FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | IMAGE ENGINE | FEBRUARY 28th, 2010 | VES

Los Angeles, CA - 28th February 2010 -- Image Engine took home the Award for Outstanding Compositing in a Feature Motion Picture at this year’s 8th Annual VES Awards.

Despite facing some stiff competition in their category, District 9 managed to fend off two entries from Avatar and one from Sherlock Holmes, to take their place at the podium. Shervin Shoghian, Hamish Schumacher and Simon Hughes stepped up to receive the award at the ceremony on Sunday night.

“This level of industry peer recognition is just fantastic” said Image Engine C.O.O. Peter Muyzers, “and a true testament to the hard work we’ve done over the past couple of years by building a world-class compositing pipeline.”

Janeen Elliot, the fourth winner, was unable to attend the ceremony, but speaks from Vancouver about the challenges that the team faced. “Between handheld cameras with little to no trackers or environment information, to dealing with grey-suited actors who didn't resemble the aliens in physique in order to hide behind our CG, to a wide variety of lighting situations and direct interactions with live action actors, it was a challenging show. The entire crew is incredibly proud of the final product, and it's humbling to be recognized in a way that shows that your peers also appreciate the work accomplished.”

“District 9 was the only film to beat Avatar at these awards!” says Visual Effects Executive Producer Shawn Walsh, “That’s just a killer moment for everyone who worked on District 9 at Image Engine.”

Image Engine C.E.O., Greg Holmes was also keen to point out that it is not only the nominees who deserve praise. "I would like to extend this honor for the work on District 9 to all of the staff who made their valuable contribution to a remarkable team effort.”


Shervin Shoghian


Simon Hughes


Hamish Schumacher

This year’s awards season culminates this week when the winners of the 82nd Academy Awards are announced on Sunday March 7th, with District 9 in the running for Special Visual Effects. Image Engine nominees Peter Muyzers and Dan Kaufman (VFX Supervisor) will be attending the ceremony in Los Angeles on Sunday, whilst the rest of the team at Image Engine gather together in Vancouver, BC to watch the live broadcast.

The 8th Annual VES Awards will air on Reelz Channel. Premiere: 
Friday, March 5th at 10:00 pm ET/PT Encore Presentations: Saturday, March 6th at 7:00 pm ET/PT

http://www.reelzchannel.com/show/80/awards-watch