Kathryn Bigelow - The first woman director to win an Oscar

The Iraq War drama The Hurt Locker won Best Picture and five other prizes Sunday at the Academy Awards , its haul including best director for Kathryn Bigelow.

Bigelow is the first woman in the 82-year history of the Oscars to earn Hollywood’s top prize for filmmakers.

“There’s no other way to describe it. It’s the moment of a lifetime,” Bigelow said.

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“It’s so extraordinary to be in the company of my fellow nominees, such powerful filmmakers, who have inspired me and I have admired, some of them for decades.”

Jeff Bridges and Sandra Bullock won the top acting Oscars for their roles in Crazy Heart and The Blind Side.

Bridges, playing a hard-living country singer, beat George Clooney, Morgan Freeman, Jeremy Renner and Britain’s Colin Firth to win on his fifth Academy Award nomination.

Blockbuster Avatar and low-budget indie The Hurt Locker led the nominations as the ceremony commenced on Sunday, with nine nominations apiece, but James Cameron’s 3D sci-fi juggernaut left with just three technical awards - for art direction, cinematography and visual effects.

Bigelow also added a prayer for the troops.

“I’d just like to dedicate this to the women and men in the military who risk their lives on a daily basis in Iraq and Afghanistan and around the world,” Bigelow said. “And may they come home safe.”

Joining Bigelow to collect the best-picture Oscar were her fellow Hurt Locker producers Boal and Greg Shapiro. A fourth producer - financier Nicolas Chartier, a key money man behind the film - was barred from attending as punishment for violating awards rules by sending e-mails to Oscar voters urging them to back The Hurt Locker over Avatar.

Among those Bigelow and The Hurt Locker beat are ex-husband James Cameron and his sci-fi spectacle “Avatar.” Bigelow and Cameron were married from 1989-91.