Audience members are thrust headlong into a struggle for freedom in antebellum America in Director Steve McQueen’s stirring drama, 12 Years a Slave.
The film recounts the incredible true story of Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free black man from upstate New York, who must fight to survive and regain his freedom after being abducted and sold into slavery in the pre-Civil War United States.
McQueen discussed the challenges of recapturing such a dark part of history in his first American film and the joys of working with a top-notch cast (Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Garret Dillahunt, Paul Giamatti, Brad Pitt, and Alfre Woodard) in a discussion with DGA Award-winning Director Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker) after the October 13 DGA membership screening in Los Angeles.
In addition to 12 Years a Slave, McQueen’s other works include the feature films Shame and Hunger, and the short films Static, Deadpan, Exodus, and Bear. McQueen joined the DGA in 2012.