Oscar nomination for former VCA student

Ditching a Science degree to follow her love of film has literally put alumna Genevieve Camilleri’s name in lights. Camilleri was a nominee in this year’s Oscars for her visual effects work on the Netflix movie, Love and Monsters – a significant nod given the  competitive nature of film and special effects.

“As I am one of very few females to ever be nominated in this category, my  priority is to take this opportunity to encourage all female visual effects artists out there to follow their passion and to have the confidence in their skills to step up into more supervisor roles,” the former Victorian College of the Arts student said.

Camilleri and fellow Australian nominees Matt Sloan, Matt Everitt and Brian Cox, lost to director Christopher Nolan’s team (which included Australian Andrew Jackson) for Tenet, but there’s no denying the significance of the nomination.

The 36-year-old Camilleri was headed for a career in biotechnology when she veered towards a Postgrad Diploma in VFX at the VCA. Her credits to date include Mad Max: Fury Road, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and the coming Top Gun: Maverick. She is currently working on artist and director Del Kathryn Barton’s new film Blaze.

“We are immensely proud of Genevieve’s fantastic achievement,” said the Dean of Fine Music and Arts, Marie Sierra. “We have followed her career closely since she studied with us and look forward to celebrating her future successes. Congratulations to Genevieve for Love and Monsters Oscar nomination!"