{"id":16102,"date":"2013-09-15T03:09:34","date_gmt":"2013-09-15T03:09:34","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-10-13T20:43:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T20:43:12","slug":"12-years-a-slave-wins-best-picture-in-toronto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/?p=16102","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;12 Years A Slave&#8221; wins best picture in Toronto"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>British filmmaker Steve McQueen&#8217;s &#8220;12 Years A Slave&#8221; won the audience prize for best picture at the Toronto International Film Festival on today.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The film, already generating Oscars buzz, is based on a <strong>firsthand account of Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in 1841<\/strong>, recalling the horrors of grueling labor, daily humiliation and families torn apart.<\/p>\n<p>Its premiere in Toronto last week received a standing ovation, as well as sobs, while some in the audience left early over the film&#8217;s graphic portrayal of unspeakable torture of slaves during this period in history.<\/p>\n<p><iframe width=\"500\" height=\"315\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NYYtS9KSWNg\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The story is &#8220;a 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,&#8221; said actor Chiwetel Ejiofor, who plays Northup.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;And the only way to really open that discussion is to see all sides of it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The film also stars Michael Fassbender as a cruel plantation owner, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Garret Dillahunt, Paul Giamatti, Scoot McNairy, Lupita Nyong&#8217;o, Adepero Oduye, Sarah Paulson, Brad Pitt, Michael Kenneth Williams and Alfre Woodard.<\/p>\n<p><strong>McQueen said he made the film because he wanted to connect with this period in American history.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I wanted to see images from that particular past. I wanted to experience it through images,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>The Toronto film festival, which ran from September 5, showcased 366 feature films, including 146 world premieres.<\/p>\n<p>Though it does not award jury prizes like at Cannes or Venice, <strong>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.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This year&#8217;s lineup included celebrities such as Colin Firth, Sandra Bullock, Julia Roberts, Kate Winslet and Jennifer Aniston.<\/p>\n<p>In past years, &#8220;The King&#8217;s Speech,&#8221; &#8220;American Beauty&#8221; and &#8220;Chariots of Fire&#8221; won Oscars for best picture after Toronto audiences gave them a nod.<\/p>\n<p><em>Source AFP<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>British filmmaker Steve McQueen&#8217;s &#8220;12 Years A Slave&#8221; won the audience prize for best picture at the Toronto International Film<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":72448,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[1001,2059,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrities","category-entertainment","category-news"],"magazineBlocksPostFeaturedMedia":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u-113x150.jpg","medium":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","medium_large":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","large":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","1536x1536":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","2048x2048":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","colormag-highlighted-post":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","colormag-featured-post-medium":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","colormag-featured-post-small":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u-113x90.jpg","colormag-featured-image":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","colormag-default-news":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u-113x150.jpg","colormag-featured-image-large":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","colormag-elementor-block-extra-large-thumbnail":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","colormag-elementor-grid-large-thumbnail":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","colormag-elementor-grid-small-thumbnail":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","colormag-elementor-grid-medium-large-thumbnail":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg"},"magazineBlocksPostAuthor":{"name":"Admin","avatar":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/53e6cdc30765aade0129f85e5aeb50124b1d3f5bb9a70373be31e4eb328371e0?s=96&d=mm&r=g"},"magazineBlocksPostCommentsNumber":"0","magazineBlocksPostExcerpt":"British filmmaker Steve McQueen&#8217;s &#8220;12 Years A Slave&#8221; won the audience prize for best picture at the Toronto International Film","magazineBlocksPostCategories":["Celebrities","Entertainment","News"],"magazineBlocksPostViewCount":147,"magazineBlocksPostReadTime":2,"magazine_blocks_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg",113,170,false],"medium":["https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg",113,170,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u-113x150.jpg",113,150,true]},"magazine_blocks_author":{"display_name":"Admin","author_link":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/?author=1"},"magazine_blocks_comment":0,"magazine_blocks_author_image":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/53e6cdc30765aade0129f85e5aeb50124b1d3f5bb9a70373be31e4eb328371e0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","magazine_blocks_category":"<a href=\"#\" class=\"category-link category-link-1001\">Celebrities<\/a> <a href=\"#\" class=\"category-link category-link-2059\">Entertainment<\/a> <a href=\"#\" class=\"category-link category-link-1\">News<\/a>","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16102\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/72448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}