• Alicia Keys – Best Original Score, Best Original Song
• Zac Efron – Best Original Score, Best Original Song
• Bill Maher – Best Documentary Film
• Kevin Kline – Best Supporting Actor
• Christopher Walken – Best Supporting Actor
• Cuba Gooding, Jr. – Best Supporting Actor
• Alan Arkin – Best Supporting Actor
• Joel Grey – Best Supporting Actor
• James Franco – Best Live Action Short
• Seth Rogen – Best Live Action Short
• Jessica Biel – Technical Awards Mention
• Natalie Portman – Best Cinematography
• Ben Stiller – Best Cinematography
• Jennifer Aniston – Best Short Film Animated, Animated Feature
• Jack Black – Best Short Film Animated, Animated Feature
• Sarah Jessica Parker – Best Art Direction, Costume Design, Makeup
• Daniel Craig – Best Art Direction, Costume Design, Makeup
• Robert Pattinson – Romance 2008 Montage
• Amanda Seyfried – Romance 2008 Montage
• Tina Fey – Best Screenplay Adapted and Original
• Steve Martin – Best Screenplay Adapted and Original
• Whoopi Goldberg – Best Supporting Actress
• Goldie Hawn – Best Supporting Actress
• Anjelica Huston – Best Supporting Actress
• Eva Marie Saint – Best Supporting Actress
• Tilda Swinton – Best Supporting Actress
• Will Smith – Best Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Film Editing, Visual Effects
• Reese Witherspoon – Best Director
• Sophia Loren – Best Actress
• Shirley MacLaine – Best Actress
• Marion Cotillard – Best Actress
• Nicole Kidman – Best Actress
• Halle Berry – Best Actress
• Michael Douglas – Best Actor
• Adrien Brody – Best Actor
• Robert De Niro – Best Actor
• Anthony Hopkins – Best Actor
• Ben Kingsley – Best Actor
• Steven Spielberg – Best Picture

Performers

• Queen Latifah performed “I’ll Be Seeing You” during the annual “In Memoriam” tribute.
• James Marvel last minute addition violinist.
• Anne Hathaway portrayed “Nixon” aside Hugh Jackman in the opening sequence
• Hugh Jackman, Beyoncé Knowles, Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Amanda Seyfried, and Dominic Cooper performed a medley created by Baz Luhrmann of songs from movie musicals. The medley of nominees for best song was performed by A. R. Rahman, John Legend, and Mahalaxmi Iyer

The 81st Academy Awards ceremony was held by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to honor its selection of the best films of 2008 on Sunday, February 22, 2009, at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, California. The ceremony was televised in the United States on ABC and on Sky Movies in High definition in the United Kingdom. Australian performer Hugh Jackman hosted the ceremony for the first time. Academy Award-nominated producer Laurence Mark produced with Academy Award-winning writer/director Bill Condon as executive producer.

Slumdog Millionaire won eight awards, the most of the evening, including Best Picture and Best Director (Danny Boyle). The Curious Case of Benjamin Button led the nominations with a total of 13 while Slumdog Millionaire received ten, The Dark Knight and Milk received eight, and Doubt, The Reader, and Frost/Nixon each received five. The animated film WALL-E, the winner for Best Animated Feature, received six nominations, tying it with Beauty and The Beast for the most nominated animated film in Oscar history.

The Academy hoped to rework the ceremony through an entirely new production team sworn to secrecy. The ceremony received recent controversies prior to its broadcast, most notably the Academy’s alleged snubbing of films such as The Dark Knight, Doubt, and WALL·E, threats from a possible Screen Actors Guild strike, and fear of the Oscar telecast’s recent low viewership.

Winners of major awards

Feature films

Best Picture : Slumdog Millionaire :  Christian Colson

• Slumdog Millionaire is a 2008 British drama film directed by Danny Boyle, with co-director (India) Loveleen Tandan, and written by Simon Beaufoy. It is an adaptation of the Boeke Prize winning and Commonwealth Writers’ Prize nominated novel Q and A by Indian author and diplomat Vikas Swarup. Set and filmed in …

Best Foreign Language Film  : Departures – Japan  : Yojiro Takita

• Departures (Okuribito) is a 2008 Japanese film directed by Yojiro Takita. It won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2009 Oscars. Plot Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki), a cellist in an orchestra in Tokyo, loses his job because of dissolution of the orchestra. After quitting as a professional cellist, …

Best Documentary Feature :  Man on Wire  : Simon Chinn

• Man on Wire is a 2009 Academy Award-winning documentary film directed by James Marsh. The film chronicles Philippe Petit’s 1974 high-wire walk between the Twin Towers of New York’s World Trade Center and is based on Philippe Petit’s book, To Reach the Clouds, which has recently been released in paperback …

Best Animated Feature  : WALL·E  : Andrew Stanton

• WALL-E is a 2008 computer-animated science fiction film produced by Pixar Animation Studios. The film was directed by Andrew Stanton. It follows the story of a robot named WALL-E who is designed to clean up a waste covered Earth far in the future. He eventually falls in love with another …

Directing

• Best Director  Danny Boyle  Slumdog Millionaire

Acting

• Best Actor in a Leading Role  : Sean Penn :  Milk
• Best Actress in a Leading Role  : Kate Winslet  : The Reader
• Best Actor in a Supporting Role : Heath Ledger : The Dark Knight
• Best Actress in a Supporting Role : Penélope Cruz :  Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Writing

• Best Writing – Original Screenplay  : Dustin Lance Black : Milk
• Best Writing – Adapted Screenplay :  Simon Beaufoy  : Slumdog Millionaire

Special honors

• Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award  : Jerry Lewis  : Comedic film & Humanitarian Work

Other Awards

• Best Art Direction – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Donald Graham Burt, Victor J. Zolfo
• Best Cinematography – Slumdog Millionaire – Anthony Dod Mantle
• Best Costume Design – The Duchess – Michael O’Connor
• Best Documentary Feature – Man on Wire
• Best Documentary Short – Smile Pinki – Megan Mylan
• Best Animated Short – La Maison En Petits Cubes – Kunio Kato
• Best Live Action Short – Toyland (Spielzeugland)
• Best Film Editing – Slumdog Millionaire – Chris Dickens
• Best Makeup – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Greg Cannom
• Best Original Score – Slumdog Millionaire – A. R. Rahman
• Best Original Song – “Jai Ho” from Slumdog Millionaire – A. R. Rahman (music), Gulzar (lyrics)
• Best Sound Editing – The Dark Knight – Richard King
• Best Sound Mixing – Slumdog Millionaire – Resul Pookutty, Richard Pryke, Ian Tapp
• Best Visual Effects – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton, Craig Barron

Nominations

The nominees for the 81st Academy Awards were announced live on Thursday, January 22, 2009, at 5:38 a.m. PST (13:38 UTC) by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences president Sid Ganis and Oscar-winning actor Forest Whitaker at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in the Academy’s Beverly Hills headquarters. The winners were announced during the awards ceremony on Sunday, February 22, 2009, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California. Jerry Lewis was honored with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.

Multiple nominations and awards

The following 15 films received multiple nominations.

• 13 nominations: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• 10 nominations: Slumdog Millionaire
• 8 nominations:  The Dark Knight and Milk
• 6 nominations:  WALL-E
• 5 nominations:  Doubt, Frost/Nixon, and The Reader
• 3 nominations:  Changeling and Revolutionary Road
• 2 nominations:  The Duchess, Frozen River, Iron Man, Wanted, and The Wrestler

The following four films received multiple awards.

• 8 awards: Slumdog Millionaire
• 3 awards: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• 2 awards: The Dark Knight
• 2 awards: Milk

81st Academy Awards – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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While the film’s triumphs at the 81st annual Academy Awards marked an amazing outcome for a movie filled with subtitles, scenes of torture and a Bollywood dance sequence, the wins also cemented the reputation of distributor Fox Searchlight, which has become Hollywood’s top advocate of the kind of daring works that movie studios have all but abandoned.

Director Danny Boyle’s fictional account of a Mumbai orphan’s surprising winning streak on India’s version of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” also won Oscars for direction, adapted screenplay, cinematography, editing, original score, original song and sound mixing.

The wins for the film — produced by a British company, co-financed by a French distributor and made by a largely Indian cast and crew — dramatized the global compass reading of contemporary movie production, as other top Oscar winners showed.

The best supporting actress winner was Spain’s Penelope Cruz for “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”; Australian actor Heath Ledger was posthumously named best supporting actor for “The Dark Knight”; and British star Kate Winslet won best actress for “The Reader.” The only acting winner with a U.S. birth certificate: Sean Penn, who played the title character in “Milk.”

Host Hugh Jackman opened the broadcast with a song and dance routine about the economic recession, and though he didn’t reference Hollywood cost-cutting specifically, belt-tightening was very much a part of the Oscar ceremony backdrop.

In a show business shakeup that has cost scores of film executives their jobs and left numerous movies in limbo, studios are scaling back not only on provocative dramas but also on the companies they established to produce and distribute them.

In the last year, Warner Bros. closed its two specialty film divisions, Warner Independent Pictures (the original distributor of “Slumdog Millionaire”) and Picturehouse, while Paramount closed the doors of its Paramount Vantage unit. ThinkFilm, a leading distributor of nonfiction films, has vanished, and the Weinstein Co. has scaled way back.

At the same time, the big movie studios are steering clear of highbrow literary dramas, aiming their resources at mass-appeal works including family-friendly animation, superhero stories and established franchises such as James Bond and Harry Potter.

As others have ditched movies that require patient marketing to build grass-roots audience interest — “Slumdog Millionaire” debuted in just 10 theaters last November and didn’t reach its widest national release until last weekend — Fox Searchlight has become Hollywood’s unequaled home for films made outside the normal studio channels.

A tiny cog in Rupert Murdoch’s global News Corp. media conglomerate, Fox Searchlight not only was able to steer “Slumdog Millionaire” to its multiple Oscar wins, but also turned it into a solid box-office hit, with domestic gross set to pass $100 million.

“It’s a triumph for this kind of film,” Boyle said backstage, minutes after he thanked Fox Searchlight from the lectern of the Kodak Theatre.

By far the most successful of the studio-owned specialty film divisions, Fox Searchlight had never before won the top Oscar, although it had best picture finalists three of the last four years with a varied slate of original, audience-pleasing works: 2007′s “Juno,” 2006′s “Little Miss Sunshine” and 2004′s “Sideways.”

While the best picture prize will make a nice ornament for Fox Searchlight’s lobby, the trophy also serves as a validation of the company’s patient, disciplined approach to making and distributing movies from outside the studio system — even as the company’s peers are folding their tents.

Some of these companies were done in by profligate spending and steep overhead, which Fox Searchlight has consistently avoided. The company refuses to pay its actors more than $500,000 — often a tiny fraction of their standard, multimillion-dollar salaries — and carries a staff of about 75.

Slumdog’ strikes it rich with 8 Oscar wins

With small distributors going out of business and major studios shuttering their specialty divisions, Slumdog is a success story that almost inevitably will become — indeed already has become — increasingly rare.

Even Slumdog almost didn’t make it to the cineplex. Warner Independent Pictures planned to distribute the film but went out of business last May, so Slumdog was set to go to DVD. Then, Fox Searchlight, one of the last remaining art-house divisions of a major studio, stepped in.

The movie dazzled critics, won over audiences and wowed the academy.

One might think such success could lead to more lower-budget artistic ventures with largely unknown casts being made by major studios. It seems unlikely when the cash quotient on big-budget event movies such as The Dark Knight is so much greater. (Dark Knight has taken in $533.1 million — in North America alone — vs. Slumdog’s $98 million.)

And why make arty small movies that usually bring in modest returns when a studio can spend a reasonable $25 million to churn out a mediocre comedy like Paul Blart, Mall Cop and rake in $121.4 million in 6 weeks?

The reality is, movies like Slumdog, if they get made at all, will more likely be distributed through less conventional methods such as the Internet.

If Hollywood wants to remain relevant, it should remember this little film that could. Or, eventually, the Net will be the big winner.

Lessons from Ledger’s win

Heath Ledger’s posthumous award for supporting actor was the most expected of any win.

It was an emotional high point of the telecast when his parents and sister accepted the trophy on behalf of his daughter, Matilda, 3. But it is also a significant win. What his father, Kim Ledger, referred to as Heath’s “quiet determination” is substantial understatement.

What we sometimes forget: Ledger was just 28 and had already displayed astoundingly versatile talent in such films as Monster’s Ball and Brokeback Mountain

While there are plenty of good young actors, few accomplish so much in such a short time. Young actors seem to fall into three general categories: raunchy comedians, action heroes or romantic leads. We need more young actors to take on complex character roles, take risks and avoid slipping into comfort zones.

Unlike most in his generation, Ledger understood what it takes to be great.

Penn’s trophy: A watershed?

Sean Penn’s best-actor win is about something bigger than his larger-than-life performance as assassinated politician Harvey Milk.

For the academy, a large percentage of whom are based in California, local politics probably played a part. The passage of California ballot Proposition 8, which eliminated same-sex couples’ constitutional right to marry, outraged many in the movie industry. Any California resident would have a hard time ignoring the controversial initiative while watching the strides that Milk made in the 1970s as the country’s first openly gay politician.

Penn himself voiced the larger political issues in his acceptance speech, going so far as to scold those who voted to ban same-sex marriage. “We’ve got to have equal rights for everyone,” he said.

He also acknowledged that his strong political views often alienate him from his audience and academy members. “I do know how hard I make it to appreciate me.”

Penn’s breathtaking performance is a win for gay rights, too.

Three Oscar wins, three new lessons for the industry

The first Peruvian film in the festival’s main competition, it tells the story of a young woman who was born of her mother’s rape in the 1980s.

It beat hotly-tipped The Messenger, starring Woody Harrelson, and My One and Only, with Renee Zellweger.

The runner-up Silver Bear was shared by Uruguay’s Gigante and Germany’s Everyone Else.

“This is beautiful… this is such an honour,” said The Milk of Sorrow’s director, Claudia Llosa, on receiving the award.

“This is for Peru. This is for our country.”

Hit picker

The Messenger, which sees Harrelson play an army officer assigned to inform the next of kin about soldiers killed in combat, won the Silver Bear for best script for writers Oren Moverman and Alessandro Camon.

Sotigui Kouyate from Mali won the Silver Bear for best actor for his turn in London River as a French Muslim waiting for news of his son after the deadly bombings in London in July 2005.

The film also stars Brenda Blethyn and is directed by French-Algerian Rachid Bouchared.

The best director Silver Bear went to Iranian Asghar Farhadi for About Elly, the story of middle-class Iranians whose trip to the Caspian Sea turns to tragedy as they try to uphold their social customs.

British actress Tilda Swinton was this year’s jury president.

The Berlin Film Festival is in its 59th year. Part of its appeal is its reputation for often picking out future hit films.

Last year’s winner of the Golden Bear was The Elite Squad, a violent tale of corrupt drug-squad officers in Brazil.

The UK’s Sally Hawkins was best actress for Happy-Go-Lucky. Last month she also won the Golden Globe for best comedy actress for the same role.

Iran’s Reza Naji won best actor at Berlin last year for The Song of Sparrows.

US film-maker Paul Thomas Anderson took the prize for best director for There Will Be Blood.

Its star Daniel Day-Lewis went on to win an Oscar for best actor.

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Peru film wins Berlin Golden Bear

The Golden Horse Film Awards (traditional Chinese: 金馬獎; pinyin: Jīnmǎ Jiǎng) are modeled after the Academy Awards and major film festivals worldwide. The awards, contested by submissions from Taiwan, Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China (PRC) and elsewhere, are generally thought to be the most prestigious for Chinese-language films outside the PRC.

Winners are selected by a jury of judges in the week leading up to the ceremony. Winners are awarded with a Golden Horse statuette during a broadcast ceremony.

The Golden Horse awards ceremony is held after a month-long festival showcasing some of the nominated feature films for the awards. A majority of the film winners in the history of the awards have been Hong Kong productions.

In May 1962, the Government Information Office enacted the “Mandarin Film Award Regulation of Year 1962” to officially found the Golden Horse Awards. The name 金馬 comes from the islands of Kinmen (金門) and Matsu (馬祖), which are under Republic of China control.

Under current regulations, any film made primarily in a Chinese language is eligible for competition. Since 1996, a liberalization act allows for an artist or film from mainland China to enter the Awards, mainland artists or films has won several time, such as Jiang Wen’s In the Heat of the Sun, Best Actor award was won by Xia Yu (夏雨) in 1996, Joan Chen in 1999, Best Actress for Qin Hailu (秦海璐) in 2001 and Kekexili: Mountain Patrol in 2004.

Recent winners can be found at the official site of the Golden Horse Film Awards:

Best Film

• 2008: The Warlords (投名状) (2008)  People’s Republic of China/ Hong Kong – director Peter Chan
• 2007: Lust, Caution (色，戒) (2007)  People’s Republic of China/ Republic of China – director Ang Lee
• 2006: After This Our Exile(父子) (2006)  Hong Kong – director Patrick Tam
• 2005: Kung Fu Hustle (功夫) (2004)  People’s Republic of China/ Hong Kong – director Stephen Chow
• 2004: Kekexili: Mountain Patrol (可可西里) (2004)  People’s Republic of China – director Lu Chuan
• 2003: Infernal Affairs (無間道) (2002)  Hong Kong – directors Andrew Lau and Alan Mak
• 2002: The Best of Times (美麗時光) (2001)  Republic of China – director Tso-chi Chang
• 2001: Durian Durian (榴槤飄飄) (2000)  Hong Kong – director Fruit Chan
• 2000: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (臥虎藏龍) (2000)  People’s Republic of China/ Republic of China/ Hong Kong/ United States – director Ang Lee
• 1999: Ordinary Heroes (千言萬語) (1999)  Hong Kong – director Ann Hui
• 1998: Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl (天浴) (1998)  People’s Republic of China – director Joan Chen
• 1997: Comrades: Almost a Love Story (甜蜜蜜) (1996)  Hong Kong – director Peter Chan
• 1996: In the Heat of the Sun (阳光灿烂的日子) (1994)  People’s Republic of China – director Jiang Wen
• 1995: Summer Snow (女人四十) (1995)  Hong Kong – director Ann Hui On-Wah
• 1994: Vive L’Amour (愛情萬歲) (1994)  Republic of China – director Tsai Ming-liang
• 1993: The Wedding Banquet (喜宴) (1993)  Republic of China – director Ang Lee
• 1992: Hill of No Return (無言的山丘) (1992)  Republic of China – director Wang Tung
• 1990: Red Dust (Hong Kong) (滾滾紅塵) (1990)  Hong Kong – director Yim Ho
• 1989: Full Moon in New York (三個女人的故事) (1990)  Hong Kong – director Stanley Kwan
• 1988: Painted Faces (Alex Law, 1988)
• 1987: Straw Man (Wang Toon, 1987)
• 1986: The Terrorizers (Edward Yang, 1986)
• 1985: Kuei-Mei, a Woman (Chang Yi, 1985)
• 1984: Old Mao’s Second Spring (Lee You-Ning, 1984)
• 1983: Growing Up (Chen Kun-hou, 1983)
• 1982: The Battle for the Republic of China (Ting Shan-his, 1981)
• 1981: If I Were for Real (Wang Toon, 1981)
• 1980: Good Morning, Taipei (Li Hsing, 1979)
• 1979: Story of a Small Town (Li Hsing, 1979)
• 1978: He Never Gives Up (Li Hsing, 1978)
• 1977: Heroes in the Eastern Sky (Jhang Zeng-ze, 1977)
• 1976: The Victory (Liu Jia-Chang, 1976)
• 1975: Land of the Undaunted (Li Hsing, 1975)
• 1973: The Escape (Yu Fong-jhih, 1973)
• 1972: Execution in Autumn (Li Hsing, 1972)
• 1971: The Story of Tin-Ying (Li Han-hsiang, 1970)
• 1970: Home Sweet Home (Pai Ching-jui, 1970)
• 1969: Spring in a Small Town (Yang Wen-gan, 1969)
• 1968: The Road (Li Hsing, 1967)
• 1967: Orchids and My Love (Lee Chia, 1966)
• 1966: His-shih, Beauty of Beauties (Li Han-hsiang, 1965)
• 1965: Beautiful Duckling (Li Hsing, 1964)
• 1963: The Love Eterne (Li Han-Hsiang, 1963)
• 1962: Sun, Moon and Star (Yi Wen, 1961)

Links

• http://www.goldenhorse.org.tw

Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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