2008: 81st Academy Awards

 BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount and Warner Bros.) Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Ce�n Chaffin
Frost/Nixon (Universal) Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Eric Fellner
Milk (Focus Features) Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen
The Reader (The Weinstein Company) Anthony Minghella, Sydney Pollack, Donna Gigliotti and Redmond Morris
* Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight)Christian Colson

 PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Richard Jenkins in The Visitor (Overture Films)
Frank Langella in Frost/Nixon (Universal)
* Sean Penn in Milk (Focus Features)
Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler (Fox Searchlight)

 PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Anne Hathaway in Rachel Getting Married (Sony Pictures Classics)
Angelina Jolie in Changeling (Universal)
Melissa Leo in Frozen River (Sony Pictures Classics)
Meryl Streep in Doubt (Miramax)
* Kate Winslet in The Reader (The Weinstein Company)

 PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Josh Brolin in Milk (Focus Features)
Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder (DreamWorks, Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount)
Philip Seymour Hoffman in Doubt (Miramax)
* Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight (Warner Bros.)
Michael Shannon in Revolutionary Road (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage)

 PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Amy Adams in Doubt (Miramax)
* Pen�lope Cruz in Vicky Cristina Barcelona (The Weinstein Company)
Viola Davis in Doubt (Miramax)
Taraji P. Henson in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
Marisa Tomei in The Wrestler (Fox Searchlight)

 ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING
* Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight)
Stephen Daldry for The Reader (The Weinstein Company)
David Fincher for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
Ron Howard for Frost/Nixon (Universal)
Gus Van Sant for Milk (Focus Features)

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount and Warner Bros.) Screenplay by Eric Roth; Screen story by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord
Doubt (Miramax) Written by John Patrick Shanley
Frost/Nixon (Universal) Screenplay by Peter Morgan
The Reader (The Weinstein Company) Screenplay by David Hare
* Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight) Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Frozen River (Sony Pictures Classics); Written by Courtney Hunt
Happy-Go-Lucky (Miramax); Written by Mike Leigh
In Bruges (Focus Features); Written by Martin McDonagh
* Milk (Focus Features); Written by Dustin Lance Black
WALL-E (Walt Disney); Screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon; Original story by Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter

 ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY
Changeling (Universal) Tom Stern
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount and Warner Bros.) Claudio Miranda
The Dark Knight (Warner Bros.) Wally Pfister
The Reader (The Weinstein Company) Chris Menges and Roger Deakins
* Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight) Anthony Dod Mantle

 ACHIEVEMENT IN ART DIRECTION
Changeling (Universal) Art Direction: James J. Murakami, Set Decoration: Gary Fettis
* The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount and Warner Bros.) Art Direction: Donald Graham Burt, Set Decoration: Victor J. Zolfo
The Dark Knight (Warner Bros.) Art Direction: Nathan Crowley, Set Decoration: Peter Lando
The Duchess (Paramount Vantage, Path� and BBC Films) Art Direction: Michael Carlin, Set Decoration: Rebecca Alleway
Revolutionary Road (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage) Art Direction: Kristi Zea, Set Decoration: Debra Schutt

 ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND MIXING
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount and Warner Bros.) David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Mark Weingarten
The Dark Knight (Warner Bros.) Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo and Ed Novick
* Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight) Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke and Resul Pookutty
WALL-E (Walt Disney) Tom Myers, Michael Semanick and Ben Burtt
Wanted (Universal) Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Monta�o and Petr Forejt

 ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (ORIGINAL SCORE)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount and Warner Bros.) Alexandre Desplat
Defiance (Paramount Vantage) James Newton Howard
Milk (Focus Features) Danny Elfman
* Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight) A.R. Rahman
WALL-E (Walt Disney) Thomas Newman

 ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (ORIGINAL SONG)
Down to Earth from WALL-E (Walt Disney) Music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman; Lyrics by Peter Gabriel
* Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight) Music by A.R. Rahman; Lyrics by Gulzar
O Saya from Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight) Music and Lyrics by A.R. Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam

ACHIEVEMENT IN FILM EDITING
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount and Warner Bros.) Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
The Dark Knight (Warner Bros.) Lee Smith
Frost/Nixon (Universal) Mike Hill and Dan Hanley
Milk (Focus Features) Elliot Graham
* Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight) Chris Dickens

 ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN
Australia (20th Century Fox) Catherine Martin
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount and Warner Bros.) Jacqueline West
* The Duchess (Paramount Vantage, Path� and BBC Films) Michael O'Connor
Milk (Focus Features) Danny Glicker
Revolutionary Road (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage) Albert Wolsky

 ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP
* The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount and Warner Bros.) Greg Cannom
The Dark Knight (Warner Bros.) John Caglione, Jr. and Conor O'Sullivan
Hellboy II: The Golden Army (Universal) Mike Elizalde and Thom Floutz

 ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS
* The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount and Warner Bros.) Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron
The Dark Knight (Warner Bros.) Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Tim Webber and Paul Franklin
Iron Man (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment) John Nelson, Ben Snow, Dan Sudick and Shane Mahan

 ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING
* The Dark Knight (Warner Bros.) Richard King
Iron Man (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment) Frank Eulner and Christopher Boyes
Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight) Tom Sayers
WALL-E (Walt Disney) Ben Burtt and Matthew Wood
Wanted (Universal) Wylie Stateman

 BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
* La Maison en Petits Cubes A Robot Communications Production; Kunio Kato
Lavatory - Lovestory A Melnitsa Animation Studio and CTB Film Company Production; Konstantin Bronzit
Oktapodi (Talantis Films) A Gobelins, L'�cole de l'image Production; Emud Mokhberi and Thierry Marchand
Presto (Walt Disney) A Pixar Animation Studios Production; Doug Sweetland
This Way Up A Nexus Production; Alan Smith and Adam Foulkes

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
Auf der Strecke (On the Line) (Hamburg Shortfilmagency); An Academy of Media Arts Cologne Production; Reto Caffi
Manon on the Asphalt (La Luna Productions) A La Luna Production; Elizabeth Marre and Olivier Pont
New Boy (Network Ireland Television) A Zanzibar Films Production; Steph Green and Tamara Anghie
The Pig An M & M Production; Tivi Magnusson and Dorte H�gh
* Spielzeugland (Toyland) A Mephisto Film Production; Jochen Alexander Freydank

 BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
The Betrayal (Nerakhoon) (Cinema Guild) A Pandinlao Films Production, Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath
Encounters at the End of the World (THINKFilm and Image Entertainment) A Creative Differences Production, Werner Herzog and Henry Kaiser
The Garden A Black Valley Films Production, Scott Hamilton Kennedy
* Man on Wire (Magnolia Pictures) A Wall to Wall Production, James Marsh and Simon Chinn
Trouble the Water (Zeitgeist Films) An Elsewhere Films Production, Tia Lessin and Carl Deal

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
The Conscience of Nhem En A Farallon Films Production Steven Okazaki
The Final Inch A Vermilion Films Production, Irene Taylor Brodsky and Tom Grant
* Smile Pinki A Principe Production, Megan Mylan
The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306 A Rock Paper Scissors Production, Adam Pertofsky and Margaret Hyde

 BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR
The Baader Meinhof Complex A Constantin Film Production; Germany
The Class (Sony Pictures Classics) A Haut et Court Production; France
* Departures (Regent Releasing) A Departures Film Partners Production; Japan
Revanche (Janus Films) A Prisma Film/Fernseh Production; Austria
Waltz with Bashir (Sony Pictures Classics) A Bridgit Folman Film Gang Production; Israel

 BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM OF THE YEAR
Bolt (Walt Disney) Chris Williams and Byron Howard
Kung Fu Panda (DreamWorks Animation, Distributed by Paramount) John Stevenson and Mark Osborne
* WALL-E (Walt Disney) Andrew Stanton

Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award: Jerry Lewis

John A. Bonner Medal: Mark Kimball

Gordon E. Sawyer Award: Ed Catmull

Technical Achievement Awards (Academy Certificate)
To Steve Hylen for the concept and his continued leadership in the further development of the Hylen Lens System for motion picture effects photography.

Scientific and Engineering Awards (Academy Plaque)
To Erwin Melzner for the overall concept including the optical and cooling systems, Volker Schumacher for the optical design, and Timo Muller for the mechanical design, of the Arrimax 18/12 lighting fixture for use in motion picture production.
To Jacques Delacoux for the concept and electronic design, and Alexandre Leuchter for the software and electronic design, of the Transvideo-video assist monitors for the motion picture industry.
To Bruno Coumert and Jacques Debize for the optical design, and Dominique Chervin and Christophe Reboulet for the mechanical design, of the compact and lightweight Angenieux 15-40 and 28-76 zoom lenses for handheld motion picture photography.