Awards season drew to a close last night with the mighty talent of Hollywood coming together for the 86th Annual Academy Awards.
As predicted, Steve McQueen’s brutal slavery drama 12 Years a Slave clinched the all-important Best Picture accolade.
British director McQueen dedicated the win to the many people who had endured slavery for centuries while actor/producer Brad Pitt was amongst those to receive a golden statue for his production skills.
The film also won Best Adapted Screenplay for John Ridley while Kenyan newcomer Lupita Nyong’o overcame stern pressure from Jennifer Lawrence to win Best Supporting Actress for her role as tragic cotton picker Patsey.
A large majority of the awards were won by Alfonso Cuaron’s spectacular sci-fi blockbuster Gravity as it cruised to seven gongs including a Best Director win for Cuaron.
It also managed to win in the categories for Cinematography, Editing, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Visual Effects and Original Score (Steven Price).
Real-life drama Dallas Buyers Club also fared well with three wins including Best Makeup as well as Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor for stars Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto.
Cate Blanchett eased her way to a second Oscar win for her role as erratic socialite Jasmine in Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine.
There were also two Oscar wins each for period drama The Great Gatsby (Production Design, Costume Design) and Frozen (Animated Film, Original Song – “Let It Go”) while Spike Jonze secured Best Original Screenplay for his writing of Her.
But it was a bad night for other Best Picture contenders with leading nominee American Hustle having the rare misfortune of being shut out completely.
Sea-faring thriller Captain Phillips (with seven nominations), real-life caper The Wolf of Wall Street and British dramedy Philomena also missed out on recognition.
US chat show host Ellen DeGeneres provided many laughs throughout the evening with one of the main highlights being an epic celebrity selfie that broke Twitter records as the most re-tweeted photo ever.
The full list of winners are below:
BEST PICTURE
12 Years a Slave
BEST DIRECTOR
Alfonso Cuaron – Gravity
BEST ACTOR
Matthew McConaughey – Dallas Buyers Club
BEST ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Jared Leto – Dallas Buyers Club
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years a Slave
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Spike Jonze – Her
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
John Ridley – 12 Years a Slave
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
The Great Gatsby
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Gravity
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
The Great Gatsby
BEST MAKEUP & HAIR
Dallas Buyers Club
BEST EDITING
Gravity
BEST SOUND MIXING
Gravity
BEST SOUND EDITING
Gravity
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Gravity
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Steven Price – Gravity
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“Let It Go” – Frozen
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE
The Great Beauty
BEST DOCUMENTARY
20 Feet from Stardom
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHOT
The Lady in Number 66: Music Saved My Life
BEST ANIMATED SHORT
Mr Hublot
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT
Helium