Canada was well-represented at last night’s Oscar ceremonies.

Ben Affleck thanked Canada when he accepted the award for Argo, based on the Iran hostage crisis in 1979. Affleck produced, directed, and starred in the film that took the Best Picture statuette.

Canada’s former Ambassador to Iran says he’s happy Affleck acknowledged Canada. Ken Taylor says Argo was great entertainment, but he has been critical of way the movie minimized Canada’s role in the crisis. He says he took heart from comments made by Jimmy Carter, who was President of the United States at the time of the hostage-taking. Carter told CNN the rescue was 90 per cent Canadian made.

Life of Pi, based on the novel by Canada’s Yann Martel, won four awards.  Toronto’s Michael Danna took the award for Best Film Score.  Ang Lee beat favourite Stephen Spielberg to win the Oscar for Best Director. Life of Pi also won awards for cinematgraphy and  visual effects. Vancouver’s Guillaume Rocheron accepted the visual effects prize.

Canada’s Jim Erickson won the award for Best Production Design for his work on Lincoln. The flu kept him from attending the ceremony, but he had a typically-Canadian way of describing how he felt. He said it was like scoring a hat-trick in the final game of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Canada’s entry in the foreign language film category, Rebelle, lost to Austria’s Amour.

Other big winners last night:

Daniel Day-Lewis — Best Actor for Lincoln
Jennifer Lawrence — Best Actress for Silver Linings Playbook
Christoph Waltz — Best Supporting Actor for Django Unchained
Ann Hathaway — Best Supporting Actress for Les Miserables.