New Zealand came up trumps over Australia and South Africa at the 82nd Academy Awards in Los Angeles overnight.
Auckland-based art director Kim Sinclair won the Oscar for Best Art Direction for giant smurf 3D epic Avatar.
A team from Weta digital in Wellington also won the best visual effects Oscar for Avatar.
Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Andrew Jones and Richard Baneham were on stage in Hollywood to accept the award.
Letteri in his acceptance speech, thanked “Eileen Moran and everyone at Weta Digital for your talent and creativity”.
Later, Avatar’s director of photography Mauri Fiore won the Oscar for best cinematography and thanked”everybody in New Zealand.”
Meanwhile, Australian costume designer Janet Patterson was snubbed for her work in the Abbie Cornish-starred, Jane Campion-directed Bright Star.
Fellow Aussies Luke Dolan and Drew Bailey also missed out on the Oscar for best live action short for Miracle Fish.
South Africa didn’t fare much better.
District 9 was nominated for the best adapted screenplay, best visual effects and best editing but came away with nothing.
Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon were nominated for best actor and best supporting actor respectively for Invictus but also scored a duck.
