MUMBAI: The International Press Academy has decided to honour visual effects artist Douglas Trumbull with its Nikola Tesla Award for ‘Visionary Achievement in Filmmaking Technology‘ at its 16th annual Satellite Awards on December 18.

Trumbull, who earned a Scientific and Technical Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, for his work with the Showscan CP-65 Camera, was the special photographic effects supervisor for 1968‘s 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The Academy, comprising of foreign and domestic journalists, will present its Mary Pickford Award for outstanding contribution to the entertainment industry to Mitzi Gaynor, whose films range from There‘s No Business Like Show Business to South Pacific. Gaynor also enjoyed a career as a nightclub performer, making her Las Vegas debut at the Flamingo Hotel in 1961.

He directed 1972‘s Silent Running and 1982‘s Brainstorm. Most recently, he served as special photographic effects consultant on Terrence Malick‘s The Tree of Life.