Quiz 1 (Academy Awards)
This was sent out on Monday (March 7, 2005)

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Last Sunday was the ceremony for the 77th Annual Academy Awards - this trivia series was supposed to have started from that day. Even though it didn't start last weekend, I am still going to use the awards as the topic for the first quiz. i have tried to cover a lot of categories of the awards, in order to give an allround flavor. Here is a brief intro the Academy Awards - some of you may already know it, you can move directly to the questions.

The Academy Awards are given out by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Here is the reason why they are called the "Oscars" - the award statuette was allegedly nicknamed Oscar when Academy librarian Margaret Herrick saw it and said, "it looks just like my uncle Oscar!". The name has since stuck, and is used very commonly. It has even been accepted by the Academy - in fact, the Academy's domain name is oscars.org and the official website for the Academy Awards is at www.oscars.com. Of course, I am hoping you will not use it as a resource to answer these questions!

1. What is the record for maximum number of Oscars for single movie (i.e. how many)? This record is shared by which three films?

2. Which was the first movie to win the award for "Best Animated Feature" in the year the Academy instituted this category (2001)?

3. For which 1996 movie did Nicholas Cage win the Oscar for best actor?

4. Which movie won the 1989 award for Best Foreign Language Film? [Hints: Directed by Guiseppe Tornatore, and a superb music score by Ennio Morricone, it is the story of a successful film director returning home to his town for the funeral of his friend, who was the projectionist at the local "movie hall" (the phrase in quotes is the giveaway). It has one of the best performances by a child artiste that I have seen. Hopefully these hints are more than enough]

5. Which 1990 movie about a cavalry officer befriending a band of Dakota "red" Indians won 7 Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director

6. Which 1984 movie, based on a novel by E.M.Forster about tensions between British colonials and natives of India won 3 Academy award for Best Supporting Actress (Peggy Ashcroft), Best Music and Best Original Score?

7. Best supporting Actor awards:
a. For which 1997 movie (set in Boston) did Robin William receive the award?
b. For which 1992 western (directed by Clint Eastwood) did Gene Hackman receive the award?
c. Which actor won the Best Supporting Actor award in 2005? (he was twice nominated earlier for best actor in 1989 and 1994)

8. Which 1994 movie based on a Stephen King novel received 7 nominations but failed to win a single award? It was later listed as one of the top three movies on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) Top 250 Movies of All Time?

9. Which actress was posthumously awarded The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award by the Academy in 1993 for her work as special ambassador for UNICEF? She won the best actress award for her role in a 1953 movie with Gregory Peck (I am not giving away the movie since it will make it too easy), and was nominated four other times for Sabrina, Wait until dark, breakfast at Tiffany's and The nun's story.

10. Which 1999 movie (whose lead character is named Thomas A. Anderson) won the Oscar for its revolutionary special effects?

11. For which 1995 movie based on the novel by Jane Austen did Emma Thompson win the award for Best Adapted Screenplay?

12. Which 1996 documentary won the award for best documentary feature? It was about the fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Zaire in 1974

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ANSWERS:
1. 11, Ben Hur, Titanic and Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
2. Shrek
3. Leaving Las Vegas
4. Cinema Paradiso
5. Dances with the wolves
6. A Passage to India
7. a) Goodwill Hunting
b) Unforgiven
c) Morgan Freeman
8. The Shawshank Redemption
9. Audrey Hepburn
10. The Matrix
11. Sense and Sensibility
12. While we were kings
- posted by Aditya @ 1:09 PM