Season 85
The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognise excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors and writers, for the preceding year.
The first Academy Awards ceremony was held on Thursday 16 May 1929, at the Hotel Roosevelt in Hollywood to honour outstanding film achievements of 1927 and 1928. It was hosted by actor Douglas Fairbanks and director William C. DeMille.
The Academy Awards traditionally air live in South Africa on one of DStv's movie channels, with a delayed broadcast airing on the same night on M-Net.
The 85th Academy Awards ceremony took place on Sunday 24 February, 2013. Held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California, the awards were hosted by Seth MacFarlane.
The 85th Academy Awards aired live in South Africa on M-Net Movies Premiere on Monday 25 February 2013, at 03h30, preceded by the Red Carpet Live at 02h00.
A rebroadcast of the awards aired on M-Net and M-Net HD on Monday 25 February 2013, at 20h30 and on M-Net Movies Premiere on Tuesday 26 February, at 20h30. The ceremony was three hours long.
2013 Winners
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln
Hugh Jackman in Les Misérables
Joaquin Phoenix in The Master
Denzel Washington in Flight
Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Alan Arkin in Argo
Robert De Niro in Silver Linings Playbook
Philip Seymour Hoffman in The Master
Tommy Lee Jones in Lincoln
Christoph Waltz in Django Unchained
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook
Emmanuelle Riva in Amour
Quvenzhané Wallis in Beasts of the Southern Wild
Naomi Watts in The Impossible
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams in The Master
Sally Field in Lincoln
Anne Hathaway in Les Misérables
Helen Hunt in The Sessions
Jacki Weaver in Silver Linings Playbook
Best Motion Picture of the Year
Amour
Argo - Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck and George Clooney, Producers
Beasts of the Southern Wild - Dan Janvey, Josh Penn and Michael Gottwald, Producers
Django Unchained - Stacey Sher, Reginald Hudlin and Pilar Savone, Producers
Les Misérables - Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward and Cameron Mackintosh, Producers
Life of Pi - Gil Netter, Ang Lee and David Womark, Producers
Lincoln - Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers
Silver Linings Playbook - Donna Gigliotti, Bruce Cohen and Jonathan Gordon, Producers
Zero Dark Thirty - Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow and Megan Ellison, Producers
Best Animated Feature Film of the Year
Brave - Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman
Frankenweenie - Tim Burton
ParaNorman - Sam Fell and Chris Butler
The Pirates! Band of Misfits - Peter Lord
Wreck-It Ralph - Rich Moore
Achievement in Cinematography
Anna Karenina - Seamus McGarvey
Django Unchained - Robert Richardson
Life of Pi - Claudio Miranda
Lincoln - Janusz Kaminski
Skyfall - Roger Deakins
Achievement in Costume Design
Anna Karenina - Jacqueline Durran
Les Misérables - Paco Delgado
Lincoln - Joanna Johnston
Mirror Mirror - Eiko Ishioka
Snow White and the Huntsman - Colleen Atwood
Achievement in Directing
Amour - Michael Haneke
Beasts of the Southern Wild - Benh Zeitlin
Life of Pi - Ang Lee
Lincoln - Steven Spielberg
Silver Linings Playbook - David O. Russell
Best Documentary Feature
5 Broken Cameras
The Gatekeepers
How to Survive a Plague
The Invisible War
Searching for Sugar Man
Best Documentary Short Subject
Inocente
Kings Point
Mondays at Racine
Open Heart
Redemption
Achievement in Film Editing
Argo - William Goldenberg
Life of Pi - Tim Squyres
Lincoln - Michael Kahn
Silver Linings Playbook - Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers
Zero Dark Thirty - Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg
Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
Amour - Austria
Kon-Tiki - Norway
No - Chile
A Royal Affair - Denmark
War Witch - Canada
Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling
Hitchcock
Howard Berger, Peter Montagna and Martin Samuel
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater and Tami Lane
Les Misérables
Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell
Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original score)
Anna Karenina - Dario Marianelli
Argo - Alexandre Desplat
Life of Pi - Mychael Danna
Lincoln - John Williams
Skyfall - Thomas Newman
Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original song)
Before My Time from Chasing Ice
Music and Lyric by J. Ralph
Everybody Needs A Best Friend from Ted
Music by Walter Murphy; Lyric by Seth MacFarlane
Pi's Lullaby from Life of Pi
Music by Mychael Danna; Lyric by Bombay Jayashri
Skyfall from Skyfall
Music and Lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth
Suddenly from Les Misérables
Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg; Lyric by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil
Achievement in Production Design
Anna Karenina
Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Production Design: Dan Hennah; Set Decoration: Ra Vincent and Simon Bright
Les Misérables
Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Anna Lynch-Robinson
Life of Pi
Production Design: David Gropman; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
Lincoln
Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Jim Erickson
Best Animated Short Film
Adam and Dog - Minkyu Lee
Fresh Guacamole - PES
Head over Heels - Timothy Reckart and Fodhla Cronin O'Reilly
Maggie Simpson in The Longest Daycare - David Silverman
Paperman - John Kahrs
Best Live Action Short Film
Asad - Bryan Buckley and Mino Jarjoura
Buzkashi Boys - Sam French and Ariel Nasr
Curfew - Shawn Christensen
Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw) - Tom Van Avermaet and Ellen De Waele
Henry - Yan England
Achievement in Sound Editing
Argo - Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn
Django Unchained - Wylie Stateman
Life of Pi - Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton
Skyfall - Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers
Zero Dark Thirty - Paul N.J. Ottosson
Achievement in Sound Mixing
Argo
John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Jose Antonio Garcia
Les Misérables
Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes
Life of Pi
Ron Bartlett, D.M. Hemphill and Drew Kunin
Lincoln
Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Ronald Judkins
Skyfall
Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell and Stuart Wilson
Achievement in Visual Effects
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and R. Christopher White
Life of Pi
Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott
Marvel's The Avengers
Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams and Dan Sudick
Prometheus
Richard Stammers, Trevor Wood, Charley Henley and Martin Hill
Snow White and the Huntsman
Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould and Michael Dawson
Adapted Screenplay
Argo - Screenplay by Chris Terrio
Beasts of the Southern Wild - Screenplay by Lucy Alibar & Benh Zeitlin
Life of Pi - Screenplay by David Magee
Lincoln - Screenplay by Tony Kushner
Silver Linings Playbook - Screenplay by David O. Russell
Original Screenplay
Amour - Written by Michael Haneke
Django Unchained - Written by Quentin Tarantino
Flight - Written by John Gatins
Moonrise Kingdom - Written by Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola
Zero Dark Thirty - Written by Mark Boal
About the Awards
Far from the eagerly anticipated and globally televised event it is today, the first Academy Awards ceremony took place out of the public eye during an Academy banquet at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.
Two hundred and seventy people attended the 16 May, 1929 dinner in the hotel's Blossom Room; guest tickets cost $5. It was a long affair filled with speeches, but Academy President Douglas Fairbanks made quick work of handing out the statuettes.
There was little suspense when the awards were presented that night: the recipients had already been announced three months earlier. That all changed the following year, however, when the Academy decided to keep the results secret until the ceremony but gave a list in advance to newspapers for publication at 11 p.m. on the night of the Awards.
This policy continued until 1940 when, much to the Academy's consternation, the Los Angeles Times broke the embargo and published the names of the winners in its evening edition – which was readily available to guests arriving for the ceremony. That prompted the Academy in 1941 to adopt the sealed-envelope system still in use today.
Fifteen statuettes were awarded at the first ceremony for cinematic achievements in 1927 and 1928. The first Best Actor winner was acclaimed German tragedian Emil Jannings, who had to return to Europe before the ceremony.
The Academy granted his request to receive the trophy early, making his statuette the very first Academy Award ever presented.
The first presentation was the only one to escape a media audience; by the second year, enthusiasm for the Awards was such that a Los Angeles radio station produced a live one-hour broadcast of the event. The ceremony has been broadcast ever since.
The Academy continued to hand out the awards at banquets – held at the Ambassador and Biltmore hotels – until 1942, when increased attendance made these dinner ceremonies impractical. Starting with the 16th Oscar ceremony, which was held at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, the event has always been held at a theatre.
In 1953, the first televised Oscar ceremony enabled millions throughout the United States and Canada to watch the proceedings. Broadcasting in colour began in 1966, affording home viewers a chance to fully experience the dazzling allure of the event.
Since 1969, the Oscar show has been broadcast internationally, now reaching movie fans in over 200 countries.