Los Angeles, Feb 23 (IANS): "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)" and "The Imitation Game" received the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay and Best Adapted Screenplay respectively at the 87th Academy Awards here Sunday night.

"Birdman" is about Riggan Thomson, an actor once popular for playing a superhero in a series of films and how he hopes to re-establish himself as a serious actor by mounting his own dramatic production on Broadway. His self-doubt hinders the project.

The movie's screenplay was in contention with "Boyhood", "Foxcatcher", "The Grand Budapest Hotel" and "Nightcrawler".

In the Best Adapted Screenplay, "The Imitation Game" walked away with the accolades.

A description of the movie on the official Oscar website reads: "As World War II engulfs Europe, a group of English mathematicians are assembled at Bletchley Park to work in secret on cracking the code of a captured German Enigma encryption machine. With England's fate hanging in the balance, the group's leader, the brilliant, eccentric Alan Turing, must hide his homosexuality or risk arrest and persecution by the country he is fighting to save."

The film was contenting for the award alongside "American Sniper", "Inherent Vice", "The Theory of Everything" and "Whiplash".

Also, in the Best Editing category, Tom Cross was awarded for his work in "Whiplash". He couldn't thank director Damien Chazelle enough for giving him the honour to work on the movie.

"Whiplash", an American drama film written and directed by Chazelle, is based on his experiences in the Princeton High School Studio Band. The film stars Miles Teller as a student jazz drummer who seeks the respect of an abusive teacher played by J.K. Simmons. It also features Paul Reiser and Melissa Benoist.