12 Years a Slave

★★★★★ The Telegraph
★★★★★ The Observer
★★★★★ FT

Steve McQueen’s exhibition at the ICA in 1999 led to his Turner Prize success later that year, and he has since gone on to achieve international acclaim with the films Hunger and Shame, as well as exhibiting in major galleries worldwide. We’re pleased to present McQueen’s Oscar winning third feature, which deals poetically and humanely with one of the thorniest aspects of American history.

Based on Solomon Northup’s 1853 memoir of the same name, 12 Years a Slave stars Ejiofor as a well-to-do musician who is kidnapped and forced into slavery in the cotton fields of Louisiana. As the years go by, he is passed from owner to owner, arriving finally at the plantation of Edwin Epps (Fassbender). The relationship between Epps and Northup is perhaps 
the heart of the film: the former represents the very worst of humanity, while the latter holds on to his faith, his heart going out to persecuted slave girl Patsey (Nyong’o). An intimate epic about freedom and resilience.