12 Years a Slave is a 2013 British-American historical drama film and an adaptation of the 1853 memoir Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup, a New York State-born free African American man who was kidnapped in Washington, D.C., in 1841 and sold into slavery. He worked on plantations in the state of Louisiana for twelve years before his release. The first scholarly edition of Northup's memoir, co-edited in 1968 by Sue Eakin andJoseph Logsdon, carefully retraced and validated the account and concluded it to be accurate.^[6]

This is the third feature film directed by Steve McQueen. The screenplay was written by John Ridley. Chiwetel Ejiofor stars as Solomon Northup.Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti, Lupita Nyong'o, Sarah Paulson, Brad Pitt and Alfre Woodard are all featured in supporting roles. Principal photography took place in New Orleans, Louisiana, from June 27 to August 13, 2012. The locations used were four historic antebellum plantations: Felicity, Magnolia, Bocage, and Destrehan. Of the four, Magnolia is nearest to the actual plantation where Northup was held.

12 Years a Slave received wide critical acclaim, and was named the best film of the year by several media outlets. It also proved to be a box office success, earning over $158 million on a production budget of $20 million. The film won three Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress for Nyong'o and Best Adapted Screenplay for Ridley. It subsequently became the first film made by a black director to receive the Academy’s highest honor: Best Picture.^[7] It was awarded the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama, and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts recognized the film with the Best Film and the Best Actor award for Ejiofor.^[8]