Oscars 2015: Foreign Language winner Pawel Pawlikowski gets played off twice, keeps talking

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Eric Garcia

Washington Bureau Chief

It was not such a good night for filmmaker Pawel Pawlikowski, who despite winning Best Foreign Film for Ida was played off stage twice during his acceptance speech.

Pawlikowski was ushered off stage mid-sentence while he was about to thank his family, who he said greatly influenced his film about a woman on the verge of becoming a nun when she realises she is Jewish.

But he decided to ignore the over-zealous music and went on to dedicate his award to his late wife.

“I would like to dedicate [this Oscar] to my late wife and my parents who are not among the living who are totally inside this film and they have a lot to do with the film”, he said, rushing and talking louder over the music.

He was then played off stage again by the music – and backstage explained he was about to say something schmaltzy that would appeal to Americans.

“What I wanted to say was that this [the Oscar] is great, by my kids are the most important thing in my life. I was about to say this kitsch thing that Americans would have loved!” he said.

Read his winners speech in full:

"Aw, God. How did I get here? We made a film about—as you saw, black and white—about the need for silence and withdrawal from the world and contemplation. And here we are at this epicenter of noise and world attention. Fantastic, you know, life is full of surprises. So, I’d like to thank the Academy.

"I’m honored, surprised and overwhelmed. I’d like to thank the people who backed our film: the producers, Eric Abraham of Portobello, Piotr Dzieciol, Agnieszka Odorowicz of the Polish Film Institute and many others. They backed—oh, and U.S. distributor who did a great job for very little money. Oh, wrap up. Good, okay, so quickly to the [unintelligible]… And to my Polish friends who are in front of the TV.

"And Ida, I would like to dedicate it to my late wife, my parents, who are not among the living, but who are totally inside this film and they have a lot to do with the film. #

"And my children, who are hopefully watching, who are still alive. Thank you, thank you. Victor and Maria, Victor and Maria, I love you. You are the main prize. Thank you."