Oscars: The Artist shines, Hugo sweeps technical awards

That Jean Dujardin would win the Best Actor Oscar for The Artist was not surprising for most, as George Clooney loyalists kept their fingers crossed for him, but were disappointed. Dujardin is the first actor of French nationality to win an Oscar.

Meryl Streep won the Best Actress, who after a record 17 nominations in the history of the awards and 3 wins, choked up and got teary eyed as she received the golden statuette and gave her acceptance speech.

The 84th Academy Awards, the most-awaited film-related event of the year, was held with much fanfare and glitter as stars made their appearance on the red carpet. Billy Crystal, returning as host for the 9th time, kept the audience in splits.

The Artist (Michel Hazanavicius) was the Best Picture, edging out the likes of The Descendants, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, The Help, Hugo, Midnight in Paris, Moneyball, The Tree of Life and War Horse. It is the only silent film to win the award since "Wings" won the first Best Picture Oscar.

Hazavanicius met popular expectations worldwide to take home the Best Director award for The Artist. The film, about an ageing Hollywood star from the silent film era who wanes because of the coming of the talkies, is ironically a silent movie itself and has been making waves since it premiered at Cannes last year.

The Artist won a total of 5 awards.

Martin Scorsese's Hugo swept  the best of the awards in the technical category - Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing and Best Visual Effects, shocking critics and surprising fans. Hugo had a record 11 nominations this year, followed by the widely popular silent film The Artist, which also won the Oscar for the Best Costume Design and Best Original Score.

Widely touted to win, actress Octavia Spencer won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her work in The Help. Best Supporting Actor was won by Christopher Plummer for Beginners. Plummer is now the oldest recipient of an Oscar for acting at 82. Jessica Tandy was 80 when she won it for Driving Miss Daisy.

The Descendants, starring George Clooney won the Best Adapted Screenplay award. The movie based on a book of the same name is about a man tackling several complex personal issues to make peace with his life. Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris won the Best Original Screenplay award.

David Fincer's controversial The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, which is not releasing in India due to censorship issues, won the coveted Best Editing award.

Rango won the honours in the much-loved Best Animated Film category. The song Man or Muppet from The Muppets is the Best Song, while The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore is the Best Animated Short.

Surprisingly, this is the first time that Pixar was not nominated in the Best Animated Motion Picture Oscar section since the category was introduced in 2001.

Iranian director Asghar Farhadi accepted the Best Foreign Language film for his drama, A Separation. Pakistani short, Saving Face won the nation its first Oscar for Best Documentary Short.

The Best Documentary Feature was won by Undefeated, which is about the struggles of an American football team as  they attempt a winning season after years of losses.

The ceremony took place at  the Hollywood & Highland Center Theatre, Los Angeles. The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences announced last week it was removing long-time sponsor Kodak's name from the Oscars telecast due to its bankruptcy woes.