The Oscar Gala, broadcast direct from the Dolby Theater was watched at the Lodz Film School by students and lecturers. Radio Three provided a cover program for the occasion at the Film School run by Ryszard ‘Rico’ Jaźwiński. News of the Oscar win for Ida was enthusiastically received by the students who congratulated their profesor, Jarosław Kamiński, the editor of the film Ida. ‘Thank you. Now it’s your turn.’ said the editor. ‘It was hard work on a difficult film. We suspected that the film may have difficulty attracting an international audience. It’s black and white, private, refers to times long gone. Despite all this, it turned out to be just the opposite. For me, as a person who worked on the film, it is a great joy.’

Nicole Kidman was the one who handed the statue to film’s director, Paweł Pawlikowski, who received it as a representative of the film-makers involved in making Ida. ‘I don’t really know how I ended up here. I made a black and white film about the need for peace and retreat from the world into contemplation. And here I am in the middle of this tumult, at the centre of world attention. It’s fantastic - life is full of surprises.’ said Pawlikowski during his one-and-a-half-minute-long speech. The Polish film defeated the Russian Leviathan, Timbuktu from Mauritania, Argentina’s Wild Stories and Tangerines from Estonia. Ida was also nominated in the Best Cinematography category, which is undoubtedly high recognition from the American Academy for Polish cinematographers, Prof. Ryszard Lenczewski, Lodz Film School lecturer and Łukasz Żal, its graduate. However, the Oscar in this category was awarded to Emmanuel Lubezki, the director of photography of the film Birdman directed by Alejadro Gonzales Innaritu.

Ida is the first Polish film to win the American Film Academy Award for the Best Foreign Language Film. Nine other Polish films have been Oscar nominees: Nóż w wodzie by Roman Polański (1964), Faraon by Jerzy Kawalerowicz (1967), Potop by Jerzy Hoffman (1975), Ziemia obiecana by Andrzej Wajda (1976), Noce i dnie by Jerzy Antczak (1977), Panny z Wilka by Andrzej Wajda (1980), Człowiek z żelaza by Andrzej Wajda (1982), Katyń by Andrzej Wajda (2008) and W ciemności by Agnieszka Holland (2012). Ida was produced by the Lodz Opus Film Studio.

A list of Oscar winners 2015:
Best supporting actor WINNER: JK Simmons for Whiplash Achievement in costume design WINNER: The Grand Budapest Hotel – Milena Canonero
Achievement in makeup and hairstyling WINNER: The Grand Budapest Hotel – Frances Hannon, Mark Coulier
Best foreign-language film WINNER: Ida – Paweł Pawlikowski
Best live-action short film WINNER: The Phone Call – Mat Kirkby, James Lucas
Best documentary short subject WINNER: Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1 – Ellen Goosenberg Kent, Dana Perry
Achievement in sound mixing WINNER: Whiplash – Craig Mann, Ben Wilkins, Thomas Curley
Achievement in sound editing WINNER: American Sniper – Alan Robert Murray, Bub Asman
Best supporting actress WINNER: Patricia Arquette for Boyhood Achievement in visual effects WINNER: Interstellar – Paul J Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter, Scott R Fisher
Best animated short film WINNER: Feast – Patrick Osborne, Kristina Reed
Best animated feature film WINNER: Big Hero 6
Best production design WINNER: The Grand Budapest Hotel: Adam Stockhausen, Anna Pinnock
Achievement in cinematography WINNER: Birdman: Emmanuel Lubezki
Achievement in film editing WINNER: Whiplash – Tom Cross
Best documentary feature WINNER: Citizenfour – Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy, Dirk Wilutzky
Best original song WINNER: Glory from Selma – Lonnie Lynn (Common), John Stephens (John Legend)
Best original score WINNER: Alexandre Desplat – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Original screenplay WINNER: Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Armando Bo – Birdman
Adapted screenplay WINNER: Graham Moore – The Imitation Game Best director WINNER: Alejandro González Iñárritu for Birdman
Best actor WINNER: Eddie Redmayne for The Theory of Everything Best actress WINNER: Julianne Moore for Still Alice
Best picture WINNER: Birdman