Stephen James and Rhys Salcombe, from the Vancouver office of London-headquartered VFX studio DNEG,  are among the Canadians recognized by the Academy Awards on Sunday (March 2), thanks to their work on Dune: Part Two.

James (The Last of Us; pictured centre left) and Salcombe (Blade Runner 2049; pictured centre right) were part of the Dune team that triumphed in the Best Visual Effects category, alongside England’s Paul Lambert and Germany’s Gerd Nefzer.

The film, from Quebec director Denis Villeneuve, also took home the award for Best Sound, marking two wins out of five nominations. Villeneuve and his wife, filmmaker Tanya Lapointe, were also among the nominees as producers in the Best Picture category. The film also garnered noms for production design, for Academy Award-winning production designer Patrice Vermette (Dune) and set decorator Shane Vieau.

And while Dune: Part Two didn’t take the Best Picture prize, another Canadian did make the trip to the podium for that category. Vancouver-born producer Samantha Quan accepted the Best Picture Academy Award for Anora alongside Alex Coco and her husband, Anora director Sean Baker.

“To all of the dreamers and the young filmmakers out there: tell the stories you want to tell,” said Quan during her acceptance speech. “Tell the stories that move you. I promise you, you will never regret it.”

Photo by Maya Dehlin Spach/Getty Images