Argo wins Best Film

Iran hostage drama “Argo” won the Oscar for Best Film, the top prize at the movie industry’s most coveted awards, beating rival “Lincoln.”

The thriller, which is based on a true story, recounts a CIA mission to rescue six American diplomats from Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, under the cover of making a fake Hollywood film.

“Argo” was voted Best Film on Sunday after winning a slew of other Hollywood awards despite its director, Ben Affleck, being left off the Academy Award directing shortlist.

Jennifer Lawrence wins best actress Oscar

Jennifer Lawrence won the Oscar for best actress at the 85th Academy Awards for her performance as a headstrong young widow in “Silver Linings Playbook.”

“This is nuts,” quipped Lawrence – who got a sympathetic standing ovation after she tripped on her way up onto the stage in a Dior Couture gown – as she gripped the first Oscar of her career.

Daniel Day-Lewis wins Best Actor

Daniel Day-Lewis won the Best Actor Oscar on Sunday for playing US President Abraham Lincoln in “Lincoln,” becoming the first man to win the trophy three times.

Day-Lewis, 55, was favourite to win the Academy Award for his quiet, intense performance as one of America’s most respected presidents as he battled to end slavery and the US Civil War.

Early winners

Ang Lee’s “Life of Pi” and “Les Miserables” won early Oscars Sunday at a musical show where the race for the top Academy Awards was on a knife-edge between frontrunners “Argo” and “Lincoln.”

Austrian director Michael Haneke’s Cannes-winning “Amour” won the best foreign language film award at the 85th Academy Awards, widely seen as the most unpredictable for years.

Best supporting actor went to Austrian Christoph Waltz, who played a dentist turned bounty hunter in Quentin Tarantino’s blood-spattered spaghetti western tribute “Django Unchained.”

Midway through the show, Anne Hathaway won best supporting actress Oscar for her heart-wrenching turn in musical adaptation “Les Miserables,” which had already won best makeup/hairstyling.

Taiwan-born Lee’s spectacular 3D adventure “Life of Pi” had also taken two prizes by the half-way stage, albeit both of them technical: best cinematography and visual effects.

The best animated feature film award went to Scottish-themed “Brave,” which beat fellow nominees including video game adventure “Wreck-It Ralph,” which had been tipped as the marginal frontrunner.

The show included a tribute segment to the James Bond movies, with legendary diva Shirley Bassey belting out the theme tune from “Goldfinger” and British singer Adele singing the nominated theme from “Skyfall.”

The show, hosted by “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane, was preceded by a two-hour A-list fashion parade on the red carpet, with a healthy serving of old-school Hollywood glamour on display.

MacFarlane started with a joke about “Argo” director Ben Affleck, who was nominated for best picture but failed to win a best director nomination, quipping that he was “unknown to the Academy.”

Among those talking on the Dolby Theatre red carpet was Jessica Chastain, nominated for best actress for Osama bin Laden manhunt movie “Zero Dark Thirty,” who played down her hopes for the evening.

“I’m not going to win the Oscars tonight. I just don’t think it’s my year,” Chastain, in a strapless beaded flesh-colored Armani gown, told CNN.

Chastain’s main rival, “Silver Linings Playbook” star Jennifer Lawrence, strutted her stuff in a strapless cream Dior gown with a full puffy skirt.

“This was such a passion project for all of us,” she told E! television, referring to the romantic comedy with an edge that earned a total of eight nominations, including one for best picture.

In a heavily musical show, legendary diva Barbra Streisand was to give her first Oscars performance for 36 years.

Affleck – who would be the first person to win best picture without being nominated as director since “Driving Miss Daisy” in 1990 – got a diplomatic boost Saturday when new US Secretary of State John Kerry tweeted best wishes.

Steven Spielberg, bidding for his first best picture Oscar since “Schindler’s List” in 1994, tops the nominations with 12 nods for “Lincoln” – but “Argo” has cleaned up in Hollywood’s awards season so far, despite having only seven.

Although he started the season two months ago as the favorite, Spielberg may have to settle Sunday for the best director award – one that Affleck cannot beat him to, having not been nominated in the category, in a perceived snub.

One near-certainty is that “Lincoln” star Daniel Day-Lewis will be named best actor, a record third for the British-Irish actor after wins in 1990 for “My Left Foot” and in 2008 for “There Will Be Blood.”

For best actress the early favorite was Chastain, but the clever money is now on Lawrence – barring an upset win by French star Emmanuelle Riva for her turn in “Amour,” on her 86th birthday.

On the eve of the Oscars, “Silver Linings Playbook” got a publicity boost Saturday when it was named best film at the Independent Spirit Awards, as well as winning the best actress and best director prizes.
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‘Sugar Man’ wins Oscar

“Searching for Sugar Man,” about a singer whose musical star faded without a trace until he was rediscovered in South Africa, won the best documentary feature Oscar on Sunday.

The film tells the story of Sixto Rodriguez, who made two albums in the early 1970s but then quit music – and who knows nothing about his fame on another continent.

The documentary was made by first-time director Malik Bendjelloul, who first discovered Rodriguez while travelling for six months in Africa in 2006, and was fascinated by his story.

Christoph Waltz wins best supporting actor Oscar

Austrian actor Christoph Waltz won the best supporting actor Oscar on Sunday for his role as a dentist turned bounty hunter in Quentin Tarantino’s blood-spattered western “Django Unchained.”

In the first prize of the night, Waltz beat fellow nominees Alan Arkin for “Argo,” Robert De Niro for “Silver Linings Playbook,” Philip Seymour Hoffman for “The Master” and Tommy Lee Jones for “Lincoln.”

The award was the 56-year-old’s second Oscar, after he won best supporting actor in 2010, also with Tarantino, as devilish Nazi officer Hans Landa in Nazi-hunting film “Inglourious Basterds.”

‘Brave’ wins best animated feature Oscar

“Brave,” a Scottish-themed princess tale with a gender equality twist, won the best animated feature Oscar on Sunday, in the latest triumph for big-screen animation pioneers Pixar.

The movie beat fellow nominees “Frankenweenie” by Tim Burton, Disney’s video game adventure “Wreck-It Ralph,” as well as “ParaNorman” and “The Pirates! Band of Misfits.”

Adele’s ‘Skyfall’ wins best song Oscar

The latest James Bond movie’s theme tune “Skyfall,” sung by British songstress Adele, won best original song Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards.

The Grammy-winning singer, who teared up as she gave a short acceptance speech, sang the song earlier in the evening.
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‘Amour’ wins best foreign language film Oscar

Stark Austrian drama “Amour” won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

The French-language film, directed by Michael Haneke and considered the favorite to win the Academy Award, details the everyday struggles and indignities of elderly Parisian couple Anne and Georges as they confront Anne’s slide toward death.

List of winners for the Oscars 2013