committee. They bring with them not only a standard of excellence and integrity, but a recognition of the important role visual effects plays in telling stories.
The VES is currently accepting submissions in 23 categories for its third awards season. This years awards slate features new categories, an optional day of live in-person presentations (the VES Bake-Off) and an online view and vote system. Submissions are welcome from visual artists worldwide, whether or not they are Visual Effects Society members.
The late computer graphics guru Robert Abel (TRON) will receive the new Georges Melies Award and CINEFEX publisher/editor Don Shay will be honored with the Board of Directors Award.
The Visual Effects Society, founded in 1997, is comprised of distinguished visual effects artists and technologists who are professionally committed to the specialized industry of visual effects. The society provides its members with a platform for communication, education and recognition of the current and future state of the visual effects industry. Society headquarters are located in Los Angeles, with approximately 1,100 global members. For more information about VES, visit www.visualeffectssociety.com or call (310) 822-9181.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
