Oscar Report #1: 03.06am

The 73rd Annual Academy Awards have kicked off in Los Angeles and already the eventual resting place of several of the golden statuettes has been decided. Tim Yip picked up the first award of the evening for Best Art Direction on Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and the first big award of the evening was Best Supporting Actress which was won by Marcia Gay Harden for Pollock, who thanked the crowd for even watching the film in the first place. The category had been an open one but no-one will deny that with two British actresses nominated here the UK was hoping for early results at this year's Oscars. Some pundits might say that once again Dame Judi Dench has fallen foul to the problem that having more than one British actor in a category split the vote. The show's new host, Steve Martin, had a tough act to follow - the last few years have seen Oscar audiences expecting Billy Crystal's spoofing of the Best Films. 'Welcome to the Oscars,' Martin began, 'or in my house as it's known - Passover.' Next up was a racy reference to the huge statuette of Oscar behind him - 'If this was Afghanistan, this would have been destroyed.' So far it's hard to tell how Martin's doing - gasps from the audience have greeted many of the presenter's jokes, which have grazed on the sexual prowess and publicity-mongering natures of his fellow Oscar guests. Will he be asked back next year? It's early days yet. Best Art Direction: Tim Yip (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) Best Supporting Actress: Marcia Gay Harden (Pollack) Film Editing: Stephen Mirrione (Traffic) Live Action Short Film: Florian Gallenberger Best Animated Short Film: Michael Dudok De Wit (Father and Daughter)