The Academy Awards took over Hollywood last night as some of the world's biggest stars were honored for their work in film. Slumdog Millionaire was the big winner, sweeping the ceremony with eight awards, including the prize for best picture. Boston Globe film critic Wesley Morris offers a wrap-up of last night's festivities.

The ghetto-to-glory story Slumdog Millionaire was named Best Picture at the Academy Awards on Sunday. It won seven other Oscars, including Best Director. Kate Winslet won Best Actress for the Holocaust-themed drama The Reader, and Sean Penn took Best Actor for the title role in Milk.

(Image credit: Kevin Winters)

Tucked in among the Oscars for Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Picture is a lesser-known category: Best Original Score. Film-music specialist Andy Trudeau has come to discuss the nominees every year since the 68th Academy Awards.

Hattie McDaniel won Best Supporting Actress for her role as Mammy in the 1939 epic Gone With the Wind — becoming the first African-American to win an Academy Award. But her award has been missing for some 40 years. Was it lost, stolen or simply overlooked?

The Benjamin Button actress talks with NPR's Michele Norris about bringing a character to life on screen — and helping audiences connect with the movie's distinctly different hero.

The man behind Charlton Heston's sandals in The Ten Commandments is 91-year-old Willie Rivera, who began making shoes at the age of 13 in Mexico City. He moved to Los Angeles in the 1950s and has dressed the feet of legends such as Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby, Lily Tomlin and Bill Cosby.

The Garden tells the story of poor urban immigrants struggling to save their South Central Los Angeles farm. The movie is one of the five documentaries up for an Academy Award Sunday.

At the annual Oscar gala, the cameras flash and reporters ask whose clothes you're wearing. But they only offer a glimpse of nominees and their escorts. This Sunday, commentator Peggy Orenstein will walk the red carpet with her filmmaker husband — another time.

Lighting, props, sets and costumes all contribute to the "look" of a movie — and production designer J. Michael Riva, the grandson of Marlene Dietrich, makes sure all those elements integrate seamlessly for a film. He has worked on blockbusters such as The Goonies and A Few Good Men.

Pro wrestling may be big on theatrics, but the main character in the Oscar-nominated film The Wrester is a lot like a real guy — Jake "The Snake" Roberts, whose rise and fall was recorded in a documentary in 2000.