**FREE** PH Awards: THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS

Sponsored by Marvel Studios

Set against the vibrant backdrop of a 1960s-inspired, retro-futuristic world, Marvel Studios’ “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” introduces Marvel’s First Family—Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm/Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) and Johnny Storm/Human Torch (Joseph Quinn) as they face their most daunting challenge yet. Forced to balance their roles as heroes with the strength of their family bond, they must defend Earth from a ravenous space god called Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and his enigmatic Herald, Silver Surfer (Julia Garner). And if Galactus’ plan to devour the entire planet and everyone on it weren’t bad enough, it suddenly gets very personal. (Description courtesy of Marvel Studios)

Nona Khodai, ACE - Nona Khodai is an Emmy nominated Picture Editor working in Los Angeles, CA. Her most recent credits include Fantastic Four: The First Steps, Duster, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, WandaVision, Ms. Marvel and the Amazon Prime series The Boys. She is also a proud member of the American Cinema Editors.

Tim Roche - Tim Roche has been an Editor/Director for over 20 years and has worked with some of the top talent in the industry. He was a longtime editor on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and has been nominated four times for best editing for his work on Silicon Valley, Curb Your Enthusiasim, Welcome to Wrexham and WandaVision. His films include Fantastic Four, Vacation Friends 2, Fools Paradise and Thor Love and Thunder. His television credits include She-Hulk, Hawkeye, Wandavision, Curb Your Enthusiasim, Silicon Valley, and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia to name a few.

His directing credits include Silicon Valley, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and the series Hawkeye (uncredited) for Marvel Studios.

Kasra Farahani - A lifelong lover of images and story, Kasra Farahani was born in Iran, and raised in Los Angeles, California after his family fled the Islamic revolution in 1979. Always a visual artist and a builder of things, Kasra studied industrial design and worked in various fields of the craft before landing in the film world.

After nearly a decade as a well regarded concept artist, art director, and production designer on studio features, Kasra made his writing/directing debut with his short film “Noon” in 2013. The film was optioned within 24 hours of its release by 20th Century Fox. Kasra’s, second short film, “Concerning the Bodyguard” premiered at the 2015 Toronto Film Festival and went on to be selected for the 2016 MoMA New Directors/New Films festival.

In 2015 Kasra directed his first feature film, “The Good Neighbor,” starring James Caan. The film premiered at the 2016 SXSW film festival, where it was acquired by Vertical Entertainment. Kasra completed his second feature film “TILT” in 2017 which had its world premier at the 2017 TriBeCa film festival, and was subsequently distributed by The Orchard.

In 2020 Kasra Production Designed the first season of the hit Marvel Series, Loki for Disney+. Loki has gone on to be the most watched series on the entirety of the Disney+ platform. Kasra was nominated for an Emmy for his design work on the series and further was nominated and won the Art Director’s Guild Award for the best production design of a one-hour period or fantasy series.

In 2022 Kasra was asked back for the second season of Loki and in addition to production designing the series, held two other key roles as a series writer and a director of one of the episodes. Kasra is currently Production Designing the highly anticipated MarvelStudios release, Fantastic Four: First Steps, due out in the summer of 2025.

As a student and enthusiast of many forms of storytelling, and having spent years in the art departments of master filmmakers such as Steven Spielberg, Michael Mann, Tim Burton, James Cameron, and David Fincher, Kasra hopes to tell stories that combine the power and scope of visual worlds with the emotional drama that comes from the conflict of well realized characters.

Scott Stokdyk (Visual Effects Supervisor) - Scott Stokdyk, production Visual Effects Supervisor on Marvel’s 2025 Fantastic Four is an Academy Award® winner and three-time Oscar® nominee for VFX. He has also been nominated for multiple British Academy Awards and Visual Effects Society Awards.

Previous to Fantastic Four, Scott supervised the Visual Effects on various films, such as Finch, and Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. In addition, he has consulted on many other VFX projects.

Stokdyk collaborated with director Sam Raimi on the first three Spider-Man movies, winning the Academy Award® for Best Achievement in Visual Effects for Spider-Man 2. Stokdyk also supervised the Visual Effects for Disney’s G-Force and Oz the Great and Powerful.

Scott worked as Digital Effects Supervisor on Hollow Man, and as CG Supervisor on both Godzilla and Stuart Little. Early in his career, Stokdyk was a Digital Artist on Contact, Starship Troopers, Titanic, The Fifth Element and Universal Studios'Terminator 2 3D attraction.

Michael Giacchino - Academy Award®-winning composer and director Michael Giacchino has created the musical landscape for some of the most beloved projects in modern entertainment. His scoring portfolio reads like a greatest hits collection of 21st-century cinema, encompassing animated masterpieces like The Incredibles, Coco, Ratatouille, and Inside Out, blockbuster spectacles including Star Trek, Jurassic World, Rogue One, The Batman and the recent Spider-Man films, acclaimed dramas such as Jojo Rabbit and Society of the Snow, in addition to the beloved score for the iconic television show, LOST. His emotionally resonant score for Pixar's Up earned him a sweep of the industry's most prestigious honors: an Oscar®, Golden Globe®, BAFTA, Broadcast Film Critics' Choice Award, and two GRAMMY® Awards. After nearly two decades establishing himself as one of Hollywood's premier composers, Giacchino expanded his artistic vision by making his directorial debut with Marvel's special presentation Werewolf By Night (2022), marking a new chapter in his multifaceted career. He continues to compose music for films including the 2025 summer blockbuster The Fantastic Four: First Steps, as well as the highly anticipated upcoming Disney animated sequel, Zootopia 2.