British Oscar hopeful An Education scooped a major honour in Los Angeles last night.

The film starring Academy Award best actress nominee Carey Mulligan was named best foreign film at the 25th Spirit Awards.

It's somewhat amusing that an English language picture should win a foreign language award, but perhaps English as spoken in England comes across as a foreign language to folk in California.

Careys steal the show: Mulligan and Mariah were among the winners, with Mariah stealing the show with her revealing mid-thigh dress

It was a bit of a surprise because even some of the film-makers thought the foreign prize would go to the French movie A Prophet, which is in a proper foreign language.

Even so, the room erupted when it went to the BBC Film production.

British contingent: Elton John and Helen Mirren, who was a nominee for her role in The Last Station, with a rather startled-looking David Furnish behind

Precious took out several awards and won the main award for best film.

The Spirit Awards cater to independent low budget pictures, which shuts out the likes of big studio movies like Avatar.

Precious commodity: Smiling Helen Mirren and Mariah Carey pose with Precious director Lee Daniels

The ceremony usually takes place on a Saturday afternoon under a mammoth marquee on the beach at Santa Monica, but for its 25th birthday the organisers opted for a night-time ceremony in a parking garage in downtown LA.

Longtime attendee Elton John wasn't crazy about the change of venue.

Glory be: Co-stars Mariah Carey and actress Gabourey Sidibe pose with the award for Best Feature Film for the film for Precious

'I liked the beach,' the singer complained to the Daily Mail. 'The beach was fun, it was during daylight and there was a whole different vibe. Having said that, I'm a fan of independent film but I just miss all that sand and sea.'

The Spirits still managed to retain their cool sensibility, with presenters such as Mulligan, Laura Dern, Pierce Brosnan and Mariah Carey, who was bursting out of a figure-hugging black dress.

Dining out on success: Precious star Mo'Nique with the ubercool Lenny Kravitz

Heavyweight stars: Actress Gabourey Sidibe celebrates announcement of her Best Female Lead award with Precious co-star Mo'Nique

Hairy to stay: Mo'Nique accepts her award with her familiar hairy legs on show

It was a miracle Mariah made it to the ceremony. As other stars were walking the arrivals red carpet, one of Mariah's representatives was asked if the singer-actress was arriving any time soon, and said: 'Well, I wouldn't wait around for her 'cause she's still at home deciding what dress to put on.'

Maggie Gyllenhaal

She eventually arrived and sat on the Precious table with co-stars Gabourey Sidibe, who won the best actress prize for her extraordinary performance as an abused teenager, and Mo'nique, who won best supporting actress as the mother who heaps abuse on her daughter.

Precious writer Geoffrey Fletcher won best first screenplay and Lee Daniels was named best director, while the film aslo won best picture.

American Beauty: Mena Suvari wore blue shoes with her black dress

The entire cast took to the stage to collect the major award, as well as lead producer Lisa Cortez.

Jeff Bridges took the best actor award for Crazy Heart.

Less is more: Maria Bello and Rosario Dawson both went with sleeveless above-the-knee dresses for the ceremony

Other stars on hand included Helen Mirren and Christopher Plummer, who were both nominees for The Last Station and will contend in acting categories at the Oscars tomorrow night.

Colin Firth was also there as a nominee for his part as a gay English literature professor in Tom Ford's debut film A Single Man.

Set for Sunday: Veteran actor Jeff Bridges picked up Best Male Lead award for Crazy Heart - now will he win the Oscar?

Host Eddie Izzard shocked the audience when he joked that God did not exist, before returning to the stage to say there had been complaints.

'I just talked to God and he apologises for not existing', Izzard said.

Cool set: A Single Man director Tom Ford (left) and Bridges' rival for Oscar glory Colin Firth

He was rivalled in the comedy stakes by Ben Stiller who brought on a couple of porn stars and joked that he'd be upping audience figures.

He introduced them as Maggie Jizz-and-balls and Philip Semen Hoffman as Maggie Gyllenhaal and Philip Seymour Hoffman laughed along with the rest of the audience.

Hollywood str!p: Actor Ben Stiller struggles to retain his concentration as three str!ppers steal the audiences attention while award nominees are announced