Veteran British screenwriter Peter Straughan won his first Oscar last night for the movie Conclave – but rival nominee Anora was the night’s biggest winner.
Straughan, whose credits include BBC drama Wolf Hall and the films Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and The Men Who Stare at Goats, won best adapted screenplay for the film, which is based on Robert Harris’ 2016 novel.
However, despite its recent Bafta win for best film, this was the only one of the eight nominations that the Film4-backed feature managed to convert into wins.
Anora was named best original screenplay, one of five awards for Sean Baker’s acclaimed film.
Baker became the first person to win four awards for one film as writer, editor, director and producer of the best picture winner, with star Mikey Madison named best actress in a leading role.
Best actor in a lead role went to Adrien Brody for The Brutalist, which also scored two wins for Brits: best cinematography for Lol Crawley and best original score for composer Daniel Blumberg.
In a big night for low-budget and independent film, several categories had an international flavour.
Palestine/Norway film No Other Land won best documentary, Iranian release In the Shadow of the Cypress picked up best animated short, Dutch-language I Am Not a Robot was named best live action short, and Latvia scored its first win for best animated film, with Flow.
Other winners included the controversial Emilia Perez (best actress in a supporting role for Zoe Saldana, plus best song), musical Wicked (production design and costume, with Paul Tazewell the first male black costume designer to win the award) and sci-fi epic Dune (best sound and visual effects).
For a full list of winners, click here
