A Separation has won the best foreign language film Oscar at the Academy Award ceremony currently taking place at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. The Iranian divorce drama, directed by Asghar Farhadi and starring Peyman Maadi and Leila Hatami, has been in pole position for the Oscar ever since it carried off the Golden Globe last month.

A Separation was up against four other contenders, including Agnieszka Holland's second world war drama In Darkness and the Israeli father-son rivalry story Footnote. It was confidently expected to win the award after Pedro Almodovar's The Skin I Live In, which beat it to the best foreign film Bafta a fortnight ago, was not submitted as Spain's official entry.

A Separation, which examines the moral and social conflicts that arise in a Tehran family after a couple apply for a divorce, was recently criticised as a "dirty picture" by Iranian hardliners, despite its commercial success in the country.