FROM Droitwich Spa to the Oscars – Sara Bennett has become the first female visual effects supervisor to win an Oscar in three decades.
Out celebrating the night after returning from LA, she told The Standard: “I’m still on cloud nine and I can’t stop smiling.”
Sara, originally from the Westlands Estate, 41, is the co-founder of independent VFX studio, Milk Visual Effects, which she launched with four industry colleagues nearly three years ago.
Her team received the Oscar for Best Visual Effects for the film Ex Machina at the 88th Academy Awards ceremony last Sunday (February 29) – beating big budget movies like Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Martian and Mad Max: Fury Road.
Sara is the second woman ever to win an Oscar in the Best VFX category since Suzanne Benson’s award for Aliens in 1986. The only other woman ever to be nominated was Pamela Easley for Cliffhanger in 1993.
Sara began her illustrious career studying to become a prosthetics make-up artist at what is now the Heart of Worcestershire College.
She said: “I ended up working at a company called Any Effects where I met a Scottish guy who told me about the special effects industry. He told me, ‘it’s dominated by nerdy men, you’ll hate it.’
“But I’m quite stubborn so I sent my CV to lots of different companies and got a job as a runner with a company called Cell Animation and it all took off from there.”
She added: “To be nominated was shocking enough. We said there was no way we would win – I think we were eighty to one at the bookies.
“So when they called us to the stage, it was such a shock, I couldn’t get out of my chair – but then the happiness and the adrenalin take over and the nerves disappear.
“We went to an after-party when the ceremony was over and it was completely surreal, full of celebrities wall to wall.
“We had a picture taken with Mini Driver, who was lovely. There was also Justin Timberlake, and Jake Gyllenhal who I really love.”
About the film, she said: “We were lucky enough to work with director, Alex Garland on Dredd, so when he was doing Ex Machina, he got in touch.”
Ex Machina is a British science fiction psychological thriller about a humanoid robot called Ava.
Milk worked alongside VFX company, Double Negative to create a range of 2D shots and a CG brain for Ava.
Sara said: “It’s an amazing achievement to be the first woman to win since 1986 – but it’s also quite sad.
“There are lots of amazing female VFX artists out there, but they just don’t get recognised.
“I think it’s just a matter of time before we see even more women up there winning awards.”
She added: “It’s the biggest thing that’s happened to me – and many women across the industry have written to say it was really inspiring to see.”
But Sara said winning the award is not just about being male or female because the industry is challenging enough in itself.
Sara’s advice to VFX mavericks of the future: “If I can do it, then others can too – and if it’s something you really want to do, you’ll get there eventually. You just have to keep on believing in yourself, and if you’re passionate about something, you’ll be a success in what you want to do.”
