Sophia Sullivan
Contributing Writer
On Feb. 8, the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) hosted its annual Variety Artisans Award ceremony. The Bottom Line reported on the event that celebrated many of the wonderful craftsmen who have put their heart and soul into sets, sound, special effects, and more for some of the year’s best films.
The first member of SBIFF’s Variety Artisan Class of 2025 to be recognized for their contributions was Judy Becker, the production designer for the period drama “The Brutalist.”
She was praised for her part in the creation of the film’s incredible architectural work and set design, complemented for its incredible depth and subversiveness. When questioned by award show host Jazz Tangcay about her design process, Becker said she worked to “create a believable world” for the incredibly emotional and meaningful movie.
Next, composer Kris Bowers was recognized for his work on “The Wild Robot” creating the animated film’s incredibly moving soundtrack. He stated that it was especially important for him, as it “demanded imagination on [his] part.” He explained that he had to dredge up emotions related to his own family and life, mainly his young daughter and his worries surrounding parenting her, in order to decode and breathe life into the film’s own incredibly complex relationships with his music.
Following Bowers, Clement Ducol and Camille, the composers for “Emila Perez” were similarly complemented for Best Original Songs. The pair was applauded for being able to write such amazing tunes in Spanish whilst being native French speakers, and, in turn, they were very gracious. Camille stated that they were both simply grateful for such a “beautiful challenge.”
Nick Emerson was then recognized for his amazing work as editor for the film “Conclave.” He was credited for many aspects of the film’s editing, including that of its twist ending which he said he created using “as few cuts as possible” and a goal of being “spare with the edits.” He stated that this was done in order to create the stark sense of simplicity and serenity, which draws even more attention to the main characters’ panic.
After Emerson’s recognition, “Nickel Boys” cinematographer Jomo Fray was celebrated for his fine work. He was awarded for how his addition to the film gave it a sort of sentient nature and consciousness. He even said, when questioned about how this came to be, that he utilized different lenses to show point-of-view and relative space and ensure that the audience always knew “where they were, when they were, and why they were.”
Next up for the award was “A Complete Unknown” Sound Mixer Tod Maitland, who was praised for the realness and complexity created by the sound design of the film. He told Tangcay and the audience that in order to “capture the live environment” of the film, he made use of many different filming locations and a variety of microphones, with some even being placed in Timothée Chalamet’s hair. He also revealed that the live performance aspect, though worth it in the end, was not as an easy feat as it left him and the crew with “no safety net.”
Pierre-Olivier Persin, Special Effects Makeup Supervisor for “The Substance,” was also honored with this award for his work on the film’s undeniably jarring hair and makeup design. When praised for his monstrous creations he described the labor put into them, with some taking up to seven hours worth of makeup work due to their intricacy. For him and his team, there were “no limits” to what they were willing to create.
On a similar note, “Wicked” Costume Designer Paul Tazewell also received the award for designing many intricate outfits seen throughout the story. He proudly accepted his award and spoke of how he worked to bring in the “nostalgia” and “collective consciousness” of “The Wizard of Oz” movie and “Wicked” storyline into his designs while also “seeing the characters anew.”
Last but certainly not least, “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” visual effects (VFX) supervisor Eric Wingquest had his incredible work commemorated. He received his award for the level of emotion he was able to convey with his VFX work. When asked about the effort put into it, he mentioned the extensive post production and stress which went into showing “every little nuance” of the movie and its cast.
In addition to the night’s awards, the audience was also treated to stirring onstage musical performances from Clement Ducol, Camille, and Kris Bowers. An enlightening group conversation in which the award recipients shared a bit of collective wisdom, which could certainly benefit many artists, followed the award ceremony. The creators shared that the creative journey needn’t be entirely streamlined: if you ever find yourself in rut, you must simply take a break to reconnect with reality and let your inspiration flow naturally from the world around you.
