At this past Sunday’s Academy Awards, independent cinema trumped traditional studio fare, with independent films winning 12 Oscars (excluding the short film categories), compared to the nine Oscars won by the major studios. The big winner of the night was Kathryn Bigelow’s independent production The Hurt Locker (produced by Voltage Pictures and distributed by Summit Entertainment), which won six Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director. With The Hurt Locker’s win, the number of independent films to win the Best Picture Oscar in the last 30 years comes to 18.
According to the President and CEO of the International Film & Television Alliance (IFTA), Jean Prewitt, “Tonight’s Academy Awards, capped by the triumph of The Hurt Locker, celebrate the diversity, quality and creativity of independent films, and are visible evidence that those films matter to our industry and our audiences. We congratulate the artists, risk-takers and entrepreneurs of the independent film community and our IFTA members for their extraordinary success this season.”
Other independent films to win Academy Awards this year were Inglourious Basterds (Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz), Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (Best Supporting Actress: Mo’Nique; Best Adapted Screenplay: Geoffrey Fletcher), El Secreto De Sus Ojos (Best Foreign Language Film), The Cove (Best Documentary Feature) and The Young Victoria (Best Costume Design: Sandy Powell).
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