Christopher Nolan’s epic Oppenheimer topped the feature competition at the annual HPA Awards for postproduction, with Jennifer Lame winning the award for outstanding editing and Fotokem’s Kostas Theodosiou and Kristen Zimmerman claiming the prize for color grading.
Tuesday at the Television Academy’s Wolf Theatre, additional winners in the feature categories included John Wick: Chapter 4 for sound; Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse for color grading in an animated movie; and Avatar: The Way of Water, whose team at Weta FX collected the VFX prize. (The event’s eligibility period ran from September 2022 to September 2023.)
Paramount Pictures’ work on Francis Ford Coppola’s 1972 classic The Godfather won the new category for achievement in restoration. Series honorees included Barry, House of the Dragon and The White Lotus.
During the ceremony, Sphere Entertainment Co, the company behind the recently opened Sphere entertainment venue in Las Vegas, received the Judges Award for Creativity and Innovation. The jury recognized the venue and its related production technologies and workflow, “which introduced an exhilarating new type of immersive entertainment and shared audience experience.”
Engineering Excellence Awards were presented to Adobe for the Text-Based Editing feature in its Premiere Pro editing software; Flanders Scientific for its XMP550 55-inch UHD resolution HDR and SDR reference mastering monitor; and Kino Flo, for its Mimik 120 image-based lighting fixture that can synchronize to an XR virtual production volume to provide foreground lighting. Additionally, stYpe received an honorable mention for StypeLand XR, a plugin designed to enable the mapping of graphics into LED panels for XR volumes.
As an acknowledgment of the challenging year, the presentation included an HPA-produced short, “Tribute to Post.”
The list of winners follows:
Outstanding Color Grading — Live-Action Theatrical Feature
BarbieYvan Lucas (Company 3)
The FabelmansMichael Hatzer (Picture Shop)
Asteroid CityGareth Spensley (Company 3)
OppenheimerKostas Theodosiou, Kristen Zimmerman (FotoKem) (WINNER)
TárTim Masick (Company 3)
Outstanding Color Grading — Animated Theatrical Feature
ElementalSusan Brunig (Pixar Animation Studios)
The Super Mario Bros. MovieJason Hanel (Company 3)
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-VerseNatasha Leonnet (Picture Shop) (WINNER)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant MayhemMitch Paulson (Company 3)
Outstanding Color Grading — Live-Action Episode or Non-Theatrical Feature
Swarm “Stung”Alastor Pan Arnold (Keep Me Posted)
Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty “One Ring Don’t Make a Dynasty.”Walter Volpatto (Company 3) (WINNER)
American Gigolo “Pilot”Shane Harris (Picture Shop)
Great Expectations “Episode 2”Toby Tomkins (Harbor)
Wednesday “Wednesday’s Child Is Full of Woe”Siggy Ferstl (Company 3)
Outstanding Color Grading — Documentary
DescendantSam Daley (Light Iron)
Bono & The Edge: A Sort of Homecoming with Dave Letterman/Taylor Black (Apache)
Still: A Michael J. Fox MovieStefan Sonnenfeld, Adam Nazarenko (Company 3)
Chimp Empire “Paradise”Blair Wallace (Evolutions Post Production) (WINNER)
Shaq “From Shaquille to Shaq”Taylor Black (Apache)
Outstanding Color Grading — Commercial
Zara “Man SS23 Studio Collection”Tim Masick (Company 3)
Levi’s “One Fair Exchange in the Greatest Story Ever Worn”Sofie Borup (Company 3)
Expedia “Wisdom & Obi”Mark Gethin (Trafik) (WINNER)
Duracell x Williams Racing “Scream”Tyler Roth (Company 3)
Belvedere “Daniel Craig”Matthieu Toullet (Company 3)
Outstanding Editing — Theatrical Feature
BarbieNick Houy, ACE
Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning, Part OneEddie Hamilton, ACE
OppenheimerJennifer Lame, ACE (WINNER)
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-VerseMichael Andrews, ACE
TárMonika Willi
Outstanding Editing — Episode or Non-Theatrical Feature (30 Minutes and Under)
The Righteous Gemstones “Burn for Burn, Wound for Wound, Stripe for Stripe”Justin Bourret, ACE
Barry “it takes a psycho”Franky Guttman, ACE
What We Do in the Shadows “Local News”A.J. Dickerson, ACE, Thomas Calderón
Barry “a nice meal”Ali Greer (WINNER)
How To With John Wilson “How To Watch Birds”Cori Wapnowska
Outstanding Editing — Episode or Non-Theatrical Feature (Over 30 Minutes)
The Last of Us “Endure and Survive”Timothy A. Good, ACE, Emily Mendez
White House Plumbers “The Beverly Hills Burglary”Erick Fefferman, Roger Nygard
Succession “With Open Eyes”Ken Eluto, ACE
The White Lotus “Arrivederci”John M. Valerio, ACE (WINNER)
White House Plumbers “True Believers”Grady Cooper, Jon Merchen
Outstanding Editing — Documentary
100 Foot Wave “Lost at Sea”Alex Keipper, Alex Bayer
A Tree of Life: The Pittsburgh Synagogue ShootingEric Schuman
Being Mary Tyler MooreMariah Rehmet
Branson “Episode 2, Atlantic”Paul Trewartha
Moonage DaydreamBrett Morgen (WINNER)
Outstanding Sound — Theatrical Feature
BarbieAi-Ling Lee, Kevin O’Connell, Dan Kenyon // Warner Bros. Post Production Services
Guillermo del Toro’s PinocchioScott Gershin, Chris Richardson, Masanobu ‘Tomi’ Tomita, Andrew Vernon, Dan Gamache // Sound Lab a Keywords Studio
Creed IIIAaron Glascock, Tom Ozanich, Walter Spencer, Curt Schulkey // Warner Bros. Post Production Services
John Wick: Chapter 4Mark Stoeckinger, Andy Koyama, Casey Genton, Alan Rankin, Manfred Banach // Formosa Group (WINNER)
Puss in Boots: The Last WishJason W. Jennings, Julian Slater, Greg P. Russell, Paul Pirola, Ken McGill, Mia Stewart // Warner Bros. Post Production Services
Outstanding Sound — Episode or Non-Theatrical Feature
“Star Trek: Picard — The Last Generation”Matthew E. Taylor, Michael Schapiro, Todd Grace, Ed Carr III, Ian Shedd // Warner Bros. Post Production Services
The Last of Us “Infected”Michael Benavente, Marc Fishman, Kevin Roache, Chris Terhune, Chris Battaglia (Formosa Group) (WINNER)
Barry “it takes a psycho”Sean Heissinger, Matthew E. Taylor, John Creed, Rickley Dumm (Warner Bros. Post Production Services)Elmo Ponsdomenech, Teddy Salas (Sony Pictures Entertainment)
Wednesday “A Murder of Woes”Mike Baskerville, Jamie Sulek, John Loranger, Alastair Gray, Dan Sexton (Company 3)
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds “Hegemony”Matthew E. Taylor, Michael Schapiro, Todd Grace, Ed Carr III, Sean Heissinger (Warner Bros. Post Production Services)
Outstanding Sound — Documentary
32 SoundsMark Mangini, Robert Kellough, Eliza Paley, Joanna Fang, Blake Collins, Formosa Group
A Tree of Life: The Pittsburgh Synagogue ShootingDaniel Timmons, Harbor Sound
Good Night OppyMark Mangini, Dave Whitehead, Tim Walston, Dave Bach, Angela Claverie // Formosa Group
If These Walls Could SingGeorge Foulgham, Philip Moroz, Alex Gibson, Tom Verstappen, Miles Sullivan, George Foulgham Soundscapes Ltd. (WINNER)
Moonage DaydreamNina Hartstone, David Giammarco, John Warhurst, Paul Massey, Public Road Productions
Outstanding Visual Effects — Live-Action Feature
Avatar: The Way of WaterChristopher Edgen, Nick Epstein, Wayne Stables, Pavani Rao Boddapati, Sergei Nevshupov (Wētā FX) (WINNER)
Guillermo del Toro’s PinocchioAaron Weintraub, Jeffrey Schaper, Cameron Carson, Emma Gorbey, Warren Lawtey (MPC)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3Guy Williams, Daniel Macarin, Mike Cozens, Mark Smith, Marvyn Young (Wētā FX)
Avatar: The Way of WaterDavid Vickery, Lee Briggs, Jan Maroske, Steve Ellis, Miguel Perez-Senent (Industrial Light & Magic)
Transformers: Rise of the BeastsMatt Aitken, Mike Perry, Aaron Cowan, Kevin Estey, Jong Jin Choi (Wētā FX)
Outstanding Visual Effects — Live Action Episode or Series Season
Andor “Season One”Mohen Leo, Scott Pritchard (Industrial Light & Magic)TJ Falls (Lucasfilm)Joseph Kasparian (Hybride)Jelmer Boskma (Scanline)
House of the Dragon “The Heirs of the Dragon”Angus Bickerton, Nikea Ford, Mike Bell (MPC)Sven Martin, Mark Spindler (Pixomondo) (WINNER)
The Last of Us “Season One”Simon Jung, Aaron Cowan, David Hampton, Dennis Yoo, Ben Roberts (Wētā FX)
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power “Season One”Ron Ames, Jason Smith, Jesse Kobayashi, Ryan Tudhope, Sam Scott (Amazon Studios)
The Mandalorian “Season Three”Grady Cofer, Abbigail Keller, Paul Kavanagh, Delio Tramontozzi (ILM)Bobo Skipper (Important Looking Pirates)
Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects — Episode or Series Season
Barry “Season Four”Molly Pabian, Andrew Kalicki, Laura Hill, David Lopez, Justin Ball (Crafty Apes)
Citadel “Secrets in Night Need Early Rains”Aladino Debert, Greg Teegarden, James Reid, Matthew Rotman, Viv Jim (Digital Domain) (WINNER)
Interview With the Vampire “Is My Very Nature That of a Devil”Ted Rae, Tavis Larkham, Matthew Harris, Hugo Leveille, J.V. Pike (FuseFX)
The Night Agent “Season One”Grant Miller, Hallana Barbosa, Pierceon Bellemare, Mariia Osanova, Ben Stommes (Ingenuity Studios)
The Righteous Gemstones “Season Three”Bruce Branit, Valeri Pfahning (Rough House)Fred Ruff (Refuge VFX)Ed Bruce (Screen Scene Studios)David Lebensfeld (Ingenuity Studios)
Outstanding Achievement in Restoration
Casablanca (1942) Warner Bros.
Cinderella (1959) Disney
Cimarron (1931) Warner Bros.
The Godfather (1972) Paramount Pictures (WINNER)
Winds of Chance (1925) First National Pictures and Christopher Gray Post Production
