Oscar Nomination Success

An ISZL alumni is celebrating after a film he worked on for DreamWorks was nominated for an Oscar. 

24-year-old Maarten Lemmens worked on Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. He discovered his love of 3D animation at High School, spending hours in the art room and working with the artist Nathan Ford, who was visiting to create an artwork to unite the ISZL campuses in Baar and Hünenberg. Maarten says, “Because of my interest in art, they grabbed me aside to assist him in this painting. Teachers were very flexible if I had to miss a class for the once in a lifetime opportunity that the school offered me. The paintings are still in both campuses to this day.

Maarten attended Ringling College of Art and Design in Florida. A film he animated in his last year at university, Goalie, won awards at several film festivals. He also worked on animations for the DC movie Black Adam, and also video games including Fortnite and Mortal Kombat. 

Maarten has happy memories of his time at ISZL, from Grades 6 -12L: “I still look back and truly appreciate the effect this high school had on me to be present here in Hollywood, Los Angeles so fast in my career. I can’t thank ISZL and my art teacher, Andrew Gray, enough for giving me that boost into a career that doesn’t feel like a job.”

He is working on an unannounced feature film for summer 2023.