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No Oscar for Australia, but six for Hurt Locker

There were no Oscars for Australians at the  82nd Academy Awards, but the Iraq war drama The Hurt Locker did receive six awards, including Best Picture and Best Director for Kathryn Bigelow – the first woman to ever receive his honour.

The film, distributed in Australia by Village Roadshow, won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Script, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Editing. Its strongest rival, Avatar, won three in the technical categories of Art Direction, Cinematography and VFX.

Australian short film Miracle Fish was defeated by The New Tenants; and costume designer Janet Patterson – who openly said she did not care much for awards – saw her work in Bright Star lose to Sandy Powell for The Young Victoria.

Sandra Bullock and Jeff Bridges, both tipped to win the Best Actress and Actor categories respectively, did so unchallenged. Bullock, like Bigelow, also made history as the first person to win a Razzie and an Oscar the same year, and to attend both ceremonies to receive the trophy.

These are the winners of this year’s Oscars, in chronological order:

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

Christoph Waltz for Inglorious Basterds.

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year

Up.

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song

“The Weary Kind” – Crazy Heart.

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen

The Hurt Locker: Mark Boal. Dedicated to “the troops who are still in Iraq”.

1:30pm here it comes, the Best Short categories, with an introduction from top directors discussing the importance of shorts as training ground with its own unique challenges.

Best Short Film, Animated

Logorama.

1:35 Best Documentary Short

Music by Prudence. Ironic, the speech was not as short as the Academy expected.

1:39 Best Short Film, Live Action

The New Tenants. And so Australia missed out on its first nomination of the night. Doesn’t matter, congratulations Luke Doolan!

1:43 Best Achievement in Make-Up

Star Trek. Mostly for Eric Bana’s full-head tattoos.

1:51 Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published

Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire: Geoffrey Fletcher. That’s one nervous and excited, almost speechless winner.

2:00 Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

Mo’Nique for Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire.

2:10 Best Achievement in Art Direction

Avatar, Rick Carter, Robert Stromberg. “James Cameron, this Oscar sees you”. Worst speech of the night?

2:14 Best Achievement in Costume Design

The Young Victoria: Sandy Powell. No Oscar for Australia tonight; it seems like the Academy will always vote for royal frocks over anything else.

2:20 Paranormal Activity parody and tribute to horror films.  Chucky and Leprechaun at the Oscars… and there’s Freddy, Norman Bates, Rosemary’s Baby and that crazy girl from The Ring too.

2:26 Morgan Freeman explaining the importance of sound effects and editing as part of his Filmmaking for Dummies book deal?

Best Achievement in Sound

The Hurt Locker: Paul N.J. Ottosson. Best hair of the night.

Best Achievement in Sound Editing

The Hurt Locker: Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett. More hair. Wow.

2:38 Best Achievement in Cinematography

Avatar: Mauro Fiore.  All that blue paid off.

2:56 Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score

Up: Michael Giacchino

2:58 Best Achievement in Visual Effects

Avatar. Well, duh. Did anyone think the others had a chance?

3:05 Best Documentary, Features

The Cove: Louie Psihoyos. One of those categories where, unfortunately, it’s very unlikely that the audience will get to see all the nominees. They all look fantastic.

3:11 Best Achievement in Editing

The Hurt Locker: Bob Murawski, Chris Innis. Does anyone still doubt that this is the year of The Hurt Locker?

3:18 Best Foreign Language Film

El secreto de sus ojos, directed by Juan José Campanella. Second win for Argentina ever, and one of the most surprising categories. “I want to thank the Academy for not considering Na’vi a foreign language”. Best quote of the night.

3:35 Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart. Another big surprise… not.

3:45 “Gabourey Sidibe, a true American Cinderella”: Oprah Winfrey

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side. Just like Julia Roberts before her, Ms. Bullock has been officially ‘legitimised’ as an actress.  Makes history for winning a Razzie and an Oscar in 24 hours, and for receiving both in person. An Oscar and a Razzie; + and – neutralise each other. It’s like she didn’t win anything then.

3:57 Best Achievement in Directing

Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker. The competition is over. Hurt Locker wins! Another history-making win, the first female director to ever win this award!

4:00 Best Motion Picture of the Year

The Hurt Locker. Another case of a great independent film that cost sweat and tears to be made, had no ‘commercial potential’ yet has proven everyone wrong.

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