On May 16, 1929, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) held its first awards ceremony, at a dinner party for around 250 people held in the Blossom Room of the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, California.
The Academy was introduced as a non-profit organization, engineered by the head of MGM studios, Louis B. Mayer, and was dedicated to the advancement and improvement of the film industry. We now refer to this ceremony as The Oscars, after the coveted gold-plated statuettes, and it reigns as one of the most prominent awards ceremonies in the world, televised in more than 100 countries annually. It is also the oldest awards ceremony in the media.
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The first official Best Picture winner was Wings, directed by William Wellman. Wings, a story of two WWI pilots who fall for the same woman, was the most expensive movie of its time, with a budget of $2 million, and was the only silent film ever to win Best Picture. Interestingly, the 2012 winner for Best Picture was The Artist, a modern tribute to the era of silent cinema.