The son of Holocaust survivors who hid from the Nazis in the French woodlands was last night celebrating the greatest honour in filmmaking.

Michel Hazanavicius's homage to silent film, The Artist, took home the Oscar for Best Director at the Los Angeles ceremony last night, as well as awards for Best Picture and Best Actor for its star, Jean Dujardin.

The French filmmaker triumphed in the category over Woody Allen, whose film Midnight in Paris won the award for Best Original Screenplay.

Mr Hazanavicius, 44, is best known in France for a spoof spy film, but his next project will draw more on his own family's history. His parents and grandparents were forced into hiding when the Nazis occupied France, while relatives were sent to concentration camps.

He is planning to remake a 1948 Swiss film about a concentration camp survivor who is searching for his mother in the aftermath of the Holocaust.