12 Years a Slave is a feature film adaptation of Solomon Northup's slave narrative of the same name. Widely lauded by film critics and viewers around the globe, the film won three Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay.
Northrup was born free and living in New York state when he travelled to the Washington D.C. area for a short term job. There he is kidnapped and shipped south where he is sold - twice. After 12 years in slavery, he is finally identified as a free man by someone he once knew and returns to his family.
African-American history scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. was a consultant on the film which is widely thought to be one of the most -if not the most- accurate portrayals of slavery on film.
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