‘Incredibly surreal moment’

IRELAND’S Academy Award-winning animator has described the feeling of collecting his Oscar for visual effects on blockbuster film Avatar as “an incredibly surreal moment”.

Richie Baneham, who trained in Ballyfermot College and now works on some of the world’s biggest movie productions in Los Angeles, said the honour did not hit home until after the ceremony.

“The strange thing is it’s kind of a serene feeling in this weird way to be finally handed the trophy. It does not feel real in any way, until you have come through the press and done all that and walked away and handed the piece to your wife and say ‘here, what do you think of that?’