The Hurt Locker director Kathryn Bigelow has made history at this year’s Oscars, becoming the first woman to win an Academy Award for best director. Her film has also been named Best Picture.
Bigelow’s film follows the dangerous daily existence of a US Army bomb squad. It earned six Oscars in total on the night, including one for Mark Boal’s original screenplay, which was based on his time as a journalist embedded with such a unit.
“There is no other way to describe it – it’s the moment of a lifetime,” Bigelow said.
She dedicated the award to the military men and women serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and around the world, saying: ‘‘May they come home safe.”
Bigelow beat ex-husband James Cameron, who was up for an Oscar in the same category as her for directing the sci-fi blockbuster Avatar.
Much media attention has been paid with the former spouses competing against each other, but their split was amicable and the two have since supported each other professionally.
Earlier in the evening, Jeff Bridges won best actor for his role as a down-and-out singer in Crazy Heart, and Sandra Bullock picked up the best actress award for her role as an open-hearted Christian mum in The Blind Side.
The best supporting actor award also went to the favourite, Christoph Waltz, for his role in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds.
The best supporting actress award went to Mo’Nique, who had also been highly favoured to win for her powerful role in the drama Precious.
Precious took out its first anticipated award for best adapted screenplay. Likewise, The Hurt Locker took out its first award of the night when writer Mark Boal received the Oscar for best screenplay.
The Hurt Locker beat Avatar early on, winning the Oscars for best sound mixing and best sound editing.
But Avatar picked up the awards for best cinematography (Mauro Fiore), best art design (Rick Carter, Robert Stromberg and Kim Sinclair) and best visual effects (Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R Jones).
Then The Hurt Locker won again, picking up an Oscar for best editing (Bob Murawski and Chris Innis). By then, it was well on its way to Oscar domination.
The Secret in Their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos) picked up best foreign language film for Argentina, Louie Psihoyos and Fisher Stevens received best documentary for The Cove, and Star Trek took out the award for best make-up.
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