You're the winner by a knockout, Baby

Million Dollar Baby, a boxing drama that entered the Oscar race at the last minute, scored a knockout victory at the Academy Awards yesterday, winning four awards including best film and best director for Hollywood legend Clint Eastwood.

The movie earned the best actress Oscar for Hilary Swank, playing a boxer who longs to be a champion. It also scooped the best supporting actor award for Morgan Freeman as the ageing gym manager who persuades his boss, a trainer portrayed by Eastwood, to take on the young fighter.

The movie edged out The Aviator, a tale of the eccentric life of billionaire Howard Hughes, in the show's top categories, including Eastwood's victory over Martin Scorsese for the best director Oscar.

Aviator could manage only one top award - best supporting actress for Australia's Cate Blanchett.

It took home four others for film editing, cinematography, costume design and art direction.

In the other major acting award, Jamie Foxx won the Oscar for best actor for his performance as legendary soul singer Ray Charles in the biographical film Ray.

Foxx also was nominated as best supporting actor for his role opposite Tom Cruise in Collateral, losing to Freeman.

Million Dollar Baby was originally slated to open next year but at the last minute Warner Bros decided to release it in time to qualify for the Oscars. The movie took only 37 days to make and was based on the original draft of the screenplay.

Hailed by critics, the film raised the ire of some conservative and right-to-life groups, who said it encouraged suicide.

Swank won her second Oscar, beating Annette Bening in Being Julia.

The two faced each other at the Oscars in 1999 when Swank trumped Bening a first time for Boys Don't Cry, in which Swank portrayed a transgender character. Bening's movie that year was American Beauty.

A New Zealand short film about kids left outside the pub was pipped to an Oscar by a British short film about kids left outside a pub.

The NZ film, Two cars, one night, by East Coast-born director Taika Waititi, lost out in the short film (live action) category to Wasp, a film made by Kent-born Andrea Arnold.

Both film makers, first-time nominees for the Academy Awards, drew on the districts they were born and raised in for their work as well as using local children as actors.

Waititi shot his 11-minute black and white film about three children left by their parents in a couple of cars outside the Te Kaha Hotel on the East Coast.

Arnold set her 23-minute film outside a pub in Dartford, Kent, featuring four children left on the street by their young single mother inside trying her luck with an old flame.

Waititi, presumably play-dozing at the critical moment the Oscar nominees were read out by Jeremy Irons, suddenly opened his eyes, clasped his hands together and looked upwards as the camera panned past him in the Kodak Theatre.

Any prayers were left unheeded as Arnold was announced the winner, but Waititi happily leaned forward to congratulate her in the aisle seat ahead.

An agent for the young East Coast children who starred in Two cars, one night said in Auckland after the awards that they had had enough media exposure for one day and did not want to comment.

New Zealand-born director Andrew Adams also missed out at the Oscars for Shrek 2, which was nominated for best animated feature.