{"id":10434,"date":"2013-09-17T02:34:24","date_gmt":"2013-09-17T02:34:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/12-years-a-slave-wins-best-picture-in-toronto\/"},"modified":"2013-09-17T02:35:16","modified_gmt":"2013-09-17T02:35:16","slug":"12-years-a-slave-wins-best-picture-in-toronto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/12-years-a-slave-wins-best-picture-in-toronto\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201912 Years A Slave\u2019 wins best picture in Toronto"},"content":{"rendered":"

British filmmaker Steve McQueen\u2019s \u201c12 Years A Slave\u201d won the audience prize for best picture at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday.<\/p>\n

The film, already generating Oscars buzz, is based on a firsthand account of Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in 1841, recalling the horrors of grueling labor, daily humiliation and families torn apart.<\/p>\n

Its premiere in Toronto last week received a standing ovation, as well as sobs, while some in the audience left early over the film\u2019s graphic portrayal of unspeakable torture of slaves during this period in history.<\/p>\n

The story is \u201ca gift from the past to open a discussion, not about race, particularly, but about human dignity and our freedoms and what we most require in the world,\u201d said actor Chiwetel Ejiofor, who plays Northup.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the only way to really open that discussion is to see all sides of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The film also stars Michael Fassbender as a cruel plantation owner, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Garret Dillahunt, Paul Giamatti, Scoot McNairy, Lupita Nyong\u2019o, Adepero Oduye, Sarah Paulson, Brad Pitt, Michael Kenneth Williams and Alfre Woodard.<\/p>\n

McQueen said he made the film because he wanted to connect with this period in American history.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to see images from that particular past. I wanted to experience it through images,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Toronto film festival, which ran from September 5, showcased 366 feature films, including 146 world premieres.<\/p>\n

Though it does not award jury prizes like at Cannes or Venice, the Toronto film festival has traditionally been a key event for Oscar-conscious studios and distributors, and attracts hundreds of filmmakers and actors to its red carpet.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s lineup included celebrities such as Colin Firth, Sandra Bullock, Julia Roberts, Kate Winslet and Jennifer Aniston.<\/p>\n

In past years, \u201cThe King\u2019s Speech,\u201d \u201cAmerican Beauty\u201d and \u201cChariots of Fire\u201d won Oscars for best picture after Toronto audiences gave them a nod.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

{Kenyan actress Lupita Nyong\u2019o}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

British filmmaker Steve McQueen\u2019s \u201c12 Years A Slave\u201d won the audience prize for best picture at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday. The film, already generating Oscars buzz, is based on a firsthand account of Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in 1841, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2000048298,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[99],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-10434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-greatlakesnews","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":{"id":2000048298,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton10434.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton10434.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton10434.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton10434.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton10434.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton10434.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000048298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10434"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=10434"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=10434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}