Oscar-Nominated visual effects supervisor Pablo Helman, to receive the Astor de Plata Award for Lifetime achievement at the Festival

Helman— who has earned Oscar® nominations for Best Visual Effects for his work on George Lucas’s Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones in 2003, Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds in 2006 and for Martin Scorese’s The Irishman in 2020—has spent nearly three decades working for Industrial Light and Magic, the leading company in the field founded by Lucas in 1975, now part of The Walt Disney Company.

Originally from Buenos Aires, Helman found early success in Argentina as a drummer for Los Moros, a band with which he recorded three albums and achieved a gold record. He soon moved to the United States to study composition at UCLA, and through music, he found a path that led him into the world of visual effects just as it was beginning to transform cinema. He has repeatedly collaborated with Spielberg, providing visual effects for The Fabelmans, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Munich, as well as working with Scorsese on Killers of the Flower Moon, Silence and by de-aging Robert De Niro in The Irishman. He has also worked with David Fincher on Mank and Peter Weir on Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. His credits include visual effects for The Mummy, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Battleship, The Last Airbender, The Spiderwick Chronicles, Jarhead, The Bourne Supremacy and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, among many others.

During his visit to the Mar del Plata International Film Festival, Helman will present a special screening of Universal Pictures’ Wicked, a major production directed by acclaimed filmmaker Jon M. Chu. Wicked, in theaters November 22, is the untold story of the witches of Oz and is based on the global blockbuster stage musical.

The following day, Helman will conduct a masterclass open to the public. The Astor de Plata award will be presented at the closing ceremony. The award's name pays tribute to the renowned Argentine musician Astor Piazzolla, who was born in Mar del Plata in 1921.

Wicked stars Emmy, Grammy and Tony winning powerhouse and Oscar nominee Cynthia Erivo and Grammy winning multi-platitnum recording artist and global superstar Ariana Grande. The film also stars Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh, pop culture icon Jeff Goldblum, Olivier Award winner and Emmy nominee Jonathan Bailey, Tony nominee Ethan Slater, newcomer Marissa Bode. Wicked also features the voice of four-time Emmy winner Peter Dinklage, and is the first chapter of a two-part cinematic celebration. The second film arrives in theaters November 2025.