The three overwhelming favourites to win Oscars at the 79th Annual Academy Awards held in Los Angeles on Sunday, 25 February, did just that. Helen Mirren (Best Actress – “The Queen’), Forest Whitaker (Best Actor – “The Last King of Scotland’) and Jennifer Hudson (Best Supporting Actress – “Dreamgirls’) all triumphed, after having won at all the awards ceremonies leading up to the Oscars.
As expected, iconic filmmaker Martin Scorsese was finally honoured by the Academy, winning not only Best Director for “The Departed’ but Best Film as well. Scorsese beat out Oscar darling and two-time Best Director winner Clint Eastwood, nominated for the Japanese-language “Letters for Iwo Jima’. “The Departed’ won Best Film Editing and Best Adapted Screenplay, with Best Original Screenplay going to “Little Miss Sunshine’. “Letters from Iwo Jima’ won Best Sound Editing.
The Best Supporting Actor category was a bit of a surprise as favourite Eddie Murphy (“Dreamgirls’) was ousted by Alan Arkin for “Little Miss Sunshine’. Although it garnered the most nominations, “Dreamgirls’ only won Best Sound Mixing (and Best Supporting Actress as stated above).
The foreign-language film “Pan’s Labyrinth’, which was nominated for a slew of awards, scored in the Best Make-Up, Best Cinematography and Art Direction categories. However, the Best Foreign Language Film award went to “The Lives of Others’.
Sofia Coppola’s “Marie Antoinette’ won Best Costume and Best Film nominee Babel won Best Music Score.
Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth’ (basically a filmed power-point presentation on global warming) won Best Feature Documentary and Best Song. The Best Short Documentary was “The Blood of Yingzhou District
“Pirates of the Caribbean – Dead Man’s Chest’ won Best Visual Effects while “Happy Feet’ won Best Animated Feature and “The Danish Poet’ the Best Short Animated Film. “West Bank Story’ won Best Live Action Short Film.
Studio Executive Sherry Lansing won the Jean Hersholt Award and the Honourary Oscar went to Italian composer Ennio Morricone.
