The Media School

Oscar bid for BU animation graduate

5 February 2010

Lead animator for Star Trek is short-listed for his first major awards.

Less than a fortnight after he received an Orange British Academy Film Award nomination (the BAFTAs) for his work on the Hollywood blockbuster Star Trek, BU animation graduate Paul Kavanagh has been short-listed for an Oscar.

Kavanagh is one of four named contributors to Star Trek in the Oscar category ‘Best Visual Effects’ and goes head-to-head with sci-fi epic Avatar which featured the work of over 50 BU animation graduates. Rounding out the nominees is sci-fi thriller District 9.

In the BAFTAs, Kavanagh is short-listed for ‘Special Visual Effects’ competing against Avatar and District 9 once again as well as Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (which also involved BU alumni), and The Hurt Locker.

Kavanagh, who completed his Masters degree at the BU-based National Centre for Computer Animation (NCCA) in 1991, is the lead animator at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) – the company founded by George Lucas. He was ILM’s Animation Supervisor on Star Trek creating 864 visual effect shots for the space-faring adventure.

Kavanagh’s prior credits as lead animator include all three Star Wars prequels, the first three Harry Potter films, the first two Pirates of the Caribbean movies and both Transformers films. He also worked on Pearl Harbour, The Island and Iron Man amongst other successful productions.

The winners of this year’s Oscars will be presented in Hollywood on Sunday, 7 March. The Orange British Academy Film Awards, presented by BAFTA – the British Academy of Film and Television Arts – will be presented in London on Sunday, 21 February.