VFX Luminary Muren To Be Feted At Paris Images Digital Summit
Vet VFX master Dennis Muren will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2nd Digital Creation Genie Awards, and part of the Paris Images Digital Summit.
Kudo will be awarded at a Jan. 28 ceremony held at Enghien-les-Bains’ Centre des Arts. Muren will deliver a Master Class on Saturday Jan. 30 during event’s Festival Day.
Running Jan 28-30 and launched by the Ile de France Commission, the Paris Images Digital Summit is devoted to digital creation in its multiple manifestations, the latest trends and innovations in digital visual effects, CGI, motion-capture, 3-D and disruptive technologies in cinema, television, advertising, video games and transmedia.
California-born, Muren is a VFX specialist best celebrated for his contributions to some of the defining features of Steven Spielberg, James Cameron and George Lucas which reshaped Hollywood: “Star Wars” saga, “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” (1982), “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (1977), “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,“ (1991), “The Abyss” (1989), “A.I. Artificial Intelligence” (2001) and “Super 8” (2011).
Muren got his break when he was hired in 1976 by a young Georges Lucas to work at Industrial Light & Magic, created a year before to make “Star Wars.” At ILM, he pioneered complex CGI effects that helped power up one of modern cinema’s most important revolutions, broadening the range of special effects beyond physical models. Muren still works at ILM today, as senior visual effects supervisor and creative director.
He has won eight Oscars, including for VFX work on “Jurassic Park,” “Terminator 2” one of his finest achievements, he once said – “Abyss” and “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.”
Muren became the first VFX artist to be honored with a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1993. He’s currently working on a book for digital artists.
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