AN Aberystwyth special effects artist is part of a team nominated for an Oscar at next week’s glittering awards ceremony in Hollywood.

At the 78th British Academy Film Awards last week, Rhys Salcombe, a former pupil of Penglais School, accepted a BAFTA award for Best Visual Effects for the blockbuster Dune: Part Two, a win he shared with colleagues Paul Lambert, Stephen James and Gerd Nefzer.

In his acceptance speech Rhys described the award as ‘an enormous privilege’ and paid tribute to the legions of unsung artists who had worked on the film behind the scenes.

“There are four of us up here on stage,” he told the audience at London’s Festival Hall, “but collectively we are representing the work of hundreds, if not a few thousand other people, so my heartfelt thanks go to all of them.”

The team are now in the running for an Oscar when the lavish Tinseltown-based awards ceremony is held in Los Angeles on Monday.

Having left school in Aberystwyth, Rhys subsequently graduated from Swansea Institute before moving to London and joining special effects company Double Negative where he met his partner, Anna.

Other films he has worked on include Blade Runner 2049, Star Trek Beyond and Dune: Part One.

The couple, who have two young children, have lived in Vancouver, British Columbia, for the past decade.

Rhys Salcombe is a Welsh-Canadian visual effects artist. He was nominated for an Academy Award in the category Best Visual Effects for the film Dune: Part Two.

Rhys added: “What an incredible honour and a fantastic recognition of the team’s efforts.

“It takes a town to craft images of this scale and complexity, and our teams poured their all into Dune: Part Two to make it the best it could possibly be. I’m so excited to see their amazing work honoured.”