Top role for Britain on glittering Oscar night

This image released by Ellen DeGeneres shows actors front row from left, Jared Leto, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Ellen DeGeneres, Bradley Cooper, Peter Nyongo Jr., and, second row, from left, Channing Tatum, Julia Roberts, Kevin Spacey, Brad Pitt, Lupita Nyongo and Angelina Jolie

12 Years A Slave, directed by British filmmaker and former artist Steve McQueen, took the biggest prize, best picture, at the Los Angeles ceremony.

Gravity, starring George Clooney and Sandra Bullock, won seven awards, including best director for Mexican-born British resident Alfonso Cuaron and the visual effects gong for the Soho-based team.

12 Years A Slave took three Academy Awards, including supporting actress for tearful newcomer Lupita Nyong’o, who told the audience: “It doesn’t escape me for one moment that so much joy in my life is thanks to so much pain in someone else’s.”

McQueen made history as the first black filmmaker/producer to collect the statuette for best picture and dedicated his award to victims of slavery.

Best actor went to former rom-com star Matthew McConaughey for Dallas Buyers Club, while Cate Blanchett took home best actress for her role in Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine.

Blanchett, who beat Bullock, Dame Judi Dench, Amy Adams and Meryl Streep, said films with strong female characters were not “niche”, adding: “Audiences want to see them and in fact they earn money”.

Host Ellen DeGeneres set a retweet record with a star-studded selfie of her and several other stars crowding around, including Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lawrence, Kevin Spacey, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt.

Long before midnight on Sunday, the photo had been retweeted more than two million times, leading to disruption of traffic on Twitter.