The Advanced Imaging Society (AIS) celebrated its 16th annual Lumiere Awards, a prestigious event dedicated to honoring outstanding creative and technical achievements that consistently push the boundaries of storytelling and cinematic technology. The awards recognized a diverse group of artists, engineers, and innovators whose work continues to shape the future of the media and entertainment industry.

Jim Chabin, president of the Advanced Imaging Society, underscored the significance of the honorees, stating, "These Lumiere winners produced their brilliant stories by pushing the boundaries of what's possible creatively and technically. In these honorees we see our industry’s future – and that future is truly more exciting than ever."

In the feature film categories, "Sinners" received the Lumiere Award for Best Live Action Feature Film, with best supporting actor nominee Delroy Lindo presenting the award to producer Sev Ohanian. The film's sound team, comprising Chris Welcker, Steve Boeddeker, and Benny Burtt, also accepted the Lumiere for Best Audio. Voters highly praised "Sinners," describing it as a "brilliant and meaningful story" that was "perfectly executed."

The award for Best Animated Feature went to "Zootopia 2." Actor and voice artist Patrick Warburton presented the accolade to director Byron Howard, with voters commending not only its stunning visuals but also its "unprecedented technical integration across every production dimension." "KPop Demon Hunters" was a double winner, securing Lumiere awards for both Best Original Song and Best Musical Scene or Sequence, both for its song titled "Golden."

Picturehouse’s "The King of Color," written and directed by Patrick Creadon, was honored as Best Documentary. This film explores the life of Larry Herbert, the inventor of the Pantone Matching System, which established a universal worldwide standard for color. Creadon accepted the award and conveyed a note of appreciation from the 97-year-old Herbert. The AIS noted that "The King of Color" effectively tells their "origin story" as an organization that bridges filmmaking, post-production, and technology.

"Wicked: For Good" earned the award for Best Motion Picture – Musical, accepted by AIS honoree and director Jon M. Chu. Voters specifically highlighted "the way it perfectly integrated difficult, high-production value VFX and imagery work into the musical storytelling throughout the film," declaring the work in all departments as "extraordinary." The Lumiere for Best Theatrical Scene or Sequence was presented to "Avatar: Fire and Ash" for its impactful third act Flux Devil fire tornado battle sequence. Oscar-nominated visual effects supervisor Eric Saindon of Wētā FX accepted the award on behalf of the VFX team, which also included Joe Letteri and Lightstorm’s Richard Baneham, who were in attendance. Voters unequivocally agreed that this unforgettable sequence once again set a new benchmark for visual effects-driven storytelling.

Episodic content also garnered significant recognition. "Andor" Season 2 was awarded Best Episodic – Live Action, accepted by executive producer John Gilroy, while "Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man" received Best Episodic – Animation, accepted by showrunner Jeff Trammell. Other technical awards in the episodic categories included Apple TV’s "Severance" for Best Audio – Episodic, accepted by scoring mixer Chris Fogel, and "Stranger Things" Season 5 for Best Use of High Dynamic Range – Episodic, accepted by colorist Jared Arkulary from Company 3. Additionally, "F1" won Best Use of High Dynamic Range – Feature Film, with Company 3 colorist Stefan Sonnenfeld accepting the award.

Google was honored with the Society’s annual Sir Charles Wheatstone Award for its profound innovations, including its VEO and Imagen models, Google Cloud, and YouTube production tools. Anil Jain, global managing director of strategic industries, accepted this prestigious award. The Lumiere Awards also recognized five organizations with Production Technology Lumiere Awards for their significant impact and innovation in driving the media and entertainment ecosystem forward. These recipients included AMD for their EPYC CPUs and Threadripper PRO workstation tools; Conductor, by CoreWeave, for their desktop tools designed for cloud optimization; Flawless, which became the first AI company to be recognized for pioneering Assistive AI that safeguards and supports human creativity; 6P Color for its "Full Color Range" format for electronic color imagery; and DisneyResearch|Studios for its Artistically Controllable ML Stereo Conversion toolset.

Special honors were also a highlight of the evening. VUE and CEO Tim Richards were presented with the Society’s Governor’s Award for Cinema Excellence for their development of a new generation of premium EPIC screen cinemas, featuring state-of-the-art laser projection and sound. Ethan Hawke was honored with the 2026 Distinguished Artist Award for his performance in Richard Linklater’s "Blue Moon." Former president of Lucasfilm, Kathleen Kennedy, presented the award, praising Hawke's deep commitment to portraying the essence of humanity in his diverse roles. Director Jon M. Chu was awarded the inaugural Judy Garland Legacy Award, which was introduced by Garland’s daughter Lorna Luft and presented by actor Josh Gad. The Harold Lloyd Award was bestowed upon Joseph Kosinski and Jerry Bruckheimer by Suzanne Lloyd, chairman of Harold Lloyd Entertainment.

A comprehensive list of winners includes:

Best Feature Film – Live Action: "Sinners"

Best Feature Film – Animation: "Zootopia 2"

Best Documentary: "The King of Color"

Best Motion Picture – Musical: "Wicked: For Good"

Best Audio – Theatrical: "Sinners"

Best Audio – Episodic: "Severance"

Best Original Song: "Golden," from "KPop Demon Hunters"

Best Use of High Dynamic Range – Feature Film: "F1"

Best Use of High Dynamic Range – Episodic: "Stranger Things" Season 5

Best Musical Scene or Sequence: "KPop Demon Hunters" – "Golden"

Best Theatrical Scene or Sequence: "Avatar: Fire and Ash" – "Flux Devil"

Best Episodic – Animation: "Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man"

Best Episodic – Live Action: "Andor" Season 2

Best International 3D Documentary: NHK for The Mark of Beauty Tokyo Imperial Palace

Best Use of VR: Dolphins of the Reef, Immotion Production

Production Technology Awards: AMD, DisneyResearch|Studios, Flawless, 6P Color, CoreWeave (Conductor)

Additional Special Awards:

Governor’s Award for Cinema Excellence: VUE

Sir Charles Wheatstone Award: Google

Judy Garland Legacy Award: Jon M. Chu, "Wicked: For Good"

Harold Lloyd Award: Joseph Kosinski & Jerry Bruckheimer," F1"