Oscars 2014: '12 Years a Slave' wins best picture

Matthew McConaughey, Cate Blanchett are best actor, actress; Alfonso Cuaron wins best director

Steve McQueen's "12 Years A Slave", a film that unflinchingly portrays America's slave past, won the top prize of the best picture at the 86th annual Academy Awards.

"Everyone deserves not just to survive, but to live. This is the most important legacy of Solomon Northup," the director said as he was presented the Oscar night's top award by actor Will Smith.

Matthew McConaughey and Cate Blanchett won the best actor and actress awards for their roles in Dallas Buyers Club and Blue Jasmine respectively.

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Mexico-born Alfonso Cuaron won the best director Oscar today for the visually dazzling 3D space disaster drama "Gravity".

"Like any human endeavor making a film can be transformative experience... The film took so long but it wasn't a waste of time.... I want to share this with all the wise people who made this happen," Cuaron said while joking that he grew old while making the film.

Earlier, Lupita Nyong'o won the best supporting actress Oscar for her haunting portrayal of Patsey, a slave who is abused by her owner, in an impressive debut in Steve McQueen's slavery drama "12 Years A Slave".

Meanwhile, the early winners at the 86th Oscars were Jared Leto while Disney's 3D animation drama "Frozen" and "Gravity" won the Oscar trophies in animation and visual effects categories. Frozen's power packed ballad 'Let It Go' won the coveted golden statuette in the best original song category while the best original score went to "Gravity".

Alfonso Cuaron also won his first trophy in the film editing category for Gravity. The film was also a winner for cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki for his stunning camera work. The film also won in sound editing and mixing categories for Glenn Freemantle and Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead and Chris Munro. 

Leto, a strong favourite, won the first trophy of the night for his role of a transgender AIDS patient in "Dallas Buyers Club".

Paolo Sorrentino directed "The Great Beauty", a visually stunning drama about an aging writer going through existential crisis, brought Italy its record 11th Oscar in the best foreign film category.

"The Great Gatsby" won a trophy to Catherine Martin in the best costume design category while its other award came for production design.

"Dallas Buyers Club" took home the best make-up and hairstyling trophy.

Best animated short film Oscar went to "Mr Hublot" while "Helium" was named best live action short film.

"20 Feet from Stardom" was named the best documentary feature and best documentary short went to "The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life".