Oscar chatter is trending today (Twitter, Facebook), following last night’s ceremony in Hollywood.

Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography and Best Original Screenplay honors went to “Birdman,” while Best Actress and Actor honors went to Julianne Moore and Eddie Redmayne, respectively.

The movie “Selma” was also nominated for Best Picture and although the film didn’t receive top honors, a song from the movie soundtrack did. John Legend and Common performed an emotional rendition of their Best Song winner “Glory” last night. (Follow these links for Glory on Twitter and Facebook.)

“Selma” has renewed national interest in both the cause of civil rights and the city itself. On Jan. 18, three days after its nomination for Best Picture was announced, filmmakers held a commemorative march in Selma. Residents joined cast members David Oyelowo and Common, producer Oprah Winfrey and director Ava DuVernay in marching to the Edmund Pettus Bridge, site of the infamous “Bloody Sunday” attack 50 years earlier.

Photo courtesy of rollingout.com.

Later, a screening of the film was held at the Selma Walton Theater.

“I’m honored that Paramount Pictures and the cast has put Selma to the forefront of the nation again during MLK weekend,” said Selma Mayor George Patrick Evans. “The dream marches on.”

“Selma” is not the first dramatic movie to examine America’s civil rights struggle in the 20th century.

Other Oscar-nominated films include:

“The Help” (2011) – nominated for Best Picture

The film tells the story of a black maid and the young white woman she helped raise in 1950s-60s Mississippi. Divisions based on race, class and social status are examined. Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer and Jessica Chastain were nominated for acting awards; Spencer won Best Supporting Actress.

“Ghosts of Mississippi” (1996)

The 1994 trial of white supremacist Byron De La Beckwith Jr. for the murder of civil rights activist Medgar Evers three decades earlier is dramatized. James Woods (nominee, Best Supporting Actor), Alec Baldwin and Whoopi Goldberg starred. Yolanda King (born in Montgomery), daughter of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., played Reena Edwards.

“Driving Miss Daisy” (1989) – winner, Best Picture

This story of a widowed woman and her longtime driver was mocked by some critics. But it shows the impact of bigotry and the “appalling silence and indifference of the good people.” Morgan Freeman and Jessica Tandy (winner, Best Actress) starred.

“Mississippi Burning” (1988) – nominated for Best Picture, Best Director

Filmed partly in LaFayette, Ala., the movie traces the FBI investigation into the murders of civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner by the Ku Klux Klan in 1964. Gene Hackman was nominated for Best Actor and Frances McDormand for Best Supporting Actress.

“In the Heat of the Night” (1967) – winner, Best Picture; nominated for Best Director

This murder mystery pitted a white Southern sheriff (Rod Steiger, winner, Best Actor) against an African-American detective from Philadelphia (Sidney Poitier). The Academy Awards were postponed because of the assassination of King on April 4, 1968.

“To Kill a Mockingbird” (1962) – nominated for Best Picture, Best Director

The 1960 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Harper Lee (born in Monroeville) became a widely acclaimed movie classic. Set in Depression-era Alabama, it starred Gregory Peck (winner, Best Actor) as attorney Atticus Finch, who defends a black man wrongly accused of rape.

Other civil rights-themed movies and miniseries

“Selma, Lord, Selma” (1999) – TV movie

A young girl in Alabama hears a speech by King and decides to participate in the Selma-to-Montgomery march. The Disney film was based on a 1980 book by former Birmingham News reporter Frank Sikora and Selma’s Sheyann Webb Christburg and Rachel West Nelson. Yolanda King played Miss Bright – one of the young girls’ teachers in the movie.

“Our Friend, Martin” (1999) – animated movie

Two students and best friends, one white and one black, are sent back in time to meet King. Edward Asner and Angela Bassett starred.

“George Wallace” (1997) – TV movie

The Golden Globe-winning TV movie followed the life and career of Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace. Gary Sinise starred.

“King” (1978) – TV miniseries

This miniseries told the story of King from his early Baptist ministry to his assassination in 1968. Paul Winfield and Cicely Tyson starred. Yolanda King played Rosa Parks while King’s son Dexter played a student.

–John Herr