Lord Of The Rings awarded Best Film at Hollywood ceremony

The Fellowship Of The Ring has been named best film at the American Film Institute awards.

It is the first major award for the Lord Of The Rings box office hit.

The film also collected two awards for digital effects and production design.

Denzel Washington won the Best Male Actor award for Training Day, and Sissy Spacek took Best Female Actor for In The Bedroom.

Other winners at the Hollywood ceremony included The Sopranos for Best Drama and Band Of Brothers for Best TV Movie or Mini-Series.

Lord Of The Rings executive producer Robert Shaye refused to speculate that the first film of the trilogy could be up for an Oscar.

He said: "I am a little superstitious. If you have to look at something too hard it just slips away."