Richie Baneham wins Special Visual Effects Academy Award at the BAFTAs

Students and staff at Ballyfermot College of Further Education are “buzzing” as two former students are currently up for Oscar awards.

Richie Baneham is nominated for Best Visual Effects at the 95th Academy Awards for his work on Avatar: The Way of Water. 

The Tallaght native picked up a Bafta for his work on the same film last week, opening his acceptance speech with, “Go raibh míle maith agat”.

Meanwhile, another former Ballyfermot student, Jillian Beechur, worked on three of the five Production Design nominees for this year’s Oscars – Babylon, Elvis, and Avatar: The Way of Water.

Cecilia Munro, Principal at BCFE, told Independent.ie: “They are the talk of the college this week. There’s a lot of conversation, noise, and chatter about them at the moment.

“Richie won an Oscar for Avatar in 2010, it’s amazing. He came through Ballyfermot College; he has these skills and creativity himself.

“He would’ve learned the core foundations here when he was on the animation course.

“Jillian, a production designer and art director, studied cinematography and film in Ballyfermot. We didn’t teach them their creativity. We allowed them to be creative.

“We gave them somewhere to do it. We encouraged, we fostered, and we let them develop. The reason for the success is that students are allowed to do what they want to do.”

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