2008 (81st Annual Awards)
Winners Only

Listed below are the Academy Award winners for the year 2008 (non-winning nominations have been omitted from this list). Click on the name of a film, person or song in the list to display more information about that film, person or song Or, click on a year in the column on the right to display the winners from that year.

Best Picture

Slumdog Millionaire, Celador Films Production; Fox Searchlight. (UK, India) Christian Colson, Producer.

Actor in a Leading Role

Sean Penn in Milk, Groundswell and Jinks/Cohen Company Production; Focus Features.

Actress in a Leading Role

Kate Winslet in The Reader, Mirage Enterprises and Neunte Babelsberg Film GmbH Production; The Weinstein Company. (Germany, USA)

Actor in a Supporting Role

Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight, Cape Road Limited Production; Warner Bros. (USA, UK)

Actress in a Supporting Role

Penélope Cruz in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Weinstein Company Production; The Weinstein Company. (Spain, USA)

Directing

Slumdog Millionaire, Celador Films Production; Fox Searchlight. (UK, India) Danny Boyle.

Animated Feature Film

WALL-E, Pixar Animation Studios Production; Walt Disney. Andrew Stanton.

Art Direction-Set Decoration

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Kennedy/Marshall Production; Paramount and Warner Bros. Art direction by Donald Graham Burt; set decoration by Victor J. Zolfo.

Cinematography

Slumdog Millionaire, Celador Films Production; Fox Searchlight. (UK, India) Anthony Dod Mantle.

Costume Design

The Duchess, Qwerty Films/Magnolia Mae Films in association with Pathé Renn and BIM Distribuzione Production; Paramount Vantage, Pathé and BBC Films. (UK, Italy, France, USA) Michael O’Connor.

Documentary

(Feature)

Man on Wire, Wall to Wall in association with Red Box Films Production; Magnolia Pictures. (UK, USA) James Marsh and Simon Chinn.

(Short Subject)

Smile Pinki, Principe Production. Megan Mylan.

Film Editing

Slumdog Millionaire, Celador Films Production; Fox Searchlight. (UK, India) Chris Dickens.

Foreign Language Film

Departures, Departures Film Partners Production; Regent Releasing. (Japan) Japan.

Makeup

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Kennedy/Marshall Production; Paramount and Warner Bros. Greg Cannom.

Music

(Original Score)

Slumdog Millionaire, Celador Films Production; Fox Searchlight. (UK, India) A. R. Rahman.

(Original Song)

Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire, Celador Films Production; Fox Searchlight. (UK, India) Music by A. R. Rahman; lyric by Gulzar.

Short Films

(Animated)

La Maison en Petits Cubes, Robot Communications Production. (Japan) Kunio Kato.

(Live Action)

Spielzeugland (Toyland), Mephisto Film Production. (Germany) Jochen Alexander Freydank.

Sound Editing

The Dark Knight, Cape Road Limited Production; Warner Bros. (USA, UK) Richard King.

Sound Mixing

Slumdog Millionaire, Celador Films Production; Fox Searchlight. (UK, India) Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke and Resul Pookutty.

Visual Effects

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Kennedy/Marshall Production; Paramount and Warner Bros. Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron.

Writing

(Adapted Screenplay)

Slumdog Millionaire, Celador Films Production; Fox Searchlight. (UK, India) Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy.

(Original Screenplay)

Milk, Groundswell and Jinks/Cohen Company Production; Focus Features. Written by Dustin Lance Black.

Honorary Award

To Mark Kimball in appreciation for outstanding service and dedication in upholding the high standards of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. [ [John A. Bonner Medal of Commendation]]

Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award

Jerry Lewis

Gordon E. Sawyer Award

Ed Catmull

Scientific and Technical Award

(Scientific and Engineering Award)

To Erwin Melzner for the overall concept including the optical and cooling systems, Volker Schumacher for the optical design, and Timo Müller for the mechanical design, of the Arrimax 18/12 lighting fixture for use in motion picture production. With its choice of vari-focus and specular reflectors, the superior optical and mechanical design of this lighting fixture allows it to operate at 18,000 watts, producing unsurpassed light quality while its innovative cooling system keeps the housing safe to touch.

To Jacques Delacoux for the concept and electronic design, and Alexandre Leuchter for the software and electronic design, of the Transvideo video-assist monitors for the motion picture industry. Using color LCD screens, the Transvideo monitors provide flicker-free video assist bright enough for use in sunlight and have become a ubiquitous tool in both spherical and anamorphic cinematography.

To Bruno Coumert and Jacques Debize for the optical design, and Dominique Chervin and Christophe Reboulet for the mechanical design, of the compact and lightweight Angenieux 15-40 and 28-76 zoom lenses for handheld motion picture photography. With focus and zoom functions that can be easily controlled by either the operator or focus puller while filming handheld, these lightweight zoom lenses demonstrate a very high degree of engineering, supporting both ease of use and quick interchange.

(Technical Achievement Award)

To Steve Hylén for the concept and his continued leadership in the further development of the Hylén Lens System for motion picture effects photography. When attached to a film or digital production camera, this versatile aerial image device can produce a wide variety of optical effects interactively, on set and in real time without post-production image manipulation.