"When I heard my name,” says The Counterfeiters director Stefan Ruzowitzky of his Oscar win, “I stayed in my seat for a split second because I felt it was a misunderstanding and it would be so embarrassing to get up if somebody else had won.”

As the winner of Best Foreign Language Film was announced, what TV viewers saw was a huge, disbelieving grin on the director's face and jubilation from the film's star, Karl Markovics. You could also just glimpse 91-year-old Adolf Burger, the author of the book which inspired the film.

Based on Burger's years in a concentration camp where he had to work in the Nazis' top-secret counterfeiting operation, the book - and now the film - reflect the author's ambition to have his story heard as widely as possible.

Ruzowitzky hadn't wanted to prepare a speech but a cautionary tale from the Sony Classics exec Michael Barker changed his mind. “He said he spoke to Sean Penn before the awards in 2004: Penn said he hadn't prepared anything and that if he won, he would just make some political statement. When he won, all he could remember was to thank his mum and his dad. That's the only thing that comes to mind.”

So preparing a few words was a good idea. Ruzowitzky's acceptance speech gave an elegant nod to fellow Austrian directors such as Billy Wilder and Otto Preminger who were exiled from Austria because of the Nazis but went on to shape the Hollywood of the 1930s to 1950s.

It was perhaps an odd year to be a nominee because of the belt-tightening caused by the writers' strike at this normally glitzy celebration. But the evening was not without some glamour - Ruzowitzky got to meet Javier Bardem. He was introduced to the star by Bardem's mother, the actress Pilar Bardem, who starred in a children's film that Ruzowitzky directed last year. He observes, though, that just because you shared a room with Hollywood megastars, it does not mean you are in the same universe. “Whether you see George Clooney on television or whether he's standing 5m away, you're not really any closer.”

The Counterfeiters' success was never going to be big news in celeb-obsessed Hollywood, but in his native Austria the director is something approaching a national hero. “When they announce the winner of the foreign language movie, they say the prize goes to Austria. So it was really a huge thing for Austria. It still is. The whole country wants to be part of that experience.”

As a result, he has been summoned to meet the president and will be doing the rounds of parties in his honour. And although the film has already been released there on DVD, it is being rereleased in the cinemas, where attendances look likely to beat the figures from first time around.

The most daunting task that now awaits Ruzowitzky is choosing his next film. He has had offers in the States, but, given the impact that the win has had in Austria, would he prefer to do another film in his home country? “No. I definitely would like to make use of the momentum. It's not about moving to LA - I have a family here. But it definitely would be an interesting challenge to make an international English language project. Again though, it is a privilege to do both Hollywood films and European independent films. I always admired people like Stephen Frears or Neil Jordan who combine the two.”

The Counterfeiters is out on DVD on Monday

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