The Steve McQueen-directed project “12 Years a Slave” won as audience favourite at the Toronto International Film Festival this past weekend.
The movie is a based-on-fact story of a 19th-century freeman kidnapped and sold into slavery in the Deep South. It stars Chiwetel Ejiofor (“Dancing on the Edge”), Michael Fassbender (“Prometheus”), Brad Pitt, Paul Giamatti, Alfre Woodard, and Benedict Cumberbatch
“As we sort of launch into the awards season – and Toronto really is the beginning of that, acts as a bellwether, too – I think we can probably expect to see not just ’12 Years a Slave’ up there in terms of the best picture nominations but also a slew of other nominations for actor, etc, etc,” festival boss Piers Handling said to The Canadian Press. “I saw some of the reviews and they were really over the top, over the moon in terms of what Steve McQueen had done in terms of making a very genuine, honest, harsh, tough depiction of what it was like to be a slave in 19th century America.”
Many are predicting major Oscar buzz for “12 Years a Slave.”
Photo: TIFF
