Simon Chinn, British producer of best documentary Searching for Sugar Man, describes his ‘surreal experience’

Phew. That’s better, now I’ve got a cup of tea in my hand. Famous? It’s only a documentary, for Christ’s sake. But yes … it was amazing.

It is such a surreal experience. We documentary makers don’t get to mix with real Hollywood, but it had got very good distribution in the States so a lot of people knew about it. I met a lot of properly famous people. I had Joan Collins fondling my Oscar. I wished Daniel Day-Lewis luck before he went on – a great win that, he is a class act.

I’d been there before, when I won for Man on Wire, so I knew the drill a little bit – but I’m not sure if that really helps much. For the first time this year, thanks to the changes introduced by Michael Moore, all the members of the academy got to vote on it, 6,000 people who all got DVDs instead of just the documentary sector of about 170. So it was a much more level playing field, and it felt like a good year to win.

Read more at Oscars 2013: what it’s like to win | Film | The Guardian.