The Artist’s Michel Hazanavicius still surprised by success of his courageous project

In what looks to be just the start of a very healthy awards season for The Artist, Michel Hazanavicius's silent picture scooped three of the top prizes at the London Film Critics' Circle Awards last night.

Hazanavicius took Director of the Year, whilst leading star Jean Dujardin beat Michael Fassbender (Shame) to the Actor of the Year award. The French black and white film also took home the biggest award of the lot, Film of the Year, as The Artist matched their exploits at the Golden Globes where they also won three times.

Yet despite such magnificent success, Hazanavicius admitted to The Fan Carpet that it's still a surprise to see his courageous project receive so much critical acclaim.

"I always hoped that people would enjoy it but I would have not expected this level of response, its just exceptional," he said.

"I really tried to make a joyful movie that brings energy and happiness at the end of the movie, so I am very happy that people get this energy. I love it when people are happy and it's a great privilege to bring joy to people. "

Dujardin, sadly attending the ceremony without his side-kick from the film Uggie the dog, also spoke To The Fan Carpet, stating his delight to see The Artist in the spotlight, as it looks almost a shoe-in for a number of Oscar's at next month's Academy Awards.

"It's amazing, we are so proud and happy, and I am very happy for Michel and his work, and Bérénice, it's amazing."

With an almighty reception from fans surrounding the BFI Southbank, London, Dujardin also admitted to still feeling quite taken aback by the response of the audiences, particularly so in other nations outside of France.

"It's the story of my life. No, I'm kidding, it's very new to me and it's a very warm reception.

I even hesitated to do the movie, it was a big challenge, you could never know what would happen or to foresee such things. It was a happy accident." he finished.

Meanwhile, Actress of the Year was shared between Anna Paquin in Margaret, and Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady.

British film of the year went to We Need to Talk About Kevin, whilst Senna took Documentary. A Separation, similarly to The Aritst, also left with triple honours, winning Foreign Language Film of the Year, Asghar Farhadi for Screenwriter and Sareh Bayat was awarded Best-Supporting Actress.

Kenneth Brannagh won Best Supporting Actor, whilst Olivia Colman and Michael Fassbender won British Actress and Actor of the Year respectively, and finally Nicolas Roeg was awarded the honour of Excellence in Film to round off the evening.