{"id":10257,"date":"2026-02-23T16:51:54","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T03:51:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/?p=10257"},"modified":"2026-02-23T16:51:55","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T03:51:55","slug":"weta-fx-scores-bafta-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/?p=10257","title":{"rendered":"W\u0113t\u0101 FX Scores BAFTA Win"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h6 class=\"wp-block-heading\">W\u0113t\u0101 FX has taken home a BAFTA Film Award for their work on <em>Avatar: Fire and Ash<\/em>, announced at this morning\u2019s ceremony in London (NZDT).<\/h6>\n\n\n\n<p>The Wellington-based visual effects studio was represented by Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, and Daniel Barrett, who received the <strong>Best Special Visual Effects<\/strong> award alongside Richard Baneham from James Cameron\u2019s Lightstorm Entertainment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This marks Letteri\u2019s sixth BAFTA win, and the second for both Saindon and Barrett. All three previously won for <em>Avatar: The Way of Water<\/em> in 2022, with Letteri also recognised for the original <em>Avatar<\/em> in 2009.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>W\u0113t\u0101 FX delivered <strong>94% of the visual effects shots<\/strong> for <em>Fire and Ash<\/em>, with more than 1,200 crew contributing to a total of 3,132 shots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a joint statement, the trio said the award was \u201ca testament to the extraordinary dedication, artistry, and innovation of our entire visual effects team and the many collaborators who helped bring this world to life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They also thanked Lightstorm Entertainment and The Walt Disney Company for their \u201cunwavering support, creative trust, and commitment to ambitious filmmaking,\u201d saying the partnership enables W\u0113t\u0101 FX to \u201cpush the boundaries of visual storytelling.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The team acknowledged the wider New Zealand screen industry as well, praising the \u201ctalent, craftsmanship, and collaborative spirit\u201d of the local film community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>W\u0113t\u0101 FX\u2019s awards season momentum is far from over. The studio is nominated for <strong>16 awards across 11 categories<\/strong> at the upcoming Visual Effects Society Awards in Los Angeles on Thursday 26 February (NZDT).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They are also in contention for an <strong>Academy Award for Best Visual Effects<\/strong> for <em>Avatar: Fire and Ash<\/em>, with the Oscars taking place at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Monday 16 March 2026 (NZDT).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>W\u0113t\u0101 FX has taken home a BAFTA Film Award for their work on Avatar: Fire and Ash, announced at this morning\u2019s ceremony in London (NZDT). The Wellington-based visual effects studio was represented by Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, and Daniel Barrett, who received the Best Special Visual Effects award alongside Richard Baneham from James Cameron\u2019s Lightstorm<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[717,716,113,715],"coauthors":[446],"class_list":{"0":"post-10257","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-new-zealand","7":"tag-avatar","8":"tag-bafta","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-weta"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10257"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10257\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10259,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10257\/revisions\/10259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10257"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=10257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}