The British-made romantic comedy "Shakespeare in Love" has swept the boards at the Oscars, picking up a total of seven awards, including best picture. The film's star Gweneth Paltrow won the best actress award, while Dame Judi Dench won the award for best supporting actress, for her 8-minute appearance as the elderly Queen Elizabeth I. The film also won awards for its art direction, costume design, original screen play and original score.
The best actor award was picked up by the Italian Roberto Benigni for "Life is Beautiful", his film about the Holocaust. It was the first time that an actor in a foreign language film won the best actor's prize. "Life is Beautiful" took three Oscars in all, picking up awards for best foreign language film and best music.
Steven Spielberg won the best director award for "Saving Private Ryan", parts of which were filmed in County Wexford. Best supporting actor went to veteran Hollywood star James Coburn for his role in the movie "Affliction". "Elizabeth" picked up the best make-up award. The Oscar for the best live action short film went to Kim Magnusson and Anders Thomas Jensen for "Election Night", and the best animated short film prize went to Chris Wedge for "Bunny".
Controversial film director Elia Kazan was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Oscars ceremony in Los Angeles. The veteran filmmaker directed the classic movies "On the Waterfront" and "A Streetcar Named Desire". In the 1950's he named names to the Committee investigating communist links in Hollywood. Several writers and directors were blacklisted as a result.
