Error code: -1609629695

Hello guys

I'm posting here as I can't seem to find any workaround to the below. 

I am trying to render a 19s corporate christmas animation -menaing I'm already on a tight deadline.

For some reason Adobe Media Encoder, and After Effects, always get stuck on 00:08:17, and getting Error code: -1609629695

I have tried removing effects, then layers, one at a time, to see what was causing the issue, but not matter what I do, it's always the same.

I have tried changing the renderer to Mercury settings, using the GPU, CPU, exporting to MOV first, redoing the whole piece. NOTHING.

I'm using the latest version of AFX, I even tried using the previous one, and the previous before that. 

My computer is an iMac Pro (2017), 3.2 GHz 8-Core Intel Xeon W, 32 GB 2666 MHz DDR4, and Radeon Pro Vega 56 8 GB

I've been using AFX since 2007, and this particular computer for 2 years, and never ever have I seen something like this.

Here's the latest error I got last night, when I redid the whole animation.

- Encoding Time: 02:34:39
12/21/2021 12:28:46 AM : Encoding Failed
------------------------------------------------------------
Export Error
Error compiling movie.

Render Error

Render returned error.

Writing with exporter: H.264
Writing to file: XXXXXX (hiding name info as per NDA)
Writing file type: H264
Around timecode: 00:00:08:18 - 00:00:09:16
Rendering at offset: 9.500 seconds
Component: H.264 of type Exporter
Selector: 9
Error code: -1609629695

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Any ideas here?