Oscar For Animator

The Irish animator Richard Baneham picked up the Best Visual Effects Award at the 82nd Annual Academy Awards this week.
Richard together with Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum and Andrew Jones were up against the visual effects teams behind District 9 and Star Trek.
Simon Perry, Chief Executive, Bord Scannán na hÉireann/ the Irish Film Board said: "The Academy has already acknowledged the exceptional talent of Irish filmmakers with five Irish nominations but for Richard to win an Oscar is international recognition at the highest level. We are delighted for Richard and his team. It is inspiring to see that the fires of Irish talent continue to burn as brightly as ever. This award is a further reinforcement of Ireland's reputation for creativity and innovation."
The award comes after the team picked up the BAFTA for Best Special Visual Effects last month.
Dubliner Baneham, who was Animation Supervisor on 'Avatar' studied animation in Ballyfermot College of Further Education before moving to Los Angeles. During his career so far he has worked on a number of major film projects including the ‘Lord of the Rings' trilogy and ‘The Chronicles of Narnia'.
There were five Irish Oscar nominations in total this year including the two short films ‘The Door' and ‘Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty' and the animated feature film ‘The Secret of Kells' all of which received funding from the Irish Film Board.
The fact that there were three animation nominees underlines the world class talent currently working in the Irish animation industry. It was a huge achievement for Tomm Moore's small independent film 'The Secret of Kells' to be considered for an award in the same category as films from the biggest animation studios in the world such as Pixar's ‘Up' and Disney's ‘The Princess and the Frog'.
The animated film, which was released in cinemas in New York this weekend with a wider US release scheduled for later in the month, has been winning critical acclaim across the globe with many applauding the animation techniques of the hand-drawn feature.
(bmcc/GK)