Academy Award (Oscar) - Best Picture WINNERS
*The 'Best Picture' category was not established until the 2nd Academy Awards. The 1st Academy Awards had two different categories to honor the best films of the year: (1) Outstanding Picture (winner = Wings (1927)); and (2) Unique and Artistic Picture (winner = Sunrise (1927)). After that 1st ceremony, the "Unique and Artistic Picture" category was eliminated, and the Academy established that the eliminated 'Outstanding Picture' category/winner would henceforth be considered analogous to the new 'Best Picture' category/winner. However, the "Unique and Artistic Picture" category/winner from the 1st Academy Awards is considered by many Oscar historians to be of equal prestige to that year's 'Outstanding Picture' category/winner.
The first six Academy Awards ceremonies did not honor movies released within a single calendar year (as has been done from the 7th Academy Awards on), but rather the last five months of one year, and the first seven months of the following year. To allow conversion to the current system, the sixth Academy Awards ceremony considered films for a 17 month period.
1928 (or 1927-28) = films released between August 1, 1927 - July 31, 1928
1929 (or 1928-29) = films released between August 1, 1928 - July 31, 1929
1930 (or 1929-30) = films released between August 1, 1929 - July 31, 1930
1931 (or 1930-31) = films released between August 1, 1930 - July 31, 1931
1932 (or 1931-32) = films released between August 1, 1931 - July 31, 1932
1933 (or 1932-33) = films released between August 1, 1932 - December 31, 1933