The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world, kicked off last night and we are happy to report that two huge movies with VFS connections will be making their official debuts during the event. Over a dozen grads, including numerous at Method Studios here in Vancouver, worked on both films.

Argo, directed by and starring Ben Affleck, premieres tonight at TIFF and opens nationwide on October 26th. The film, which is getting some early Oscar buzz, is a based-on-fact thriller about a CIA “exfiltration” expert who devises a plan to get six Americans out of Tehran after the 1979 invasion of the American embassy – by having them masquerade as a Hollywood film crew.

The film had three Animation & Visual Effects grads working behind-the-scenes, Geoffrey Hancock (Visual Effects Supervisor), Jamie Bowers (Texture Artist), and Jose Yapor (Visual Effects Artist).

Cloud Atlas, based on the visionary 2004 science-fiction/fantasy epic by David Mitchell, will be shown at TIFF tomorrow evening and opens nationwide on October 26th. The film stars Tom Hanks and Halle Berry and was directed by Lana and Andy Wachowski, best known for The Matrix.

An impressive 11 Animation & Visual Effects grads helped bring to life the incredible effects seen on screen.

Kyeyong (Aaron) Peck – Senior Modeler and Texture Artist
Geoffrey Hancock – Visual Effects Supervisor
Jamie Bowers – Texture Artist
Jose Yapor – Visual Effects Artist
Anthony Gabas – 3D Artist
Ian Sorensen – Lead Modeler
Alberto Landeros – Digital Compositor
Colin Ebbeson – Visual Effects Artist
Lisa Nolan – Visual Effects Artist
Corey Coates – Compositor
Rhea Darch – Matchmove Artist