Oscars: Kiwi win for Avatar

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Kathryn Bigelow holds her Oscars for best motion picture of the year and best achievement in directing for The Hurt Locker with hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin at the conclusion of the 82nd Academy Awards.

Director Kathryn Bigelow speaks in front actors Jeremy Renner, Brian Geraghty, and Anthony Mackie after The Hurt Locker won best motion picture during the 82nd Academy Awards

Tom Hanks hands director Kathryn Bigelow her Oscar for best motion picture for her work in The Hurt Locker.

Kathryn Bigelow reacts next to presenter Barbra Streisand after winning the best director Oscar.

Sandra Bullock accepts the award for best actress for The Blind Side during the 82nd Academy Awards.

Jeff Bridges wins the Oscar for Best Actor at the 82nd Academy Awards.

Elizabeth Banks appears during the 82nd Academy Awards.

John Travolta appears during the 82nd Academy Awards

From left, Rick Carter, Kim Sinclair and Robert Stromberg accept the Oscar for best achievement in art direction for “Avatar”.

Sandy Powell accepts the Oscar for best achievement in costume design for “The Young Victoria”.

Mark Boal accepts the Oscar for best original screenplay for "The Hurt Locker".

Mo'Nique accepts the Oscar for best performance by an actress in a supporting role for Precious.

Geoffrey Fletcher accepts the Oscar for best adapted screenplay for "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push'.

Jake Gyllenhaal and Rachel McAdams during the 82nd Academy Awards.

Ben Stiller presents the award for best achievement in makeup during the 82nd Academy Awards.

From left, Jon Cryer, Anthony Michael Hall, Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, Macaulay Culkin, and Matthew Broderick seen during a tribute to the late director John Hughes.

Carey Mulligan, left, and Zoe Saldana are seen on stage during the 82nd Academy Awards.

Molly Ringwald, left, and Matthew Broderick are seen on stage during a tribute to the late director John Hughes.

Hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin during the 82nd Academy Awards.

Host Alec Baldwin is seen during the 82nd Academy Awards.

Robert Downey Jr, right, and Tina Fey present the award for original screenplay.

Miley Cyrus, left, and Amanda Seyfried present the best original song.

Ryan Bingham, right, and T Bone Burnett accept the Oscar for best achievement in music written for motion pictures for "The Weary Kind" from "Crazy Heart".

Christoph Waltz accepts the Oscar for best performance by an actor in a supporting role for "Inglourious Basterds".

Pete Docter accepts the Oscar for best animated feature film of the year for "Up".

Cameron Diaz, left, and Steve Carell present the award for best animated feature film.

Penelope Cruz presents the award for best performance by an actor in a supporting role during the 82nd Academy Awards.

Best Actor and Best Actress nominees appear during the 82nd Academy Awards.

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Weta wins Oscar glory

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A Kiwi visual effects team has won an Oscar for their work on James Cameron's blockbuster Avatar, while director Kathryn Bigelow has made Oscar history as the first woman to win best director.

Jeff Bridges received the best actor award for Crazy Heart and Sandra Bullock best actress for The Blind Side.

Bigelow made history after winning best director with Iraq war film The Hurt Locker in a strongly contested category in which she went head-to-head with her former husband James Cameron.

The Hurt Locker also won best film. 

Earlier Cameron played down any suggestion of a "Battle of the Exes", saying he was "proud"' of his former spouse's success.

Weta Digital's Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew Jones collected the visual effects award at the Los Angeles ceremony just before 5pm.

Letteri, in his acceptance speech, thanked "Eileen Moran and everyone at Weta Digital for your talent and creativity".

Avatar was nominated alongside Disctrict 9 and Star Trek for best visual effects. Aucklander Kim Sinclair also won the art director's award for Avatar, which also won best cinematography.

Bullock's best actress win makes her the first to take home a "worst actress Razzie" award, which she received yesterday, and an Oscar. She beat fellow nominess Helen Mirren in The Last Station, Carey Mulligan in An Education, Gabourey Sidibe in Precious and Meryl Streep in Julie & Julia.

Jeff Bridges won the best actor award for Crazy Heart, beating fellow nominees George Clooney for Up in the Air, Colin Firth for A Single Man, Morgan Freeman for Invictus and Jeremy Renner for The Hurt Locker.

The Secret in their Eyes from Argentina, won best foreign film. 

Earlier Mo'Nique won the Oscar for best supporting actress for her role in Precious, based on the novel Push by Sapphire.

Christopher Waltz has won best supporting actor for Inglourious Basterds.

Hurt Locker won best original screenplay.

Up won best animated film. 

Best documentary feature went to The Cove, while best live action short winner was The New Tenants and the best animated short film award went to Logorama.

Star Trek received the best make-up award.

KIWI CELEBRATIONS

While their colleagues collected the golden statues in Los Angeles, Weta Digital staff soaked up the success with a party in a Wellington waterfront pub.

Earlier, Kim Sinclair was among the team to accept the Oscar for best arts direction for Avatar. He was the director for the film sets done in Wellington.

One of the company's visual effects supervisors on Avatar, Wayne Stables, told media outside the party this afternoon that the team spent "too many hours probably" working on the film.

"But we all work together and that is one of the great things about our company and why we love working," he said.

"We are incredibly proud of everybody we work with."

Weta Digital is part of a number of companies in Wellington which includes Weta Workshop, Weta Productions, Weta Collectibles and Park Road Post Production that are co-owned by previous Oscar award winning director Peter Jackson.

It was founded by Jackson, Richard Taylor and Jamie Selkirk in 1993 to produce the digital special effects for Heavenly Creatures. Letteri, its senior visual effects director, was also appointed a director.

RED CARPET ACTION

Earlier Hollywood's biggest event began with the usual fashion show on the red carpet, which included the industry's biggest names.

Cameron told E! television he had not expected his film Avatar, which has earned a staggering $US2.5 billion ($NZ3.57 billion) worldwide, to emerge as the highest-grossing film ever.

"We thought we were going to make some money but not nearly as much as we did," he said. "I'd say we went three times the amount we thought we'd make."

- Stuff.co.nz and Reuters