Accolades, Press & Certifications
Studio Property Accolades
As Senior Producer and Production Manager, Cheryl spearheaded the operational frameworks and production pipelines for films that have collectively garnered dozens of international film and visual effects awards, including:
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Winner | Best Astronomy Film Dome Under Fulldome Festival 2024
Winner | Best Educational Film at Dome Fest West 2024
Winner | Best Science Film Award at the International Planetarium Society / Jena Fulldome Festival 2024
Winner | Best Dome Film, Portland Festival of Cinema, Animation & Technology 2024
Official Selection | Fulldome Festival Brno 2024
Official Selection | SIGGRAPH Electronic Theater 2024
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Winner | Science and Education Award at the #BestOfEarth 2021
Winner | Best Narrative at the Dome Under Fulldome Festival 2021
Winner | Directors Award at the Fulldome Festival Brno 2022
Official Selection | SIGGRAPH Electronic Theater 2022
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Winner | Best Astronomy Education at the Dome Under Fulldome Festival 2020
Winner | STEM For All Video Showcase 2020
Winner | Best Science Film at the Dome Fest West 2021
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Official Selection | International Planetarium Movie Festival 2014
Official Selection | IPS-Macao International Film Festival
Nominated | Best FullDome Program at the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival
Nominated | Best Visual Effects in a Special Venue at the Visual Effects Society
Finalist | Best Video at the International Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge
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Audience Award/Drama Sundance Film Festival
Closing Night Selection New Directors/New Films Festival
Audience Award HBO Outstanding First Narrative Feature L.A. Outfest
Best Feature New York Lesbian and Gay Film Festival
People Award Paris Lesbian Film Festival
Emerging Talent Award Rome Film Fest
Jury Special Prize Valladolid International Film Festival
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Official Selection Cannes Producers Network
Official Selection No Borders Independent Feature Project
Official Selection San Francisco International Woman's Film Festival
Robin Eickman Screenwriting Award
Official Selection Mill Valley Film Festival
Best of Fest Long Island Film Festival
Official Selection 15th Annual California Film Festival
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Winner | Best fullDome Program at the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival
Winner | Best Integration of Scientific Data at the Jena Fulldome Festival
Winner | Best in Narration at the Jena Fulldome Festival
Press
A collection of media coverage and industry spotlights highlighting the global impact, technical innovation, and educational reach of our production studio's properties. From major film festival wins to deep-dive interviews on specialized venue pipelines, these stories track a career dedicated to pushing the boundaries of immersive scientific storytelling.
Moderated the Women in AI panel: Shaping the Future of Artificial Intelligence at the California Academy of Sciences annual Big Bang gala April 2025. | Moderator: Cheryl Vanderbilt, with panelists Kian Beyzavi (Academy trustee and Vice President of AI Strategy and Operations at Danaher), Susanna Raj (CEO and Founder of AI4Nomads and Co-Founder of Global South in AI), and Ye Wang (Senior Principal Research Scientist at Autodesk.)
Won Best Dome Film at the Portland Festival of Cinema, Animation & Technology 2024. | Ryan Wyatt & Cheryl Vanderbilt, Portland 2024.
Cheryl Vanderbilt, Oregon Museum of Science and Technology (OMSI), Portland 2024.
Attending the Fulldome Festival Brno 2024. | Brno Observatory and Planetarium 2024. (Hvězdárna a planetárium Brno)
Won Best Educational Film at Dome Fest West 2024 | Cheryl Vanderbilt, Ryan Wyatt, and Erik Krumrey at Dome Fest West 2024.
Senior Producer of Immersive Media, Cheryl Vanderbilt and Senior Director Ryan Watt of the Morrison Planetarium and Visualization Studio joined host Olivia Horton to chat about the new planetarium show at the California Academy of Sciences– "Spark: The Universe in Us"
Behind the Scenes Presentation - Spark: The Universe in Us
ABC News - Attending Disney's 100th Anniversary Gala at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank
D23 News Article | Sean & Cheryl Vanderbilt attending the 100th Anniversary Gala at the Walt Disney Studios. 2023
Behind-the-Scenes Presentation - Living Worlds
Won Best Science Film at Dome Fest West 2021 | Cheryl Vanderbilt & Ryan Wyatt Winning Best Science Film at Dome Fest West 2021.
Featured in Mercury News - Cosplay (Scarlet Witch & Doctor Strange) | Cheryl & Sean Vanderbilt, Silicon Valley Comic Con 2018.
New York Times Article: Behind the Scenes of Fulldome Show Production | Cheryl Vanderbilt in the Planetarium systems control room 2011.
AI panel: Shaping the Future of Artificial Intelligence at the California Academy | Watch the full interview here!
Professional Development, Workshops & Creative Agility
The Multi-Disciplinary Edge
Cheryl's practical fluency across production fundamentals—including editing, cinematography, and sound integration—allows her to communicate effortlessly with technical crews and step into production gaps whenever critical milestones loom. This approach extends to her personal creative explorations, which serve as an ongoing R&D lab: her expertise in traditional arts sharpens her visual eye for rapid storyboarding, her garment fabrication background informs character costume discussions, and her musical training as a pianist allows her to speak a shared, precise language with studio composers.
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Focusing on institutional scale, cross-functional organizational health, and multi-million-dollar agile project delivery architectures.
Enterprise Studio Leadership & AI Frameworks: Certified in AI Fundamentals: Think, Create, and Work Smarter (MasterClass, 2026) • Disney Institute: Disney's Approach to Business Excellence (Credentialed) • Critical Leadership Training • Scientific Thinking and Communication • Achieve More with GenAI Workshops (2024–2025).
Agile Project & Schedule Operations: Certified Project Team & Schedule Management frameworks (Lynda/LinkedIn) • Scope Creep Prevention Engineering • Time-Optimization Deployments.
Enterprise Infrastructure & Cloud Systems: Oracle Fusion Workspace Orchestration • Adaptive Insights Refresher & Planning Deployments • Google Guru System Training • AWS Cloud Systems Operations.
Corporate Communication & Ethics: Legal review of Creative Commons and open-source models • Intercultural Communication Fundamentals • Professional Business Writing.
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Technical field mastery encompassing remote capture gear configurations, data arrays, and specialized location-based setups.
UAV & Aerial Operations: Completed comprehensive Commercial Drone Systems Training (DJI Pro Systems Platforms & FAA Small UAS Operational Frameworks).
Advanced Camera & Motion Control Arrays: Programming and deploying Dynamic Perception Motion Control Rigs • Remote camera slider mechanics • Live multi-cam arrays.
Immersive, Spatial & VR Captures: Learning VR Photography & Video engineering frameworks • Audio for Video deployments • GoPro-360 specialized panoramic capture rigs.
Advanced Cinematography & Field Workshops: Elite field instruction via Frans Lanting Master Photography and Macro Workshops.
Sound Design & Engineering: Professional Sound Recording Techniques with Phil Perkins • Wirecast Live Audio/Video Broadcast Streaming configurations.
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End-to-end technical production pipelines across real-time rendering environments, spatial data, and film festival forums.
Interactive Data Visualization: Processing Interactive Data Visualization • Creative Storytelling for Designers • Asset Creation for Interactive Data Layouts.
Advanced Engine & Planetarium Architectures: Digital Sky Academy Pipeline Training • Worldwide Telescope integration frameworks • Specialized Unreal Engine, Unity, and NVIDIA Omniverse workflows.
Stereoscopic 3D & Fulldome Master Post-Production: Stereoscopic 3D Environment Design • After Effects Fulldome master workflows • Stereoscopic 3D Motion Graphics • Nuke Compositing pipelines.
3D Modeling & Rigging Environments: Blender Essential Training • Custom Blender Fisheye Camera Rig configuration • Blender 5-Cam Rig development • Google Geo asset integration.
Peer Guild Panels & Festival Symposia: Active curation and peer attendance across industry forums: Visual Effects Society (VES) Symposia (Avengers: Endgame, Captain Marvel, Reality Evolved panels) • Women in Animation (WIA) (Women of Marvel, Little Bo Peep design panels) • International Immersive Film Festivals (Dome Fest West, Brno Fulldome, Portland Film Festival).