>>>ANSA/ Italy hails Milena Canonero's fourth Oscar win

(by John Phillips). (ANSA) - Rome, February 23 - Premier Matteo Renzi on Monday hailed costume designer Milena Canonero's Oscar win for Wes Anderson's Grand Budapest Hotel - the fourth win for the Italian native.
    "Congratulations to Milena Canonero, elegance, grace and talent at the Oscars," the premier tweeted after the Turin native was awarded what is her fourth statuette Sunday night in Los Angeles.
    Canonero, a veteran stage and cinema costume designer, made her debut in Stanley Kubrick's iconic 1971 film A Clockwork Orange. She won her first Oscar four years later with Kubrick's Barry Lyndon.
    She followed this up with Oscars in 1981 for Hugh Hudson's Chariots of Fire and in 2006 for Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette.
    Grand Budapest Hotel took home three more Oscars at Sunday night's awards ceremony, where Mexican writer and director Alejandro Gonzalez Iniarritu's drama Birdman won best picture and best director.
    Culture Minister Dario Franceschini also chimed in on Canonero's win.
    "(This Oscar) is yet another confirmation of the strength and vitality of Italian cinema and creativity," Franceschini said.
    "Her victory makes Italy proud".
    "Thank you Wes, this is for you," the Turin-born designer said at the glittering awards ceremony in Los Angeles' Dolby Theatre, addressing herself to the director of the film, Wes Anderson.
    "You were a great inspiration, like an orchestra director, a composer, you are our source of inspiration".
    The film Birdman starring Michael Keaton and directed by Mexican filmmaker Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu earned trophies for best film, best director, best set design and best photography. The film is already booked in competition at the Venice Film Festival this summer.
    Iniarritu dedicated his victories to the plight of Mexican immigrants without rights in the United States.
    Keaton was not named best actor, however. That accolade went instead to Eddie Remayne for his outstanding interpretation of Stephen Hawking, the ALS-stricken Oxford physicist in The Theory of Everything.
    Richard Linklater's coming-of-age film Boyhood disappointed its fans by winning only one Oscar for best supporting actress, which went to Patricia Arquette.
    Julianne Moore won for best actress for her performance in Still Alice, a drama about Alzheimer's disease.