Slumdog Millionaire swept the board at the Oscars, scooping eight awards and capping a great night for British talent.
The feelgood film set in the slums of Mumbai took the coveted Best Film and Best Director awards, while Kate Winslet finally won her first Academy Award as she was named Best Actress for her performance in The Reader.
Sean Penn upset the odds to win the Best Actor award, beating favourite Mickey Rourke.
There was a Best Supporting Actor award for Heath Ledger for his role as the Joker in Batman movie The Dark Knight - only the second time an acting Oscar has been given posthumously.
Winslet, 33, who has endured five unsuccessful nominations in the past, said she had been rehearsing her acceptance since she was a child. But there was no repeat of the gushing speech she gave on winning two Golden Globes earlier this year.
"I'd be lying if I (said I) hadn't made a version of this before I was eight years old and staring into the bathroom mirror and this (Oscar) would be a shampoo bottle. Only it's not a shampoo bottle now," she said.
Slumdog's total of eight Oscars - for Best Film, Director, Song, Musical Score, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Film Editing and Sound Mixing - is the best by a British film since the Second World War romance The English Patient took nine in 1997.
Penelope Cruz took the award for Best Supporting Actress for her part in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and thanked director Woody Allen for "trusting me with this wonderful character".
While Winslet and Slumdog will hog the limelight for the coming days, there was glory for other British films, with The Duchess taking the Oscar for Costume Design and Man On Wire, about Phillippe Petit's daredevil high-wire walk between New York's Twin Towers in 1974, being named Best Documentary.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown hailed a "great night" for Britain in Hollywood. He added: "Slumdog Millionaire's triumph, together with Kate Winslet winning Best Actress, is a fantastic achievement for the British film industry which is now leading the world in film."
