The Film Lost...Forever Trivia Quiz

Answer: Avatar

"Avatar" was a box office smash, and brought back the 3D film craze. Director James Cameron, known for directing "Aliens" and "Titanic", also wrote and co-produced the science fiction epic that missed out on the Best Picture award. It did, however, win the awards for Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography and Best Visual Effects. "Avatar" takes place on the moon Pandora, which is inhabited by the Na'vi. Humans are trying to mine a precious ore known as unobtanium.

The size of the mining setup threatens the home of the Na'vi species, native to Pandora.

The titular 'avatars' are scientifically grown Na'vi bodies, which a human can control via a mental link if the genetics match. The main character, Jake Sully, finds himself separated from the humans whilst in avatar form, and is taken in by the Na'vi clan. Jake Sully's mission is to collect intelligence that would force the Na'vi into cooperation, but Jake eventually rebels against the humans, with the help of the rest of his newly-acquired friends.

The film ends with Jake being permanently transferred from his human form to his avatar form in a sacred ritual.

Answer: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Loosely based on a short story written by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" tells the story of a man who is born with the physical traits of an elderly man, and ages backwards. He is abandoned by his parents and is taken in by a couple at a nursing home.

There, Benjamin meets Daisy, and will continue to meet her throughout his reversed life, eventually dying in her arms, as an infant, before she dies, as an elderly woman. It was nominated for no less than 13 Academy Awards.

It lost the award for Best Picture to Danny Boyle's "Slumdog Millionaire", but managed to win three awards for Best Art Direction, Best Visual Effects and Best Makeup.

Answer: Juno

Winning the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, "Juno" stars Ellen Page and Michael Cera, who is known for his roles in the film "Superbad" and the TV series "Arrested Development". The film received three Oscar nominations, for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress for Page.

The main character, Juno, played by Page, finds herself pregnant, and her close friend Paulie, played by Michael Cera, is the father. The film shows the things Juno faces as she copes with the pregnancy, and finds a couple to adopt the baby.

Answer: Little Miss Sunshine

Despite not winning the Best Picture award, "Little Miss Sunshine" picked up two other Academy Awards - for Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor for Alan Arkin. The film is about a dysfunctional family who must travel across America to a beauty pageant (the 'Little Miss Sunshine' pageant) that the daughter, played by Abigail Breslin, has qualified for.

The film was first screened at the Sundance Film Festival, where its distribution rights were bought.

Answer: Brokeback Mountain

"Brokeback Mountain" was nominated for eight Academy Awards, but won three: Best Director, Best Original Score and Best Adapted Screenplay. The film gained a high amount of controversy over the same-sex relationship depicted in the film, however it remains one of the highest-grossing romantic films of all time.

The two main characters meet and fall in love in 1963, but the two part ways because of the homophobia prevalent in society. They meet again in the future, but cannot stay together, because of the repercussions upon each other's families.

Answer: Ray

Jamie Foxx starred as Ray Charles in "Ray", a film that focuses on 30 years of the life of the musician, from his childhood to his international success in the world of music. The film was nominated for six awards, including Best Picture at the 77th Academy Awards, and went on to win two: Best Actor for Jamie Foxx, and Best Sound. Ray Charles himself was to attend the first screening of the film, but died before the premiere.

Answer: Lost in Translation

"Lost In Translation" was the second film directed by Sofia Coppola, daughter of renowned director Francis Ford Coppola. Earning four Academy Award nominations and winning one (for Best Original Screenplay), the film is set in Tokyo, Japan, where Bill Murray's character is there to shoot a whiskey advertisement, and ends up forming a close bond with the wife of a celebrity photographer, played by Scarlett Johansson.

Answer: The Hours

Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore and Nicole Kidman starred as the three women in "The Hours", with the latter winning an Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Virginia Woolf. Nicole Kidman's character, Virginia Woolf, is in 1923 England, and is writing her novel "Mrs Dalloway" whilst suffering from depression. Julianne Moore's Laura Brown is a struggling housewife in 1951 who seeks to escape the dreary life she leads by reading Woolf's book.

In 2001, Clarissa Vaughn, played by Meryl Streep, is essentially the embodiment of Mrs Dalloway from Woolf's novel.

The film received a total of nine nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Music Score. The screenplay was adapted from the novel written by Michael Cunningham, for which he won a Pulitzer Prize in 1999.

Answer: Moulin Rouge!

After having success with his first two films, "Strictly Ballroom" and "Romeo + Juliet", Baz Luhrmann co-wrote, co-produced and directed the 2001 musical film "Moulin Rouge!". The film forms part of Luhrmann's "Red Curtain Trilogy", and is based on the operas "La Boheme" and "La Traviata".

It was nominated for eight Oscars, and won two for Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design. Ewan MacGregor and Nicole Kidman star, with MacGregor playing an English writer who travels to Paris, and falls in love with a dancer at the Moulin Rouge, played by Kidman.

Answer: Erin Brockovich

Despite being nominated for five Academy Awards, "Erin Brockovich" only won one, and it was for Julia Roberts as Best Actress for her portrayal of the titular character. The film is based upon the true events of the real life Brockovich, and her fight against the Pacific Gas and Energy Company and its cover-up of its contamination of the water supply of a small community.

The real Erin Brockovich has a cameo role in the film as a waitress.