'Birdman' wins Oscar for best picture

LOS ANGELES - "Birdman," a dark satire of show business and fame directed by Alejandro G. Inarritu, on Sunday won the Academy Award for best picture, the film industry's highest honour.

The film from Fox Searchlight Pictures portrays a washed-up former superhero actor, played by Michael Keaton, and his struggle to make a comeback in a Broadway play. It stood out among the eight nominees for appearing to be filmed in one long continuous shot.

Mexican filmmaker Alejandro G. Inarritu, who directed "Birdman" won the Oscar for best director for the movie.

This was the first Academy Award for Inarritu, 51, whose film stars Michael Keaton as a washed-up, former superhero actor trying to make an improbable comeback with his own Broadway play.

"I am very, very thankful, grateful, humbly honoured by the Academy for this incredible recognition," Inarritu said. "This is crazy."

He praised his fellow best director nominees, saying "our work will only be judged by time."

Inarritu's best director win makes it two years in a row that the honour has gone to a Mexican filmmaker. His friend, Alfonso Cuaron, won the Oscar last year for "Gravity", the 3-D space thriller starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney.

Inarritu had faced stiff competition for the best director category from fellow filmmaker Richard Linklater and his coming-of-age tale "Boyhood," which was filmed over 12 years using the same cast.

Previous feature films by Inarritu, "Amores perros" (2000), "21 Grams" (2003), "Babel" (2006), and "Biutiful" (2010), have all received Oscar nominations in various categories.

Oscar winners in key categories

BEST PICTURE "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)"

BEST ACTOR Eddie Redmayne, "The Theory of Everything"

BEST ACTRESS Julianne Moore, "Still Alice"

BEST DIRECTOR Alejandro G. Inarritu, "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR J.K. Simmons, "Whiplash"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Patricia Arquette, "Boyhood"

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY Graham Moore, "The Imitation Game"

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY Alejandro G. Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris Jr., Armando Bo, "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)"

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM "Ida" (Poland)

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM "Big Hero 6"

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE "CitizenFour"

BEST ORIGINAL SONG "Glory," from "Selma"

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE Alexandre Desplat, "The Grand Budapest Hotel"

BEST COSTUME DESIGN Milena Canonero, "The Grand Budapest Hotel"

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY Emmanuel Lubezki, "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)"

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING Frances Hannon, Mark Coulier, "The Grand Budapest Hotel"

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS "Interstellar"