Silent movie The Artist won the Academy Award for Best Picture on Sunday, crowning its triumphal procession through Hollywood's annual awards season. The French-directed black-and-white movie beat eight rivals for the top Oscars prize, including Martin Scorsese's Hugo, Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris and hit civil rights drama The Help.

Other movies shortlisted for best film were The Descendants starring George Clooney, baseball movie Moneyball with Brad Pitt, Steven Spielberg's War Horse, The Tree of Life and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.

The Artist, which tells the story of a silent-era film star whose career is torpedoed by the arrival of "the talkies," was shortlisted in 10 categories at Sunday's Oscars, only one fewer than top-nominated Hugo with 11.

The Artist won a total of five prizes including a best director Oscar for Michel Hazanavicius and a best actor trophy for Jean Dujardin. The film also won Oscars for best original score and best costume design.