Written by Burhan Wazir, New Media, DFI.

In what must rank as a somewhat age-obsessed year for the Oscars, a series of new firsts were claimed at the Hollywood & Highland Centre in Los Angeles last night. For the first time since “Wings” in 1929, a silent film, “The Artist”, won the “Best Picture” prize. In all, Michel Hazanavicius’s elegant homage to cinema’s pre-talkie era, took five awards in total over the course of the three hour ceremony, including “Best Director”.

Christopher Plummer, who was born the same year “Wings” was released, won “Best Supporting Actor” for “Beginners”, earning him the honour of being the oldest actor to ever receive the award. As host Billy Crystal, 64, joked, “Congratulations to Mr Plummer, the average age of the winners has now jumped to 67”. That number may have jumped moments later when Woody Allen, 76, won “Best Original Screenplay” for “Midnight in Paris”, his nostalgic piece about the literary scene in 1920s Paris.

In truth, Oscars 2012 will be remembered as a cheerful reminder of Hollywood gaiety in a year where many American viewers find themselves already distracted by economic and political tensions at home and abroad. The decision to bring back Billy Crystal as master of ceremonies for his ninth stint gave the ceremony a somewhat wrinkled and dusty appearance. Eddie Murphy, who was due to host this year’s ceremony, until he suddenly pulled out, would have proved more fearless. Crystal did his best to channel a vaudeville inspired charm, but at times his humour sat uncomfortably alongside edgier displays by younger comedians such as Chris Rock and Sacha Baron-Cohen. The star of “Borat” and “The Dictator” performed a characteristically irreverent publicity stunt on the red carpet before the ceremony.

Aside from the generally well-mannered ceremony, it was also a night of several disappointments. Martin Scorsese’s first child friendly film, “Hugo”, which had been nominated for eleven awards, walked away with only technical awards, including “Best Art Direction” and “Best Cinematography”. In truth, “Hugo” doesn’t exactly feature any central performances: the film is, in all senses, a team effort. And two of the most interesting films of last year – Bennett Miller’s enthralling baseball drama “Moneyball” and Terrence Malick’s poetic “Tree of Life” – went home empty handed.

Much has been written about the cautious nature of Academy voters. A recent Los Angeles Times study found the median age of Academy voters to be 62. Oscar voters are also 77 per cent male. These two statistics may go some way towards explaining the overpoweringly retro feel of many of the films, as well as last night’s ceremony. It may also say much about the Academy’s more reverential approach to cinema – when compared with younger, attention seeking siblings such as the Golden Globes and the Emmy awards.

Anyone who watches awards ceremonies regularly will acknowledge that by the time the gongs have been doled out, the post-match analysis usually resembles notes from a general election, with much devoted to statistical talking points such as “first ever” and “youngest ever”. In that respect, and with all due admiration to last night’s ageing titans of screen (Plummer, Streep, Scorsese and Allen) Oscars 2012 did serve up two unique winners. Asghar Farhadi’s bitter-sweet family drama “A Separation” became the first Iranian film to win “Best Foreign Language Film”. And “Saving Face”, a short film about acid attacks on women, by Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy and Daniel Junge, is Pakistan’s debut Oscar winner. Now that’s progress.

See full list of winners an nominees here.