MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Hollywood: Slumdog Millionaire' Wins Eight Oscars

Cruz became the first Spanish-born actress to win the best supporting actress Oscar (AFP)

British film Slumdog Millionaire, the widely acclaimed film set in the slums of Mumbai, has received eight awards at this year's Oscars - including best picture and best director.

British director Danny Boyle, picked up the best director award at Sunday's ceremony on Los Angeles. Slumdog Millionaire also won best adapted screenplay, best cinematography, sound mixing, film editing, and original score at the ceremony. The film, about a poverty-stricken slum-dweller who competes for love and money on the Indian version of the television gameshow Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, also won the Oscar for best original song. The movie features a number of unknown actors who live in one of Mumbai's slums, two of whom attended the awards ceremony. Matt McClure, reporting from the Behrampada slum in Mumbai that is home to two of the lead actors, said people were "huddled around television sets in this neighbourhood". "It is a very proud moment for the locals here that two locals.... are at the Oscars and walking the red carpet with the rest of the stars," he said. The film follows the fortunes of three ophaned children as the navigate the harsh realities of life for Mumbai's poorest residents. While celebrating being the focus of attention following Slumdog Millionaires' Oscar success, McClure reported that locals were "realistic about it and don't think life is going to change and that things will go back to normal". Other award winners included the late Heath Ledger was named best supporting actor for his performance as the Joker in the Batman film The Dark Knight. Ledger, who died aged 28 of an accidental prescription overdose last year, is only the second actor to receive an Oscar award posthumously. Ledger's father, Kim, accepted the Oscar on his son's behalf on Sunday night with the actor's mother, Sally Bell, and sister, Kate Ledger. "This award tonight ... validated Heath's quiet determination to be truly accepted by you all here, his peers, in an industry that he so loved," Kim said. Ledger was previously nominated for an Oscar for his 2005 performance as a gay cowboy in the film Brokeback Mountain, although he did not win the award. The actor's Oscar will eventually go to his three-year-old daughter, Matilda Ledger, by his former fiancee, actress Michelle Williams. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences decided Matilda should receive the Oscar when she reaches 18 years old. Other award winners included Penelope Cruz, who became the first Spanish-born actress to pick up the best supporting actress award for her performance as artist Maria Elena in Woody Allen's romantic comedy Vicky Cristina Barcelona. "Thank you Woody for trusting me with this beautiful character. Thank you for having written over all these years some of the greatest characters for women," the 34-year-old Cruz said as she accepted the Oscar.