Beyonce kicked off the ceremony from a tennis court in Compton, in honour of tennis champions Venus and Serena Williams, whose childhood is the main theme of "King Richard". Billie Eilish performed a powerful rendition of "No Time to Die", the theme song from the latest James Bond film. The track also earned Eilish and Finneas the Oscar for Best Original Song. This marks the third consecutive Academy Award for music in the long-running espionage franchise.

Sian Heder's "CODA" made history by being the first film from a major streaming service to win an Oscar for Best Picture. The film has been critically acclaimed for fully capturing the heart and soul in its empathetic portrayal of the deaf community. Besides the Best Picture win, "CODA" got recognised for Best Adapted Screenplay and a Best Supporting Actor honour for Troy Kotsur. Kotsur also made history as the first deaf actor to receive an Academy Award.

Jessica Chastian won Best Actress for ‘The Eyes of Tammy’, Photo: AP.

Jessica Chastain won the Oscar for Best Actress for her transformation into a controversial televangelist in "The Eyes of Tammy Faye". Will Smith received the Oscar for Best Actor for his role as Richard Williams, the ambitious father and coach of tennis champions Venus and Serena Williams, in the film "King Richard".

Jane Campion's win made her the third female winner of the Best Director award. Ryusuke Hamaguchi's "Drive My Car" became the second Japanese film in history to win an Oscar for International Feature Film.

Director Ryusuke Hamaguchi accepts Oscar for Best International Feature Film for ‘Drive My Car’ Photo: Reuters

Eight out of the 23 major awards, including Original Score, Production Design and Film Editing were not presented live during the telecast to make room for more comedy and musical numbers.

Denis Villeneuve's sci-fi blockbuster "Dune" swept six Oscars for cinematography, production design, editing, original score, sound, and visual effects.

The Academy showed solidarity for the people of Ukraine with Reba McEntire's brilliant performance of her nominated song "Somehow You Do". Legends Francis Ford Coppola, Robert De Niro, and Al Pacino reunited on stage in honour of the 50th anniversary of "The Godfather".

Will Smith accepts Best Actor award at the ceremony.

Chris Rock was on stage to announce the best documentary feature when he joked about Jada Pinkett Smith appearing in a sequel to "G.I. Jane" because of her hairdo, which was the result of alopecia. In a bizarre and embarrassing fiasco, Will Smith slapped Rock on the face for the joke. Sadly, Smith's big win will be eclipsed by this one moment of weakness.

The slap that overshadowed the awards: Will Smith slapped host and comedian Chris Rock for a joke directed towards his wife, Jada. Photo: collected