Two films from the Middle East won Oscars at Sunday's Academy Awards, highlighting the growing reputation of the region's film industry at a time of ongoing tensions and crises.

The Iranian directors of the "In the Shadow of the Cypress," the Oscar-winner for Best Animated Short Film, were granted a last minute visa and only arrived in Los Angeles three hours before the start of the ceremony,

In the Shadow of the Cypress, a short film by Iranian directors Hossein Molayemi and Shirin Sohani, has won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short. The 20-minute animated short follows a retired sea captain who copes with post traumatic stress disorder while caring for his daughter.