8 Mar – Iraq war film "The Hurt Locker," dominated the Oscars on Sunday night at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood winning six of the major film honours, including best movie and director for Kathryn Bigelow who became the first woman to win that directing award. The drama about a squad of bomb defusing specialists and the emotional toll war takes on them also secured writer Mark Boal the Academy Award for best original screenplay, and claimed honours for film editing, sound editing and mixing. Bigelow and her film "The Hurt Locker" bagged Oscars over stiff competition from her ex-husband James Cameron, whose sci-fi adventure "Avatar" is the top-grossing movie ever with US$2.5 billion. "Avatar" earned three Oscars, but in technical categories which are visual effects, cinematography and art direction. Both had been nominated for nine awards.