Maine
Mainer wins second Oscar for ‘Avatar’ visual effects
Gorham native Eric Saindon won his second Oscar for visual effects Sunday night.
Saindon was nominated for his work as a visual effects supervisor on “Avatar: Fire and Ash.” Saindon had previously won an Oscar in 2023 for his work on “Avatar: The Way of the Water.”
Growing up in Gorham, where his high school graduating class had 125 students, Saindon never imagined standing on the Academy Awards stage.
“This award belongs to the entire team that brought the film to life,” Saindon wrote in an email. “Visual effects is a true collaboration, and I’m proud to be part of this talented community.”
Saindon accepted his Oscar on stage in Hollywood with three other members of the film’s visual effects team. He thanked everyone at Weta FX, where he works, and praised the late Jon Landau, producer of the “Avatar” films.
The other films up for the visual effects Oscar on Sunday inlcuded: “F1,” “Jurassic World Rebirth,” “The Lost Bus” and “Sinners.”
When Saindon won the Oscar in 2023, he attended the ceremony in Hollywood despite intense abdominal pain, and was rushed to a hospital immediately after the Oscars for surgery to repair a ruptured intestine. He was in so much pain, he said after, he did not remember holding up the Oscar at all, though photos show he clearly did.
Saindon was also nominated for Oscars for “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” in 2014 and “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” in 2013. He did not win either time.
After graduating from Gorham High School in 1988, Saindon took community college classes, and later studied architecture at Washington State University. He got a job out of college at a company that made animation software.
After that, he worked at the animation company Santa Barbara Studios in California. In 1999, he went to work at Weta Digital in New Zealand – now Weta FX – and worked his way up to senior visual effects supervisor. He’s been at Weta ever since and lives in Wellington, New Zealand, with his wife and four children.
Also Sunday night, a film about Maine-born poet Andrea Gibson, “Come See Me in the Good Light,” was nominated for an Oscar in the feature-length documentary category, but lost to “Mr. Nobody against Putin.” Gibson, who grew up in Calais, was a celebrated poet and performance artist who explored gender identity and politics.
Gibson died in July after a four-year battle with terminal ovarian cancer, at the age of 49, at their home in Boulder, Colorado. Gibson and their wife, Megan Falley, are the main subjects of the film, which won the Festival Favorite Award at the Sundance Film Festival and is streaming on Apple TV+. The film explores the couple’s enduring love as Gibson battles cancer.
The other nominees in the documentary category included: “The Alabama Solution,” “Cutting through Rocks,” and “The Perfect Neighbor.”