‘Oppenheimer’ Tops HPA Awards

November 30, 2023

7 min read

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

Barbie
Yvan Lucas (Company 3)

The Fabelmans
Michael Hatzer (Picture Shop)

Asteroid City
Gareth Spensley (Company 3)

Oppenheimer
Kostas Theodosiou, Kristen Zimmerman (FotoKem) (WINNER)

Tár
Tim Masick (Company 3)

Outstanding Color Grading — Animated Theatrical Feature

Elemental
Susan Brunig (Pixar Animation Studios)

The Super Mario Bros. Movie
Jason Hanel (Company 3)

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Natasha Leonnet (Picture Shop) (WINNER)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
Mitch 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

Descendant
Sam Daley (Light Iron)

Bono & The Edge: A Sort of Homecoming with Dave Letterman/
Taylor Black (Apache)

Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie
Stefan 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

Barbie
Nick Houy, ACE

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning, Part One
Eddie Hamilton, ACE

Oppenheimer
Jennifer Lame, ACE (WINNER)

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Michael Andrews, ACE

Tár
Monika 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 Shooting
Eric Schuman

Being Mary Tyler Moore
Mariah Rehmet

Branson “Episode 2, Atlantic”
Paul Trewartha

Moonage Daydream
Brett Morgen (WINNER)

Outstanding Sound — Theatrical Feature

Barbie
Ai-Ling Lee, Kevin O’Connell, Dan Kenyon // Warner Bros. Post Production Services

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Scott Gershin, Chris Richardson, Masanobu ‘Tomi’ Tomita, Andrew Vernon, Dan Gamache // Sound Lab a Keywords Studio

Creed III
Aaron Glascock, Tom Ozanich, Walter Spencer, Curt Schulkey // Warner Bros. Post Production Services

John Wick: Chapter 4
Mark Stoeckinger, Andy Koyama, Casey Genton, Alan Rankin, Manfred Banach // Formosa Group (WINNER)

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
Jason 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 Sounds
Mark Mangini, Robert Kellough, Eliza Paley, Joanna Fang, Blake Collins, Formosa Group

A Tree of Life: The Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting
Daniel Timmons, Harbor Sound

Good Night Oppy
Mark Mangini, Dave Whitehead, Tim Walston, Dave Bach, Angela Claverie // Formosa Group

If These Walls Could Sing
George Foulgham, Philip Moroz, Alex Gibson, Tom Verstappen, Miles Sullivan, George Foulgham Soundscapes Ltd. (WINNER)

Moonage Daydream
Nina Hartstone, David Giammarco, John Warhurst, Paul Massey, Public Road Productions

Outstanding Visual Effects — Live-Action Feature

Avatar: The Way of Water
Christopher Edgen, Nick Epstein, Wayne Stables, Pavani Rao Boddapati, Sergei Nevshupov (Wētā FX) (WINNER)

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Aaron Weintraub, Jeffrey Schaper, Cameron Carson, Emma Gorbey, Warren Lawtey (MPC)

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Guy Williams, Daniel Macarin, Mike Cozens, Mark Smith, Marvyn Young (Wētā FX)

Avatar: The Way of Water
David Vickery, Lee Briggs, Jan Maroske, Steve Ellis, Miguel Perez-Senent (Industrial Light & Magic)

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
Matt 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)