ARTFX triumphs in Los Angeles: AZIMUTH wins a 2026 VES Award

At a ceremony bringing together the biggest international productions, a French short film made by students from ARTFX Montpellier came out on top. This victory once again confirms the school’s commitment to excellence and high artistic standards.

“The VES Awards represent the highest recognition in the visual effects industry. Receiving this distinction once again is a source of immense pride. This award recognizes the talent, boldness, and high standards of our students and teaching staff. It confirms ARTFX’s position among the world leaders in special effects.” – Simon VANESSE, President of ARTFX schools

International recognition for a student film

Produced by 8 students from the Montpellier campus—Martin Bluy, Cassandre Cinier, Chloé Coudray, Thomas Courtois, Mathis Giraudeau, Damien Lagadeuc, François-Clément Michez, Thomas Teisseire —AZIMUTH is a VFX-oriented 3D short film. Go to the film’s page

The film tells the story of Hadenna, a young warrior traveling across the galaxy in search of a cure that will restore her brother Theos’s true body. An ambitious science fiction tale, brought to life by a rich visual universe and remarkable technical mastery.

Students utilized professional pipelines and reference tools such as Houdini, Arnold, Maya, Nuke, and Substance Painter, combining CGI, environment design, FX, lighting, and compositing. Watch the making of

The Azimuth team at the VES AWARDS ceremony in Los Angeles.

The fifth VES Award for ARTFX

With AZIMUTH, ARTFX wins its fifth VES Award. The school had already been recognized for  Terra Nova (2019), Green (2021), Silhouette (2023), Pittura (2024). Since the creation of the VES Awards, 18 ARTFX films have been selected. This new award confirms ARTFX’s position as the most awarded French school in this prestigious international competition.

“Congratulations to the ARTFX students for the remarkable distinction achieved by their film Azimuth at the Visual Effects Society Awards in Los Angeles. This international recognition is testament to the exceptional quality of their work, their creativity, and their technical expertise. It also illustrates the strength of their collaboration and their ability to achieve the highest standards in the industry. With five VES awards, including three in a row, this success at the highest level shows that this isn’t just a one-off achievement. It also confirms a strong educational commitment that produces exceptional artists year after year. A big congratulations to our students and the whole team that supports them every day!” – Dominique Peyronnet, Director of the Montpellier ARTFX campus

ARTFX’s expertise in teaching

In a context where artificial intelligence is profoundly transforming the imaging industry, ARTFX continues to champion an educational approach based on:

• Mastery of artistic fundamentals
• Technical excellence
• Immersion in international production standards

Each final-year project is designed as a real studio production. Students work in teams, with structured pipelines and constraints similar to those of the professional market. This approach explains the school’s consistent recognition in international rankings. In 2025, ARTFX was ranked, for the 7th consecutive year, 1st in the world in VFX for the quality of its student productions by the independent jury The Rookies.

An exceptional year for the school in 2026

The start of this year also marks another distinction: the film Two Kings, made by students from the Lille campus, won an award at PIDS Enghien, France’s largest festival dedicated to visual effects.

These simultaneous successes illustrate the educational consistency between ARTFX’s various campuses and the strength of the model developed by the school since its creation in 2004.

A special screening in Montpellier

To celebrate this international victory, ARTFX is organizing, in partnership with the Diagonal cinema in Montpellier, a special screening of the five student films that won awards at the VES Awards.

📍 March 25, 2026, at 6:30 p.m. Cinéma Diagonal
5 rue de Verdun, 34000 Montpellier

The public will be able to discover these award-winning works and share a special moment with Montpellier’s cultural and creative industries ecosystem.