'It's a tie, I'm not joking' - unusual Oscars moment sees two films share award

There was an unusual moment during Sunday night's Oscars ceremony, when two films tied for best short live action film - The Singers and Two People Exchanging Saliva.

"A tie, wow we didn't know that could happen," exclaimed The Singers' director Sam A Davis.

This is the seventh time that votes have resulted in a tie in the Academy's nearly-100 year old history, the most recent was in 2013 when both Skyfall and Zero Dark Thirty won for best sound editing.

In 1969, two Hollywood legends - Katherine Hepburn and Barbara Streisand - shared an award for best actress.

The Oscar for best short action film was announced by comedian and actor Kumail Nanjiani, who took the curveball in his stride.

"It's a tie, I'm not joking, it's actually a tie," he declared, shocked. "Wow!" an audience member could be heard saying.

"Everyone calm down, we're going to get through this, focus up," Nanjiani told the laughing crowd, before saying he would announce one winner, let them have their moment, and then announce the other.

"Ironic that the short film Oscar's going to take twice as long," he joked.

The anticipation for the nominees to hear who else had won must have been palpable.

The Singers, an 18-minute musical comedy, was announced first.

The film is "a simple story about the power of music and art to bring us together in a moment when we live in an increasingly isolated world," Davis said in his acceptance speech, joined by producer Jack Piatt.

Two People Exchanging Saliva, a 36-minute dystopian French-language film, saw co-directors Natalie Musteata and Alexandre Singh excitedly take to the stage.

Singh, who persisted with his acceptance speech even though the mic was cut and lights brought down, took a not-so-subtle jab at recent comments from Timothée Chalamet, prompting both laughs and jeers from the audience.

"We believe that art can change people's souls... we can change society through art and creativity, through theatre and ballet," he said.

"It's such a dream," Musteata told reporters afterwards.

The first time there was a tie at the Academy Awards was in 1932, when Fredric March and Wallace Beery shared the award for best actor.

But it wasn't a true tie, because back then, if another nominee came within three votes of the winner, they too would be given an award (March had one more vote than Beery). The rules have since been changed.

The most controversial tie was between Katherine Hepburn for The Lion in Winter and Barbara Streisand for Funny Girl.

Although both were highly respected, Streisand had only just been admitted to the Academy. Usually, actors needed at least two film credits to join, but Academy president at the time, Gregory Peck, made an exception, citing her Tony-nomination on Broadway.

"Hello, Gorgeous," Streisand famously said to her Oscar statue, echoing her first line in Funny Girl.

Previous Academy Award ties:

2013 - Best sound editing for Skyfall and Zero Dark Thirty

1995 - Best short film (live action) for Frank Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life and Trevor

1987 - Best feature documentary for Artie Shaw: Time is All You've Got and Down and Out in America

1969 - Best actress for Katherine Hepburn and Barbara Streisand

1950 - Best documentary for A Chance to Live and So Much for So Little

1932 - Best actor for Fredric March and Wallace Beery