In 2026, moviegoers came back to cinemas, packing theaters to see blockbusters like “The Odyssey,” “Project Hail Mary,” “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” “Toy Story 5,” “Michael” and “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” and low-budget films like “Backrooms” and “Obsession.” But all those movies needed skilled artisans to complete the directors’ visions, including those on Variety’s 10 Artisans to Watch list. The honorees will be feted at the SCAD Savannah Film Festival, which runs Oct. 24-31. Past honorees have often gone on to earn Oscar nominations.
Last year, “Sinners” DP Autumn Durald Arkapaw, “KPop Demon Hunters” songwriter EJAE and “One Battle After Another” editor Andy Jurgensen all went on to win Oscars. Supervising sound editor, “The Mosquito Bowl” Jimkes approached the film’s World War II Pacific Theater setting with a focus on authenticity, researching the specific weapons used by the Japanese and American military forces, including the M1 Garand rifle. Its distinctive metallic “ping” served as more than just a historically accurate reference.
The sounds of the soldiers were a priority. The breaths and physical reactions recorded on set were pushed forward against the chaos of the battle to ground the characters’ humanity. Even in quieter scenes, the jungle location was alive with sound, creating a sense of pressure surrounding the soldiers.
Blending these elements together is a process Jimkes refers to as a “parade of sound,” adding, “Your brain can only process so many sounds at the same time. However, it’s very good at processing rapidly successive sounds.” The sound needed to move the story forward. For Jimkes, that meant determining which sound should take priority in each moment while never losing sight of the people at the center of the film’s story. — Tanya Fedak Animation supervisor, “Project Hail Mary” Despite having no face, eyes or traditional way to convey human emotion, Rocky became the emotional heart of “Project Hail Mary.” Licinio navigated that by developing physical language for the alien rock creature.
Licinio oversaw a team of animators who studied the physical puppet used for filming, using its on-set movements as a reference while expanding Rocky’s mannerisms. How can we tie the loose ends?” Licinio and his team looked to early puppetry and the exaggerated performances from silent film stars like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. Without features to convey human emotion, Rocky instead uses his elbows, body and distinctive head movements, sometimes angling himself just five degrees more to express his feelings.
When he is shy, for example, he pulls an elbow in front of himself as if hiding. Some of Rocky’s mannerisms originated on set, including a tapping gesture to answer questions from Ortiz that the animators incorporated into the final character. Other movements, such as Rocky’s finger-like computing gestures, were created in CG.
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