BURBANK, CA – Set against the backdrop of the beautiful and historic Hollywood Legion Theater, the 2021 HPA Awards tonight celebrated exceptional work in color grading, sound, editing, and visual effects in commercial, episodic, and feature projects.
Returning to a sold-out gala after a virtual event in 2020, this year’s HPA Awards brought Hollywood golden era flavor to 2021. Presenters for the evening included Barry Meyer, Karol Urban, Anna Behlmer, Brooke Breton, Sabrina Plisco, and Patricia Riggen.
The winners of the 2021 HPA Awards Creative Categories are:
Outstanding Color Grading – Theatrical Feature
Sponsored by Picture Shop
“Jungle Cruise” – WINNER
Mitch Paulson // Company 3
“Candyman”
Natasha Leonnet // Company 3
“The Green Knight”
Alastor Pan Arnold // FotoKem
“Judas and the Black Messiah”
Tom Poole // Company 3
“Minari”
David Cole // FotoKem
Outstanding Color Grading – Episodic or Non-Theatrical Feature
Sponsored by Picture Shop
“WandaVision – Previously On” – WINNER
Matt Watson // Marvel Studios Finishing
“Lovecraft Country – Meet Me in Daegu” Rory Gordon // ArsenalFX Color
“The Queen’s Gambit – End Game”
Steven Bodner // Light Iron
“Sweet Tooth – Big Man” Walter Volpatto // Company 3
“The Underground Railroad – Chapter 8: Indiana Autumn”
Alex Bickel // Color Collective
Outstanding Color Grading – Commercial
Sponsored by Picture Shop
Toyota – “Jessica Long’s Story: Upstream” – WINNER
Jill Bogdanowicz // Company 3
Dior – “Spring-Summer 2021 Collection”
Tim Masick // Company 3
Hyundai – “I’m In Charge”
Sofie Borup // Company 3
Lexus – “A New Era”
Matt Osborne // Company 3
Zara – “Spring Summer 2021 Campaign”
Tim Masick // Company 3
Outstanding Editing – Theatrical Feature
Sponsored by Blackmagic Design
“Sound of Metal”
Mikkel E. G. Nielsen, ACE – WINNER
“The Father”
Yorgos Lamprinos
“Minari”
Harry Yoon, ACE
“Soul”
Kevin Nolting, ACE
“The Trial of the Chicago 7”
Alan Baumgarten, ACE
Outstanding Editing – Episodic or Non-Theatrical Feature (30 Minutes and Under)
Sponsored by Blackmagic Design
“Hacks – Falling” – WINNER
Susan Vaill, ACE
“A Black Lady Sketch Show – Sister, May I Call You Oshun?” Daysha Broadway, ACE, Stephanie Filo, ACE, Jessica Hernández, ACE
“Conan – DIY Conan”
Rob Ashe, Chris Heller, Matt Shaw
“Hacks – Interview”
Jessica Brunetto, Marissa Mueller
“Hacks – There Is No Line”
Jessica Brunetto
“Hacks – Tunnel of Love”
Ali Greer
Outstanding Editing – Episodic or Non-Theatrical Feature (Over 30 Minutes)
Sponsored by Blackmagic Design
“A Perfect Planet: The Sun” – WINNER
Nigel Buck
“Allen v. Farrow – Episode 101”
Mikaela Shwer, Parker Laramie, Sara Newens
“His Dark Materials – The Scholar”
Sara Jones
“Lovecraft Country – Meet Me in Daegu” Sean Albertson, ACE
“The Underground Railroad – Chapter 9: Indiana Winter”
Joi McMillon, ACE
Outstanding Sound – Theatrical Feature
Sponsored by DTS
“Space Jam: A New Legacy” - WINNER
Tim LeBlanc, Michael Keller // Warner Bros. Post Production Creative Services
Erik Aadahl, Ethan Van der Ryn, Malte Bieler // E Squared
“Cherry”
Mark Binder, Elliot Hartley, Donald Flick, Trevor Cress, Matt Coby // IMN Creative
“Godzilla vs. Kong”
Tom Ozanich, Dean A. Zupancic // Warner Bros. Post Production Creative Services
Erik Aadahl, Ethan Van der Ryn, Jason W. Jennings // E Squared
“In the Heights”
Lewis Goldstein, John Marquis, Paul Urmson, Gina Alfano, Brian Bowles, Thomas Ryan,
Alex Soto // Parabolic
“Reminiscence”
Jeremy Peirson, Thomas Jones, Michael Babcock, Sarah Bourgeois, Jessie Pariseau // Warner Bros. Post Production Creative Services
“Sound of Metal”
Nicolas Becker, Carolina Santana // Sound Park
Carlos Cortés // SplendorOmnia
Michellee Couttolenc, Jaime Baksht // AstroLX
Outstanding Sound – Episodic or Non-Theatrical Feature
Sponsored by DTS
“Snowpiercer – Many Miles from Snowpiercer” – WINNER
Sandra Portman, Kelly Cole, Bill Mellow, James Fonnyadt, Eric Mouawad, Gregorio Gomez // Sharpe Sound Studios
“Lovecraft Country – Sundown”
Tim Kimmel, Marc Fishman, Mathew Waters, Paula Fairfield, Bradley Katona // The Formosa Group
“Oslo”
Lewis Goldstein, Gina Alfano, Thomas Ryan, Alex Soto // Parabolic
“The Right Stuff – Flight” Walt Newman, Darleen Stoker, Kenneth Young, Brad Sherman, Alex Gruzdev, Sanaa Kelley, Adam DeCoster, Chris McGreary // Warner Bros. Post Production Creative Services
“Sweet Tooth – Out of the Deep Woods”
George Haddad, Chad Hughes, Alex Gruzdev, Brad Sherman, Julie Altus // Warner Bros. Post Production Creative Services
Outstanding Visual Effects – Theatrical Feature
Sponsored by Zeiss
“Black Widow” – WINNER
David Hodgins, Hanzhi Tang, Ryan Duhaime, James Reid, Edmond Smith III // Digital Domain
“Black Widow”
Sean Walker, Marvyn Young, Karl Rapley, Lily Lawrence, Timothy Walker // Weta Digital
“Godzilla vs. Kong”
Pier Lefebvre, Michael Langford, Timucin Ozger, Sarang Deshpande, Joshua Toonen // MPC Film
“Jungle Cruise”
Luke Millar // Weta Digital
Chad Wiebe // Industrial Light & Magic
Jim Berney, JD Schwalm, Marla Henshaw
“The Suicide Squad”
Mark Gee, Danielle Immerman, Mike Cozens, Jason Galeon, Makoto Hatanaka // Weta Digital
Outstanding Visual Effects – Episodic (Under 13 Episodes) or Non-theatrical Feature
Sponsored by Zeiss
“The Mandalorian – Chapter 9: The Marshal” – WINNER
Joe Bauer, Richard Bluff, Abbigail Keller, Hal Hickel, Jeff Capogreco // Industrial Light & Magic
“The Falcon and the Winter Soldier – New World Order”
Johannes Bresser, Mark Smith, Alexia Cui, Paul Jenness, Sebastian Bommersheim // Weta Digital
“Loki – Journey Into Mystery”
Dan DeLeeuw, David Seager, Alexandra Greene, George Kuruvilla, Dan Mayer // Industrial Light & Magic
“Lovecraft Country – Jig-a-Bobo”
Kevin Blank, Robin Griffin // HBO
Pietro Ponti // Important Looking Pirates
Grant Walker // Framestore
Francois Dumoulin // RodeoFX
“Star Trek: Discovery – Su'Kal”
Jason Michael Zimmerman, Ante Dekovic, Aleksandra Kochoska, Charles Collyer, Alexander Wood // CBS Television Studios
“WandaVision – The Series Finale"
Marion Spates, Suzanne Foster, R. Matt Smith, Simon Twine, Frankie Stellato // Digital Domain
Outstanding Visual Effects – Episodic (Over 13 Episodes)
Sponsored by Zeiss
“9-1-1 – The New Abnormal” – WINNER
Jon Massey, Tony Pirzadeh, Timothy Cairns, Bryant Reif, Josephine Noh // FuseFX
“Grey’s Anatomy – Breathe”
Tim Carras, Andie Eikenberg, Bill Parker, Kenneth Armstrong, Chris Myers // Barnstorm VFX
“NCIS: Los Angeles – The Bear”
Carlo Vega, Manmeet Singh, Michael Carter, Dylan Chudzynski // DigitalFilm Tree
“9-1-1: Lone Star – Hold the Line”
Brigitte Bourque, Tyler Deck, Jason Gottlieb, Josephine Noh, James Yates // FuseFX
“Supergirl – Welcome Back, Kara!”
Armen V. Kevorkian, Jennifer Mochinski, Alex Schade, Carlos Aldrey, Fabian Jimenez, Denys Shchukin // Encore VFX
The Judges Award for Creativity and Innovation, a juried honor, was awarded to the acclaimed documentary Welcome to Chechnya and to its director, David France, and visual effects supervisor, Ryan Laney. Industry veteran Darcy Antonellis received The HPA Lifetime Achievement Award, which was presented to her by former Warner Bros. Chairman Barry Meyer.
Winners of the coveted Engineering Excellence Award, announced previously, include the Arch Platform by Arch Platform Technologies, OpenColorIO v.2 by Autodesk, Nuke by Foundry, and NearTime by Mo-Sys Engineering.
The 2021 HPA Awards were made possible through the generous support of diamond title sponsor Blackmagic Design; registration sponsor Picture Shop; awards category sponsors Blackmagic Design, DTS, Picture Shop, and ZEISS; event sponsors Company 3 Method Studios, Deluxe, Fotokem, Pixelogic, and Unreal Engine; and supporting sponsor Warner Bros. Post Production Creative Services Worldwide. HPA thanks judging hosts Fotokem, Pixelogic, and Deluxe Technicolor Digital Cinema for use of their facilities.