International Oscars

It was the most international Academy Awards ever and the first award to Eugenio Caballero and Pilar Revuelta from Pan's Labyrinth, for Art Direction proved it was just that, leading nominees did not fair well.

"And I want to put this out there: If there weren't blacks, Jews and gays, there would be no Oscars," Ellen DeGeneres, the host for the ceremony said adding "Or anyone named Oscar, when you think about that." She also added a political joke, saying, "Jennifer Hudson was on American Idol, but America did not vote for her and she is nominated for an Oscar...Al Gore, America did vote for him...." Of course the audience went into an uproar of laughter and applause. Later in the ceremony Al Gore won for his part in "An Inconvenient Truth" for Best Documentary Feature.

Although there were films with great odds of winning the odds were still against some of the most talked about films of the years.

Dreamgirls, Babel, Pan's Labyrinth, The Queen, and The Departed all led in the nominations, yet Dreamgirls won only two awards out of eight nominations.

Many predictions pinned the award for Best Performance by an Actor in a supporting role to Eddie Murphy for his role as James "Thunder" Early in Dreamgirls, but the award went to Alan Arkin for his role as the Grandfather in "Little Miss Sunshine."

But it was Jennifer Hudson's year and she received the Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.
"Look at what God can do." Hudson said as she received her award.

Beyonce Knowles performed, along with the co-stars of the film, the three original songs nominated; but Melissa Etheridge won for her song "I Need to Wake Up" from the Documentary "An Inconvenient Truth."

"Babel" second to Dreamgirls in nominations only received one award for Original Score.

Pan's Labyrinth director Guillermo Del Toro did not win Best Foreign Language Film of the Year; out of the six nominations the movie took only three awards, including Achievement in Cinematography, and Achievement in Make-up.

The Queen was nominated for six awards also, but won only one going to Helen Mirren who won Best Leading Actress in a Leading role.

It was The Departed that had five nominations winning four and took the big awards of the night. Martin Scorsese won for Achievement in directing. The Departed also took Best Film of the year.

One prediction made by Ben Lyons from the E network, that Forest Whitaker would win for Best Leading Role came true. Whitaker won for his role in "The Last King of Scotland".

There was also a big win for the Animated Movie "Happy Feet," which won for Best Animated feature film of the year.

Special Awards went to Sherry Lansing, the president of Paramount Communications and the chairman of the Motion Picture Group won the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for dedicating her time and efforts in helping different organizations and creating the organization Stop Cancer after her mother died of cancer.

Ennio Morricone, a composer and conductor of 45 years was given the honorary award. He has composed for more than 300 films.