Oscar for Torill Kove's 'The Danish Poet'

Montreal animator Torill Kove described herself as overwhelmed, happy and utterly stunned on Sunday night as she mingled backstage with Hollywood stars after winning an Academy Award for her animated short The Danish Poet.

"I'm Norwegian, so I have to say that I don't deserve this that's just part of my cultural heritage," Kove said in an interview from Hollywood's Kodak Theater shortly after winning her Oscar, joking that it's a characteristic she failed to shake when she moved to Canada in 1982.

Kove said the old Oscar clich is true: it really is an honour just to be nominated.

"There were a lot of really, really good films among the nominees," she said. "I spent the whole week hanging out with the other nominees at various screenings. I've seen the films dozen of times, and each time I thought, any one of these films could walk away with the Oscar and I'd feel completely comfortable with it because they were all great films."

Kove and her husband were on the way to the Governor's Ball following the ceremony, then out for dinner with what she called "the Danish Poet entourage," and then, finally, to the Vanity Fair Oscar party the hottest ticket in town on Academy Awards night.

"It's really exciting; I can't really believe it," Kove, who accepted her award dressed in a sleek black halter dress purchased at clothing chain BCBG, said of the night ahead.

The Danish Poet is a Canada-Norway co-production about a poet who stumbles upon a series of seemingly unrelated events that eventually serve one purpose. It won the best animated short Genie Award on Feb. 13.

Kove, who worked as an urban planner before studying animation, thanked the National Film Board of Canada and Norwegian actress Liv Ullmann, who narrated The Danish Poet, as she accepted the Oscar in front of a star-studded Hollywood crowd.

"I want to thank the Academy for this wonderful award it's such an honour and also for continuing to support the animated short category; that really means a lot to us," she said to applause from the audience.

It was Kove's first win in two chances for an Oscar. She was nominated in 2000 for My Grandmother Ironed the King's Shirt, another National Film Board production.

As for where her Oscar would be displayed once she got back to Montreal, Kove said she wasn't quite sure yet but she vowed not to use it as a doorstop or a toilet paper holder, as some winners have claimed they do.

"I always think that's quite arrogant, so no, I won't do that," she said. "I'll keep it right next to my Genie; I think they should be together, and they're going to be on prominent display."