Moonlight
has won best picture at the Oscars - but only after an error saw La La Land
initially declared the winner.
The La La
Land producers were in the middle of their acceptance speeches when the mistake
was discovered.
PriceWaterhouseCooper,
the accountancy firm responsible for counting the ballots, apologised for the
mix-up.
La La Land
still ended up the biggest winner of the night, taking home six Oscars
including a best actress award for Emma Stone.
Moonlight's
surprise best picture win took its haul to three, the low-budget film having
earlier won the adapted screenplay award and a best supporting actor prize for
Mahershala Ali.
Casey
Affleck was named best actor for Manchester by the Sea, while Viola Davis was
named best supporting actress for Fences.
Damien
Chazelle, La La Land's 32-year-old director, became the youngest film-maker to
win the best director Oscar.
Acting
winners
Casey
Affleck - best actor, Manchester by the Sea
Emma Stone
- best actress, La La Land
Mahershala
Ali - best supporting actor, Moonlight
Viola Davis
- best supporting actress, Fences
Yet this
year's ceremony will be remembered for its closing moments, when Warren Beatty
and Faye Dunaway arrived on stage to announced the best picture winner.
Beatty had
been mistakenly handed the previous winner's envelope, containing a card that
said Emma Stone had won best actress for La La Land.
It was this
card that Dunaway read from, mistakenly declaring La La Land to be best picture
and creating what Stone later described as "the craziest Oscar moment of
all time".
In a
statement, PriceWaterhouseCooper "sincerely" apologised for the
error, which it said was down to the presenters having "mistakenly been
given the wrong category envelope".
"We
are currently investigating how this could have happened, and deeply regret
that this occurred."
Host Jimmy
Kimmel said he blamed Steve Harvey for the error - a reference to Harvey's
mistake in announcing the Miss Universe winner in 2015.
It was La
La Land producer Jordan Horowitz who announced there had been a mistake.
"This
is not a joke," he told the audience, showing the correct card.
"Moonlight is best picture."
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