12 Years a Slave (2013)

Academy Awards, USA 2014

Won Oscar	Best Motion Picture of the Year Brad Pitt Dede Gardner Jeremy Kleiner Steve McQueen Anthony Katagas 12 Years a Slave (2013) became the first film directed and produced by a black filmmaker and also the first to be written by an African-American (John Ridley) to win the Academy Award for Best Motion Picture of the Year.
	Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role Lupita Nyong'o
	Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay John Ridley
Nominated Oscar	Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role Chiwetel Ejiofor
	Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role Michael Fassbender
	Best Achievement in Costume Design Patricia Norris
	Best Achievement in Directing Steve McQueen
	Best Achievement in Film Editing Joe Walker
	Best Achievement in Production Design Adam Stockhausen (production design) Alice Baker (set decoration)

Fox Searchlight Pictures
Directed by Steve McQueen
My rating: 3.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray, Regency/Fox)

A free black man in New York accepts a travel invitation to DC with a couple of business partners, who end up drugging him and selling him into slavery. He is sent to Louisiana where he spends the next 12 years in a living hell. Torture and rape are common at the hands of his owners, who dehumanize their slaves as mere property. He manages to eventually sneak out a letter to his family, who send lawyers to release him and reunite them. Vividly acted and directed, there has perhaps never been a film that shows slavery so realistically, but a painful, sorrowful experience.