From the making of Spotlight and The Revenant to the VFX behind Ex Machina and Mad Max: Fury Road, here are the stories behind the winners of this year’s Oscars.

Oscar winners

Throughout awards season 2015/16, Screen has profiled the filmmakers and artists behind the biggest features of the year. Here we present a selection of reports, based around the winners of the 88th Academy Awards.

Spotlight

Spotlight

The story of the Boston Globe’s investigation into sexual abuse in the Catholic Church proved a surprise winner for best film over bookies favourite The Revenant and also won best original screenplay.

Screen interviewed director and co-writer Tom McCarthy and spoke to the team behind the film to reveal how they avoided lawsuits and cast a prestige acting ensemble

The Revenant

The gritty, survival drama won a hat-trick of Oscars for leading actor Leonardo DiCaprio, director Alejandro G. Iñárritu and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki.

The filmmakers talked to Screen about the challenges and rewards of endurance film-making.

Mad Max: Fury Road

Mad Max Fury Road behind the scenes

The breathtaking action reboot won the most Oscars on the night, picking up six Academy Awards for film editing, costume design, makup and hairstyling, sound mixing, sound editing and production design.

Screen spoke to director George Miller, producer Doug Mitchell and production designer Colin Gibson about the film that was nearly 20 years in the making.

Room

Brie Larson won best actress for her portrayal of a young mother in captivity and her fight for survival. She told Screen how she went to startling lengths to prepare for the role of a lifetime.

The Danish Girl

Alicia Vikander

Alicia Vikander won best supporting actress for her role as Gerda Wegener, the artist and wife of transgender painter Lili Elbe, played by Eddie Redmayne.

The Swedish actress talked to Screen about her stellar career to date, which includes her performance as a super-intelligent robot in another Oscar winner, Ex Machina.

Inside Out

inside out

Pixar won its eight best animated feature with Inside Out, an adventure based around the emotions inside the head of a young girl.

The team behind the film found inspiration for their strikingly ambitious trip into the human mind in some unlikely places, as director Pete Docter told Screen.

Amy

Amy trailer

The winner of best documentary feature told the tragic story of singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse. Director Asif Kapadia and producer James Gay-Rees talked to Screen about the need for sensitive diplomatic skills and nerves of steel.

Son Of Saul

Best foreign language film of the year was won by Hungary’s Son Of Saul, the tale of a Jewish worker in a Nazi concentration camp who seeks the chance to bury a boy who may be his son.

Director Laszlo Nemes reveals why few financiers wanted to back it.

Ex Machina

In a year of stunning visual-effects work, Ex Machina’s bewitching robot stood out as a peerless use of VFX and won best visual effects. Screen spoke to the team that created her.

The Big Short

The Big Short

This funny, smart look at the economic crisis won Charles Randolph and Adam McKay best adapted screenplay.

Producers Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner and director Adam McKay talk about how they made an entertaining, informative film about the build-up to the calamitous global banking meltdown.