06/03/2006

Europe did not transform all its nominations into awards, but it can consider itself more than satisfied. At the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles tonight, at the 78th edition of the Academy Awards, which was won by the film Crash over heavy favourite Brokeback Mountain, the Old Continent made its presence felt in the documentary and cartoon fields, as well as other categories.

Above all, it was Great Britain that smiled: the defeat of actresses Dame Judi Dench and Keira Knightley in the Best Actress category (which Reese Witherspoon won for Walk the Line) was redeemed by the UK’s Rachel Weisz, who won Best Supporting Actress for her role in The Constant Gardener [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Fernando Mereilles.

Another film to wave the Union Jack was UK/South-African co-production Tsotsi, the winner of the Best Foreign Language Film, over other European titles such as Italy’s Don’t Tell [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Germany’s Sophie Scholl: The Final Days [+see also:
trailer
film profile], the co-production of several European countries Paradise Now [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and French film Merry Christmas: Joyeux Noel [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Christian Carion
interview: Christophe Rossignon
film profile].

However, there will much celebrating in Paris for yet another win for March of the Penguins [+see also:
trailer
film profile],which has sealed its box office record breaking around the world with the Best Documentary Feature Oscar. Also of enormous satisfaction for European creativity is the triumph of UK director Nick Park, for animated film Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit [+see also:
trailer
film profile] , which was up against two legendary directors such as Japan’s Hayao Miyazaki (Howl’s Moving Castle ) and Tim Burton (The Corpse Bride) of the US.

THE AWARDS

BEST PICTURE
Crash

BEST DIRECTOR
Brokeback Mountain
Ang Lee

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Tsotsi - South Africa (A Moviworld Production)

BEST ACTOR
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Capote (UA/Sony Pictures Classics)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
George Clooney - Syriana (Warner Bros.)

BEST ACTRESS
Reese Witherspoon - Walk the Line (20th Century Fox)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Rachel Weisz - The Constant Gardener (Focus Features)

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Brokeback Mountain - Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Crash - Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
March of the Penguins [+see also:
trailer
film profile] - Luc Jacquet and Yves Darondeau (A Bonne Pioche Production)

BEST ANIMATED FILM
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit - Nick Park and Steve Box

BEST ART DIRECTION
Memoirs of a Geisha
- John Myhre
and Gretchen Rau

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Memoirs of a Geisha - Dion Beebe

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Memoirs of a Geisha - Colleen Atwood

BEST EDITING
Crash - Hughes Winborne

BEST SCORE
Brokeback Mountain - Gustavo Santaolalla

BEST MAKEUP
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - Howard Berger and Tami Lane

BEST SONG
It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp - Hustle & Flow - Music and lyrics by Jordan Houston, Cedric Coleman and Paul Beauregard

BEST SOUND EDITING
King Kong - Mike Hopkins and Ethan Van der Ryn

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
King Kong

BEST SOUND MIXING
King Kong
- Christopher Boyes, Michael Semanick, Michael Hedges and Hammond Peek

BEST SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation - John Canemaker and Peggy Stern

BEST SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)
Six Shooter - Martin McDonagh (Sundance Film Channel)

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin - Corinne Marrinan and Eric Simonson (A NomaFilms Production)

(Translated from Italian)