The Academy Award for Best Visual Effects is presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) for the best achievement in visual effects. It has been handed to four members of the team directly responsible for creating the film's visual effects since 1980.
James Francis Ivory born Richard Jerome Hazen June 7, 1928) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Ivory, along with Indian film producer Ismail Merchant, his domestic as well as professional partner, and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, were the principals in Merchant Ivory Productions. Together they made film adaptations from the novels of E.M. Forster, Henry James and others. Their body of work is celebrated for its elegance, sophistication, literary fidelity, strong performances, as well as its complex themes and rich characters.
Leah Maree Purcell is an Aboriginal Australian stage and film actress, playwright, film director, and novelist. She made her film debut in 1999, appearing in Paul Fenech's Somewhere in the Darkness, which led to roles in films, such as Lantana (2001), Somersault (2004), The Proposition (2005) and Jindabyne (2006).
Florian Zeller is a French novelist, playwright, theatre director, screenwriter, and film director. He has written over a dozen plays, that have been staged worldwide and have made him one of the most celebrated contemporary playwrights.
Gabriel Dowrick is an Australian born screenwriter and editor.
Mirrah Foulkes is an Australian director, screenwriter, and film and television actress. She was raised on the Sunshine Coast, in South East Queensland, Australia. She has appeared in films such as Animal Kingdom (2010), Sleeping Beauty (2011), and in the Australian anthology film The Turning (2013).
Sarah Ruth Snook is an Australian actress. She is best known for her starring role as Shiv Roy in the HBO drama series Succession (2018–2023), for which she won two Golden Globe Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award.
Stavros Kazantzidis is an Australian-Greek writer, director, and producer. He graduated from the Australian Film, Television and Radio School in 1992. His graduation film, Road to Alice, won Best Short Film at the Australian Film Institute Awards. He was also the winner of 'Young Filmmaker of the Year' at the Edinburgh International Film Festival that same year. Kazantzidis wrote, directed, and produced Love & Other Catastrophes, the international indie hit, which was nominated for Best Film in 1996 at the Australian Film Institute Award. In 2000, Kazantzidis's film Russian Doll won the Best Original Screenplay at the Australian Film Institute Awards.
Clayton Jacobson is an Australian film director, writer, producer, actor, musician, and editor. His debut feature film was Kenny, which was released in 2006 in Australia to critical acclaim, winning a number of awards. He has acted in a number of films, including Animal Kingdom (2010).
Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, known collectively as the Daniels, are an American filmmaking duo. They began their career as directors of music videos, including ones for "Houdini" (2012) by Foster the People and "Turn Down for What" (2013) by DJ Snake and Lil Jon, both of which earned them nominations at the Grammy Awards.
Jirga is a 2018 Australian drama film written and directed by Benjamin Gilmour and produced by John Maynard. It stars Sam Smith as a former Australian soldier returning to Afghanistan to seek forgiveness from the family of a man he killed while serving in the war. The film was shot under extreme circumstances, in dangerous locations and with assistance from the local people of Afghanistan. Deemed too politically divisive to be produced in Pakistan the film moved production at the last minute to Afghanistan and shot in one of the most dangerous regions in the world, Kandahar Province.
George Pullar is an Australian actor from Brisbane. He is known for his roles as Larry Forbes in the fifth season of the Australian drama series A Place to Call Home and Daniel Fletcher in the Network Ten drama series Playing for Keeps. His performance as Larry garnered an AACTA Award nomination and the Casting Guild of Australia named him one of Australia's "Rising Stars Award" recipients in 2018. In 2020 he took the lead role of Tyler in Moon Rock For Monday, an AACTA Award-nominated film, directed by Kurt Martin.
A Boy Called Sailboat is a 2018 American-Australian comedy-drama film written and directed by Cameron Nugent and starring Julian Atocani Sanchez, Noel Gugliemi, Elizabeth De Razzo, Jake Busey, and J. K. Simmons.
Ellie & Abbie is a 2020 AACTA award winning LGBT romance comedy film written and directed by Monica Zanetti, in her feature directorial debut. It is based on her own 2016 stage play. The film stars Sophie Hawkshaw, Zoe Terakes, Marta Dusseldorp, Rachel House, Julia Billington and Bridie Connell. The movie had its world premiere at the Mardi Gras Film Festival on 13 February 2020, becoming the first Australian film to do so in the festival's 27-year history. It also won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Film at the festival. The film went on to screenings at several other film festivals, and had a limited theatrical release on 19 November 2020.
Benjamin Gilmour is a German Australian author and filmmaker, best known for writing and directing the film Jirga (2018).
Steven McGregor is an Australian filmmaker, known for his work on Redfern Now, Black Comedy, Sweet Country, and numerous documentaries, including My Brother Vinnie.
Aquarius Films is an independent Australian film and TV production company based in Sydney, founded in 2008 by producers Angie Fielder and Polly Staniford. TV credits include Love Me, The Unusual Suspects, The Other Guy and Savage River Film credits include Academy Award and Golden Globe nominated Lion starring Dev Patel and Nicole Kidman, produced by Aquarius in association with See-Saw Films and the psychological thriller Berlin Syndrome starring Teresa Palmer and Directed by Cate Shortland which premiered at Sundance Film Festival, Dirt Music, directed by Gregor Jordan and starring Garrett Hedlund, Kelly Macdonald and David Wenham and Wish You Were Here, starring Joel Edgerton and Teresa Palmer, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival and won two Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) Awards, including Best Screenplay, and five Film Critics Circle Awards, including Best Film.
The Gotham Independent Film Audience Award was one of the annual Gotham Independent Film Awards awarded between 2010 and 2020. The winner was determined via an online vote, in earlier years by the independent film community and film fans (2010–2013), and later by members of the Independent Filmmaker Project (2014–2020).
Cameron Nugent is an Australian actor and director. He was nominated for the 1991 AFI Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Television Drama for More Winners – "The Big Wish" and for Best Indie Film at the 10th AACTA Awards for A Boy Called Sailboat.
