VFX Society Honors: ‘Avatar’ Vet Celebrates ‘Thrill of Technically and Artistically Problem-Solving’

Producer and VFX industry leader Brooke Breton—whose work has included “Avatar,” “Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow,” and a trio of “Star Trek” movies, reflected on teamwork and the “thrill of technically and artistically problem-solving” as she accepted the Visual Effects Society’s Founders Award.

During the annual VES Honors ceremony, held over the weekend at the Skirball Cultural Center, Breton (who also helped launch Digital Domain, where she served as senior vice president of production) remembered when as a filmmaker she started to gravitate toward VFX. She said the spark was “the thrill of technically and artistically problem-solving in combination with challenging time constraints” and “the spirit generated by a number of people with different skill sets coming together to solve the artistic goals of the project.

“It was the communal energy to push the boundaries beyond what we knew, to what we could learn together along the way,” she added, thanking collaborators for their trust, including Garry Marshall, Leonard Nimoy, James Cameron, Stan Winston and Peter Weir. “Finding talented and worthy individuals and giving them the opportunity to shine has been one of my greatest joys in this business,” she added.

Four were awarded Honorary VES membership during the ceremony, including Don Bluth, director of animated features including “The Land Before Time” and “All Dogs Go to Heaven;” John Bruno, who won a VFX Oscar for “The Abyss;” Robert Stromberg, a director, production designer and VFX pro who won back-to-back production design Oscars for James Cameron’s “Avatar” and Tim Burton’s “Alice In Wonderland;” and animation and VFX supervisor Harry Walton, whose credits include “RoboCop” and “Terminator 2.”

VES granted Lifetime Membership status to VFX producer/supervisor Ronald B. Moore and VFX producer Reid Paul, and the distinction of VES Fellow to Matt Aitken, Girish Balakrishnan, Randall Balsmeyer, Michael Conte, Bryan Grill, Thomas Knop, Arnon Manor, Susan Rowe and past VES president Lisa Cooke.

Also at the event, Tim McGovern, Thad Beier, Maya Deren and Dorothy Davenport were inducted posthumously into the VES Hall of Fame.