The film's release was gradually widened in subsequent weeks, similarly to how the studio had successfully done in years prior with films such as "Black Swan" and "The Descendants". International release dates for "12 Years a Slave" were largely delayed to early 2014 in order to take advantage of the attention created by awards seasons. During its marketing campaign, "12 Years a Slave" received unpaid endorsements by celebrities such as Kanye West and P. Diddy. In a video posted by Revolt, Combs urged viewers to see "12 Years a Slave" by stating: "This movie is very painful but very honest, and is a part of the healing process.
Marketing
12 Years a Slave (film)
12 Years a Slave (film) | Marketing
During its marketing campaign, "12 Years a Slave" received unpaid endorsements by celebrities such as Kanye West and P. Diddy. In a video posted by Revolt, Combs urged viewers to see "12 Years a Slave" by stating: "This movie is very painful but very honest, and is a part of the healing process. During its marketing campaign, it received unpaid endorsements by celebrities such as Kanye West and P. Diddy During its marketing campaign, it received unpaid endorsements by celebrities such as Kanye West and P. Diddy During its marketing campaign, it received unpaid endorsements by celebrities such as Kanye West and P. Diddy.
where did 12 years a slave take place
user
Principal photography took place in New Orleans, Louisiana
assistant
what is the film about?
user
A story of a New York State-born free African-American man who was kidnapped in Washington, D.C., by two conmen in 1841 and sold into slavery.
assistant
mention a few of its marketing scenarios?
user
I beg all of you to take your kids, everybody to see it. ... You have to see this so you can understand, so you can just start to understand."
12 Years a Slave (film) | Marketing
The film's release was gradually widened in subsequent weeks, similarly to how the studio had successfully done in years prior with films such as "Black Swan" and "The Descendants". International release dates for "12 Years a Slave" were largely delayed to early 2014 in order to take advantage of the attention created by awards seasons. During its marketing campaign, "12 Years a Slave" received unpaid endorsements by celebrities such as Kanye West and P. Diddy. In a video posted by Revolt, Combs urged viewers to see "12 Years a Slave" by stating: "This movie is very painful but very honest, and is a part of the healing process.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Marketing
Due to both the film's explicit nature and award contender status, "12 Years a Slave"'s financial success was being watched closely. Many analysts compared the film's content to other drama films of a similar vein such as "Schindler's List" (1993) and "The Passion of the Christ" (2004), which became box office successes despite their respective subject matters. "It may be a tough subject matter, but when handled well ... films that are tough to sit through can still be commercially successful," said Phil Contrino of "Boxoffice Magazine". Despite its content, the film's critical success has assisted its domestic distribution by Fox Searchlight that began with a limited release aimed primarily towards art house and African-American patrons.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Marketing
Solomon Northup is a free African-American man in 1841, working as a violinist and living with his wife and two children in Saratoga Springs, New York. Two white men, Brown and Hamilton, offer him short-term employment as a musician if he will travel with them to Washington, D.C.; however, once they have arrived, they drug Northup and deliver him to a slave pen run by a man named Burch. Northup proclaims that he is a free man, only to be savagely beaten with a wooden paddle and then a leather strap. Northup is shipped to New Orleans along with other captive African-Americans.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Plot
He is asked what his son in Africa would think if he knew his father were cavorting with saboteurs, and spills the beans about his accomplices. When the lawyer comes back, he looks to the audience and tells them that they too must not buy goods above the rationed price, and report it if they see it. A closing note tells the audience that everyone in the film is a law-abiding citizen who volunteered to act in the movie to educate the public about black marketing.
Black Marketing | Synopsis
12 Years a Slave is a 2013 biographical period-drama film and an adaptation of the 1853 slave memoir "Twelve Years a Slave" by Solomon Northup, a New York State-born free African-American man who was kidnapped in Washington, D.C., by two conmen in 1841 and sold into slavery. Northup was put to work on plantations in the state of Louisiana for 12 years before being released. The first scholarly edition of Northup's memoir, co-edited in 1968 by Sue Eakin and Joseph Logsdon, carefully retraced and validated the account and concluded it to be accurate. Other characters in the film were also real people, including Edwin and Mary Epps, and Patsey.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Introduction
"12 Years a Slave" is a 2013 historical drama film directed and produced by Steve McQueen. It is an adaptation of the 1853 autobiographical slave narrative memoir of the same name by Solomon Northup, a New York State-born free negro who was kidnapped in Washington, D.C. in 1841 and sold into slavery. The film stars Chiwetel Ejiofor as the protagonist, Northup. Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti, Lupita Nyong'o, Sarah Paulson, Brad Pitt (also a producer of the film), and Alfre Woodard feature in supporting roles. The screenplay based on the aforementioned memoir was written by John Ridley.
List of accolades received by 12 Years a Slave (film) | Introduction
He is told by the others that if he wants to survive in the South, he must adapt to being a slave and not tell anyone he is a free man. A slave trader named Theophilus Freeman gives Northup the identity of "Platt", a runaway slave from Georgia, and sells him to plantation owner William Ford. Ford takes a liking to Northup and gives him a violin. A growing tension between Northup and plantation carpenter John Tibeats finally breaks as Tibeats tries to beat Northup. Northup snaps and beats Tibeats with his hands before beating him with his own whip.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Plot
"That feeling of dancing with ghosts – it's palpable." Filming also took place at the Columns Hotel and Madame John's Legacy in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Cinematographer Sean Bobbitt, the film's primary camera operator, shot "12 Years a Slave" on 35 mm film with a 2.35:1 widescreen aspect ratio using both an Arricam LT and ST. "Particularly for a period piece, film gives the audience a definite sense of period and quality," said Bobbitt. "And because of the story's epic nature, widescreen clearly made the most sense. Widescreen means a big film, an epic tale – in this case an epic tale of human endurance." The filmmakers avoided the desaturated visual style that is typical of a more gritty documentary aesthetic.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Filming
However, instead of paying for the distribution rights, Fox Searchlight made a deal in which it would share box-office proceeds with the financiers of the independently financed film. "12 Years a Slave" was commercially released on , 2013 in the United States for a limited release of 19 theaters, with a wide release in subsequent weeks. The film was initially scheduled to be released in late December 2013, but "some exuberant test screenings" led to the decision to move up the release date. The film was distributed by Entertainment One in the United Kingdom.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Initial screenings
After meeting screenwriter John Ridley at a Creative Artists Agency screening of "Hunger" in 2008, director Steve McQueen got in touch with Ridley about his interest in making a film about "the slave era in America" with "a character that was not obvious in terms of their trade in slavery." Developing the idea back and forth, the two did not strike a chord until McQueen's partner, Bianca Stigter, found Solomon Northup's 1853 memoir "Twelve Years a Slave". McQueen later told an interviewer: After a lengthy development process, during which Brad Pitt's production company Plan B Entertainment backed the project, which eventually helped get financing from various other film studios.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Development
"12 Years a Slave" premiered at the Telluride Film Festival on August 30, 2013; it was later screened at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival on September 6, the New York Film Festival on October 8, the New Orleans Film Festival on October 10, and the Philadelphia Film Festival on October 19. On November 15, 2011, Summit Entertainment announced it had secured a deal to distribute "12 Years a Slave" to international markets. In April 2012, a few weeks before principal photography, New Regency Productions agreed to co-finance the film. Because of a distribution pact between 20th Century Fox and New Regency, Fox Searchlight Pictures acquired the film's United States distribution rights.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Initial screenings
Shortly after Northup's kidnapping, he is sent on a slave ship. One of the sailors attempts to rape a female slave, but is stopped by a male slave. "The sailor unhesitatingly stabs and kills [the male slave]," he wrote, stating that "this seems unlikely on its face—slaves are valuable, and the sailor is not the owner. And, sure enough, the scene is not in the book."
12 Years a Slave (film) | Historical accuracy
An additional viewing option for the film in the media format of Video on demand has been made available as well.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Home media
Paul MacInnes of "The Guardian" scored the film five out of five stars, writing, "Stark, visceral and unrelenting, "12 Years a Slave" is not just a great film but a necessary one." Owen Gleiberman of "Entertainment Weekly" praised it as "a new movie landmark of cruelty and transcendence" and as "a movie about a life that gets taken away, and that's why it lets us touch what life is". He also commented very positively about Ejiofor's performance, while further stating, ""12 Years a Slave" lets us stare at the primal sin of America with open eyes, and at moments it is hard to watch, yet it's a movie of such humanity and grace that at every moment, you feel you're seeing something essential.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Critical response
"12 Years a Slave" earned $187.7 million, including $56.7 million in the United States. During its opening limited release in the United States, "12 Years a Slave" debuted with a weekend total of $923,715 on 19 screens for a $48,617 per-screen average. The following weekend, the film entered the top ten after expanding to 123 theatres and grossing an additional $2.1 million. It continued to improve into its third weekend, grossing $4.6 million at 410 locations. The film release was expanded to over 1,100 locations on November 8, 2013. In 2014, "12 Years a Slave" was the 10th most-illegally downloaded movie, with 23.653 million such downloads, according to "Variety".
12 Years a Slave (film) | Box office
Deliberately drawing visual comparisons in the filming to the works of Spanish painter Francisco Goya, McQueen explained:
12 Years a Slave (film) | Filming
The film was officially announced in August 2011 with McQueen to direct and Chiwetel Ejiofor to star as Solomon Northup, a free African-American who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the Deep South. McQueen compared Ejiofor's conduct "of class and dignity" to that of Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte. In October 2011, Michael Fassbender (who starred in McQueen's previous films "Hunger" and "Shame") joined the cast. In early 2012, the rest of the roles were cast, and filming was scheduled to begin at the end of June 2012. To capture the language and dialects of the era and regions in which the film takes place, dialect coach Michael Buster assisted the cast in altering their speech.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Development
The film was directed by Steve McQueen, and the screenplay was written by John Ridley. Chiwetel Ejiofor stars as Solomon Northup. Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti, Lupita Nyong'o, Sarah Paulson, Brad Pitt, and Alfre Woodard feature in supporting roles. Principal photography took place in New Orleans, Louisiana, from June 27 to August 13, 2012. The locations used were four historic antebellum plantations; Felicity, Bocage, Destrehan, and Magnolia. Of the four, Magnolia is nearest to the actual plantation where Northup was held. "12 Years a Slave" was named the best film of 2013 by several media outlets and critics, and it earned over $187 million on a production budget of $22 million.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Introduction
The Slave Market is a 1917 American adventure silent film directed by Hugh Ford and written by Clara Beranger and Frederic Arnold Kummer. Starring Pauline Frederick, Thomas Meighan, Al Hart, Ruby Hoffman and Wellington A. Playter, it was released on January 1, 1917, by Paramount Pictures. This film stars with
The Slave Market (film) | Introduction
Tibeats and his group try to hang Northup, but they are not successful. Northup is left on tiptoes with the noose around his neck for hours before Ford arrives and cuts Northup down. To save Northup's life, Ford sells him to another slave owner named Edwin Epps. In the process, Northup attempts to explain that he is actually a free man, but Ford tells him he is too afraid and owes a debt for Northup's purchase, so he will not help him. Epps, unlike Ford, is ruthless and sadistic. Northup meets Patsey, a favored slave who can pick over 500 pounds of cotton a day, twice the usual quota.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Plot
It won the Caméra d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Joining again the team of McQueen, Fassbender and cinematographer Sean Bobbitt, Walker cut "Shame" (2011). This told the story of a successful Manhattanite navigating the terrain of sexual obsession on a path towards self-destruction. Their third collaboration was "12 Years a Slave" (2013), the true story of Solomon Northup, a free man kidnapped and sold into slavery, set in 1840s Louisiana. It stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, Brad Pitt, Michael Fassbender, Lupita Nyong'o, Sarah Paulson, Paul Dano, and Paul Giamatti. "12 Years a Slave" (2013) won three Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress for Nyong'o, and Best Adapted Screenplay for John Ridley.
Joe Walker (editor) | Life and career
Twelve Years a Slave is an 1853 memoir and slave narrative by American Solomon Northup as told to and edited by David Wilson. Northup, a black man who was born free in New York state, details his being tricked to go to Washington, D.C., where he was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the Deep South. He was in bondage for 12 years in Louisiana before he was able to secretly get information to friends and family in New York, who in turn secured his release with the aid of the state. Northup's account provides extensive details on the slave markets in Washington, D.C.
Twelve Years a Slave | Introduction
It is Chiwetel Ejiofor's extraordinary performance that holds the movie together, and that allows us to watch it without blinking. He plays Solomon with a powerful inner strength, yet he never soft-pedals the silent nightmare that is Solomon's daily existence." Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone", gave the film a four-star rating and said: "you won't be able to tuck this powder keg in the corner of your mind and forget it. What we have here is a blistering, brilliant, straight-up classic." He later named the film the best movie of 2013.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Critical response
Following its cinematic release in theaters, the Region 1 Code widescreen edition of the film was released on DVD in the United States on March 4, 2014. Special features for the DVD include; a Closed Caption option, The Team – Meet the Creative Minds Assembled by Director Steve McQueen and Bring Solomon Northup's Journey to Life bonus selection, and The Score – Follow Film Composer Hans Zimmer Creating His Dramatic Score feature. In supplemental fashion, a widescreen hi-definition Blu-ray Disc version of the film was also released on the same day. Special features include; a historical portrait from Director Steve McQueen's documentary feature, cast and crew interviews, The Team special feature, and The Score selection.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Home media
"The next day the cinema was packed and on the third day, it took twenty police officers to retain order since people were queuing around the block to get tickets." 103 copies were sold worldwide in comparison to a 1910 average of 40 copies per film. In the United States however, the film could not be released as it was forbidden by censorships boards. Apparently the censors, shocked by the brothel scenes, were not convinced by the argument that the film exalted the innocence of the heroin and that white slavery had the power of metaphor "to reduce the complex problem of prostitution to a simple story of villain and victim."
The White Slave Trade | Production and reception
Film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 95% of critics gave the film a positive rating, based on 365 reviews with an average score of 8.91/10, with the site's consensus stating, "It's far from comfortable viewing, but "12 Years a Slave"s unflinchingly brutal look at American slavery is also brilliant – and quite possibly essential – cinema." Metacritic, another review aggregator, assigned the film a weighted average score of 96 out of 100 based on 57 reviews from mainstream critics, considered to be "universal acclaim". It is currently one of the site's highest-rated films, as well as the best-reviewed film of 2013.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Critical response
So the slave owners dilute the energy of their slaves by whipping them for sadistic sport and, as Epps does, waking them at night to dance for his wife's cruel pleasure." Gregory Ellwood of HitFix gave the film an "A-" rating, stating, ""12 Years" is a powerful drama driven by McQueen's bold direction and the finest performance of Chiwetel Ejiofor's career." He continued by praising the performances of Fassbender and Nyong'o, citing Nyong'o as "the film's breakthrough performance [that] may find Nyong'o making her way to the Dolby Theater next March". He also admired the film's "gorgeous" cinematography and the musical score, as "one of Hans Zimmer's more moving scores in some time".
12 Years a Slave (film) | Critical response
African-American history and culture scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. was a consultant on the film, and researcher David Fiske, co-author of "Solomon Northup: The Complete Story of the Author of Twelve Years a Slave," provided some material used to market the film. Nevertheless, news and magazine articles around the time of the film's release described a scholar alleging some license that Northup could have taken with his book, and liberties that McQueen definitely took with Northup's original, for dramatic, modernizing, or other reasons. Scott Feinberg wrote in "The Hollywood Reporter" about a September 22 article in "The New York Times" that "dredged up and highlighted a 1985 essay by another scholar, James Olney, that questioned the 'literal truth' of specific incidents in Northup's account and suggested that David Wilson, the white amanuensis to whom Northup had dictated his story, had taken the liberty of sprucing it up to make it even more effective at rallying public opinion against slavery." According to Olney, when abolitionists invited an ex-slave to share his experience in slavery at an antislavery convention, and when they subsequently funded the appearance of that story in print, "they had certain clear expectations, well understood by themselves and well understood by the ex-slave, too." Noah Berlatsky wrote in "The Atlantic" about a scene in McQueen's adaptation.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Historical accuracy
With a production budget of , principal photography began in New Orleans, Louisiana, on , 2012. After seven weeks, filming concluded on , 2012. As a way to keep down production costs, a bulk of the filming took place around the greater New Orleans area – mostly south of the Red River country in the north of the state, where the historic Northup was enslaved. Among locations used were four historic antebellum plantations: Felicity, Bocage, Destrehan, and Magnolia. Magnolia, a plantation in Schriever, Louisiana, is just a few miles from one of the historic sites where Northup was held. "To know that we were right there in the place where these things occurred was so powerful and emotional," said actor Chiwetel Ejiofor.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Filming
In his home town of Saratoga, New York, Solomon Northup, a free negro who was a skilled carpenter and violinist, was approached by two circus promoters. They offered him a brief, high-paying job as a musician with their traveling circus. Without informing his wife, who was away at work in a nearby town, he traveled with the strangers to downstate New York and Washington, D.C. Soon after arriving in the capital, he awoke to find himself drugged, bound, and in the cell of a slave pen. When Northup asserted his rights as a free man, he was beaten and warned never again to mention his free life in New York.
Twelve Years a Slave | Synopsis
Planters typically bought slaves from the markets in New Orleans, where they had been taken via the Mississippi River or by the coastal slave trade at sea. Solomon Northup, a free black from Saratoga Springs, New York, was kidnapped and sold into slavery in Louisiana. After being held for nearly 12 years on plantations in Avoyelles Parish, he was freed in 1853 with the help of Marksville and New York officials. Northup's memoir, which he published after returning to New York, was the basis of the 2013 movie "12 Years A Slave", of the same name.
Marksville, Louisiana | History
Black Marketing is an American 1943 dramatic propaganda documentary short produced by the United States Office of War Information and directed by William Castle. It is an educational film warning American civilians against buying unrationed foodstuffs and materials.
Black Marketing | Introduction
The film opens in a courtroom with the prosecutor laying the government's case against a syndicate of racketeers with names like Joseph B, Sam E, etc. Once the prosecutor starts to go into the time line of the case, the film dissolves into short segments showing the racketeers at work, how they organized themselves, bought up steers at inflated prices and forced butchers to distribute the illicit beef. They are caught, however, when one housewife is told that she can't buy a steak with her ration cards, but a woman after her does without them. The butcher is taken by the OPA (Office of Price Administration) and interrogated.
Black Marketing | Synopsis
Following successful screenings at the Telluride Film Festival and New York Film Festival, the film held its public premiere at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival, where it won the People's Choice Award. Fox Searchlight Pictures initially gave the film a limited release at nineteen theaters on October 18, aimed primarily towards art house and African American patrons. The film was later given a wide release at over 1,100 theaters in the United States and Canada on November 8. "12 Years a Slave" has grossed a worldwide total of over $187 million on a production budget of $20 million. As of 2019, it is McQueen's highest grossing film.
List of accolades received by 12 Years a Slave (film) | Introduction
It is used in "12 Years a Slave (film)" in the opening scenes, played by the character Solomon Northup during a small gathering of white individuals dancing. It was played by ""Tim Fain", an accomplished violinist who co-arranged the soundtrack for the movie.
The Devil's Dream | Pop culture
Baker served as set decorator on the film "12 Years a Slave", Steve McQueen's 2013 adaptation of Solomon Northup's 1853 memoir. As the historical drama was shot in New Orleans, but took place in Saratoga Springs, New York and on a ship as well as in Louisiana, Baker and Stockhausen used stereoscopic images and other historical documents to guide their development of sets that resembled the Northeast and steamships in the 1830s, in addition to using Louisiana plantations with some original buildings still in place. Faced with a limited budget as well as recently released films dealing with the same historical era that had just used many of the available sets (for example, "Django Unchained" and ""), Baker and Stockenhausen were challenged to develop an aesthetic authentic to the period, but visually distinct from the other films.
Alice Baker (set decorator) | "12 Years a Slave"
To accurately depict the time period of the film, the filmmakers conducted extensive research that included studying artwork from the era. With eight weeks to create the wardrobe, costume designer Patricia Norris collaborated with Western Costume to compile costumes that would illustrate the passage of time while also being historically accurate. Using an earth tone color palette, Norris created nearly 1,000 costumes for the film. "She [Norris] took earth samples from all three of the plantations to match the clothes," McQueen said, "and she had the conversation with Sean [Bobbitt] to deal with the character temperature on each plantation, there was a lot of that minute detail." The filmmakers also used some pieces of clothing discovered on set that were worn by slaves.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Design
CinemaScore reported that audiences gave the film an "A" grade. Richard Corliss of "TIME" wrote: "McQueen's film is closer in its storytelling particulars to such 1970s exploitation-exposés of slavery as "Mandingo" and "Goodbye, Uncle Tom". Except that McQueen is not a schlockmeister sensationalist but a remorseless artist". Corliss draws parallels with Nazi Germany, saying, "McQueen shows that racism, aside from its barbarous inhumanity, is insanely inefficient. It can be argued that Nazi Germany lost the war both because it diverted so much manpower to the killing of Jews and because it did not exploit the brilliance of Jewish scientists in building smarter weapons.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Critical response
The score was widely admired and thought of as a contender for the Academy Award for Best Original Score at the 86th Academy Awards. Yet, the score failed to receive a nomination for the 86th Academy Awards. However, the film did receive a nomination for the 2013 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score, as well as a win for the 2013 Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Best Score.
12 Years a Slave (score) | Immediate reception
Lupita Nyong'o – "12 Years a Slave"
Florida Film Critics Circle Awards 2013 | Pauline Kael Breakout Award
The film begins with an audio clip of President Barack Obama stating that the US had 5 percent of the world's population but 25 percent of the world's prisoners. This film features several activists, academics, political figures from both major US political parties, and public figures, such as Angela Davis, Bryan Stevenson, Van Jones, Newt Gingrich, Cory Booker, Henry Louis Gates Jr., and others. It explores the economic history of slavery and post-Civil War racist legislation and practices that replaced it. DuVernay contends as "systems of racial control" and forced labor from the years after the abolition of slavery to the present.
13th (film) | Synopsis
12 Years a Slave is the original soundtrack album to the 2013 film "12 Years a Slave" starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, and Lupita Nyong'o. The record contains twenty-one tracks from the original film score written and composed by Hans Zimmer. Despite its limited release, critical acclaim has been given to the score from the film industry. The score was nominated for the 2013 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score, and won the 2013 Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association award for Best Score.
12 Years a Slave (score) | Introduction
—Brittany Howard of the Alabama Shakes I was moved by this film and the story in a way that transcends any film experience I have ever had. I was inspired to write a hundred different songs, but finally landed on one based on what I believe is an extremely important message I took from this man's journey. Compassion, basic human rights and love must be our priorities above race, religion or commerce. Every generation needs a reminder of that simple idea. —Chris Cornell
12 Years a Slave (soundtrack) | Commentary
"12 Years a Slave" has received numerous awards and nominations. It earned three Academy Awards, including Best Picture. It won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama. The film also won the BAFTA Award for Best Film, while Ejiofor received the Best Actor award. In addition, the motion picture has been named as one of the best films of 2013 by various ongoing critics, appearing on 100 critics' top-ten lists in which 25 had the film in their number-one spot. This is both the most of any film released in its production year.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Accolades
The film opens in 1840s Maryland, a slave state, Araminta "Minty" Ross is newly married to a freedman, John Tubman. Minty is still a slave herself on the Brodess farm, along with her mother and sister, while two other sisters had been sold to another slave owner in the South. Her father, also a freedman, approaches Mr. Brodess with evidence that Brodess' ancestor had agreed to free Minty's mother, Harriet "Rit" Ross, when she was 45, and that she and her children legally should have been free since Rit turned 45 twelve years before. Mr. Brodess insists they will always be slaves, and tears up the letter from the lawyer who had analyzed the will.
Harriet (film) | Plot
12 Years a Slave
Online Film Critics Society Awards 2013 | Best Picture
12 Years a Slave
Florida Film Critics Circle Awards 2013 | Best Picture
In the middle of the night, a drunken Epps wakes Northup and questions him menacingly about the letter while holding a knife to Northup's stomach. Northup is narrowly able to convince Epps that Armsby is lying and Epps relents. Afterwards, Northup mournfully burns the letter to prevent Epps from finding it. Some time later, Patsey is caught by Epps going to a neighboring plantation in order to acquire soap, as Mrs. Epps won't let her have any. In retaliation, Epps orders Northup to whip Patsey. Patsey is then whipped brutally by Epps, to the point of near death. After the incident, Northup destroys his violin in a rage.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Plot
"Sound of Freedom" tells the story of Tim Ballard, a former CIA operative, who quits his job at DHS to save children from cartels and human traffickers. It takes a look into the child trafficking in Latin American countries, especially Mexico. Ballard calls himself a modern day abolitionist and in addition to saving these children he wants to get rid of the problem at the root. He says that America is the biggest consumer of this evil. The story will show how Ballard went to Columbia to rescue 127 children from sexual abuse and misery. The film also tells the story of a person called "Batman" who teams up with Ballard in an attempt to free enslaved children and capture and imprison those who sell children into sex slavery.
Sound of Freedom (film) | Plot
The film won the Academy Award for Best Picture in March 2014, becoming the first Best Picture winner to have a black director or producer. The film also won a supporting actress Oscar for Lupita Nyongo. On the process of making "12 Years a Slave", actor and producer Brad Pitt stated:
Steve McQueen (director) | 2009–present: Further success and acclaim
Michael Fassbender – "12 Years a Slave"
Online Film Critics Society Awards 2013 | Best Supporting Actor
Director Steve McQueen liked the mood of Zimmer's music from "The Thin Red Line", which itself became a starting point for discussion and development regarding the mood for "12 Years a Slave". McQueen explained, "He was my refuge when I was in L.A. The first two meetings were about five hours each. Then I think we had three two-hour conversations on the phone. And not a musical note was played. After that, [Zimmer] said, 'I think I've got something.' Somehow, through the talking, he captured the atmosphere of the film." Much of the movie is scored with the same four-note theme, which Zimmer adapted according to the scene's mood and emotion.
12 Years a Slave (score) | Development
The focus of the track is about an enslaved person reaching "quittin' time" while also trying to please the overseer to avoid getting beaten. After we watched "12 Years a Slave" in our hometown of Athens, Alabama, we stumbled across this song a week later. It is a very simple song which is why we chose it to contribute to the soundtrack. The two works, for a moment, take the audience into another time and place where you can imagine being denied your freedom: after which, one's own freedom can be better appreciated. "12 Years" is one of the most important films we have ever seen and it is important to us to give back some of what the movie has given to us.
12 Years a Slave (soundtrack) | Commentary
McQueen has not commented on the alleged feud.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Development
Legend's cover of "Roll, Jordan, Roll" debuted online three weeks prior to the soundtrack's release.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Music
Epps regularly rapes Patsey while his wife abuses and humiliates her out of jealousy. Some time later, cotton worms destroy Epps's crops. Unable to work his fields, Epps leases his slaves to a neighboring plantation for the season. While there, Northup gains the favor of the plantation's owner, Judge Turner, who allows him to play the fiddle at a neighbor's wedding anniversary celebration and to keep his earnings. When Northup returns to Epps, he uses the money to pay a white field hand and former overseer, Armsby, to mail a letter to his friends in New York. Armsby agrees and accepts Northup's saved money, but immediately betrays him to Epps.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Plot
In the 2013 feature film "12 Years a Slave", Ford was portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch. Some of Ford's descendants have objected to the portrayal in the film as rendering Ford as a "pompous hypocrite; a weak-willed man unable to protect Northup and his fellow slaves from sadistic overseers in the cotton fields," in contrast to Northup's own description of Ford as a humane man: "There never was a more kind, noble, candid Christian man than William Ford."
William Prince Ford | Popular culture
According to "Variety", "The stunt will put the footage in front of 90% of all households watching ad-supported TV, or nearly 110 million viewers. When combined with online and mobile streams, that could increase to more than 140 million".
2012 (film) | Marketing
His status was a concern as he was traveling to Washington, where slavery was legal. The city had one of the nation's largest slave markets, and slave catchers were not above kidnapping free black people. At this time, 20 years before the Civil War, the expansion of cotton cultivation in the Deep South had led to a continuing high demand for healthy slaves. Kidnappers used a variety of means, from forced abduction to deceit, and frequently abducted children, who were easier to control. It is possible that "Brown" and "Hamilton" incapacitated Northup—his symptoms suggest that he was drugged with belladonna or laudanum, or with a mixture of both—and sold him to Washington slave trader James H.
Solomon Northup | Kidnapped and sold into slavery
Throughout the film, Robert Bilheimer encourages viewers to personally combat human trafficking. Bilheimer was sparing in his use of statistics in the film, feeling that overloading viewers with figures might numb them to the issues. According to Nancy Keefe Rhodes of "Stone Canoe", a U.S. literary journal, the film's audiences are likely to have the preconception that human trafficking is not slavery in the same sense that the Atlantic slave trade was, and many people believe that slavery was abolished a long time ago with such instruments as the U.S. Emancipation Proclamation and Thirteenth Amendment. Rhodes writes that society now uses the word "slavery" in modern contexts only as a metaphor, so that references to actual contemporary slavery can be dismissed as hyperbole, and she describes the film's goal as to "reclaim the original term [slavery] and convince us that what is happening now is what happened then: highly organized and pervasive, intentional, highly profitable and ...
Not My Life | Themes
The film states that the lasting effects of slavery are still felt 500 years later, hence the title. This is justified and explained through a series of scholarly interviews throughout the film. The film begins with an adage that illustrates its historical theme: "Until lions tell their story, the tale of the hunt will always glorify the hunter." The promotional page for the producer of the film describes it thusly: ""500 Years Later" is a compelling journey, infused with the spirit and music of liberation, that chronicles the struggle of a people from enslavement who continue to fight for the most essential human right - freedom." The film presents the richness of African cultures and traditions and how they have evolved since slavery was abolished, emphasizing that prior to the beginning of the Atlantic Slave Trade Africans were free.
500 Years Later | Narrative
The film received nine Academy Award nominations, winning three: Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress for Nyong'o. The Best Picture win made McQueen the first black British producer to ever receive the award and the first black British director of a Best Picture winner. The film was awarded the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama, and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts recognized it with the Best Film and the Best Actor award for Ejiofor. "12 Years a Slave" was later named the 44th greatest film since 2000 in a BBC poll of 177 critics.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Introduction
"Nefarious" identifies political corruption and difficult socioeconomic situations as elements that prevent sex slaves from escaping exploitation, and suggests that most victims do not survive for more than seven years after initially being trafficked. While the violent acquisition of sex slaves depicted in the first sequence of the film does occur in reality, Jimmy Stewart of "Charisma" wrote that most girls who are sexually trafficked in Europe are recruited through a fraudulent offer of employment and an improved lifestyle overseas, neither of which ultimately materializes in the new country. "Nefarious" asserts that there is a link between the international sex industry and legal prostitution in the Western world, and that those who create the demand for forced prostitution around the world are of a wide variety of ages and are often considered respectable.
Nefarious: Merchant of Souls | Themes
Glenn Kay of "CinemaStance" wrote positively by stating, "the score by Hans Zimmer is sparse and repetitive, but incredibly effective at invoking an emotional response when it's used." Drew McWeeny of "HitFix" highly praised the score and said, "The score by Hans Zimmer is just as heart-breaking as the script or the performances."
12 Years a Slave (score) | Critical reception
This happened in sight of Nashville, the capital of Tennessee. I told this to some of the boys and they said it was all bosh, that the niggers were lying to me. But this story was just like the ones in "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and I believe them. And father knows of things very much like this that are true." According to Mark P. Leone, reviewing a modern-day historical exhibition in Virginia of Carter's Grove plantation, a "slave overseer was kept in place with threats to sell his wife". On the other hand, during the American Revolution, "blacks who remained with their owners found that with the British army so near, they had leverage with their masters they had never before enjoyed." An "advertisement announced the sale of a young Negro woman with four children.
Wife selling | Black slavery
Having been interested in each other's work for some time, director Steve McQueen approached composer Hans Zimmer to write the score to "12 Years a Slave" after filming had completed, explaining, "We had a mysterious conversation a couple of years back where [McQueen] told me he was working on something and asked me if I was even remotely interested in working with him," says Zimmer. Zimmer, however, expressed reluctance to accept the offer feeling he wasn't the right person for the job. Zimmer explained, "I felt I wasn't the guy, in a way. It was such an important, heavy, incredible subject.
12 Years a Slave (score) | Composition
12 Years a Slave
London Film Critics Circle Awards 2013 | Film of the Year
Like many American films of the time, "The Slave" was subject to cuts by city and state film censorship boards. For example, the Chicago Board of Censors required, in Reel 1, cuts of the entire incident of man throwing a lobster on a woman's back and all scenes of it on her back, the sultan poking man in back with dagger, and in Reel 2 the last two scenes of pulling the man through window where his trousers come off.
The Slave (1917 comedy film) | Reception
Northup's account confirms Stowe's fictional portrayal of conditions in Louisiana, as the area where Northup was enslaved was close to the fictional setting of Simon Legree's plantation on the Red River. Northup expresses other arguments against slavery. For instance, "Uncle Tom's Cabin" focuses on how the legal system prevents even kind owners from treating slaves well and how it releases cruel owners from liabilities for their treatment of slaves.
Twelve Years a Slave | Reception and historical value
In 1841, at age 32, Northup met two men, who introduced themselves as Merrill Brown and Abram Hamilton. Saying they were entertainers, members of a circus company, they offered him a job as a fiddler for several performances in New York City. Expecting the trip to be brief, Northup did not notify Anne, who was working in Sandy Hill. When they reached New York City, the men persuaded Northup to continue with them for a gig with their circus in Washington, D.C., offering him a generous wage and the cost of his return trip home. They stopped so that he could get a copy of his "free papers", which documented his status as a free man.
Solomon Northup | Kidnapped and sold into slavery
Throughout the documentary, Confederate politician and Democratic presidential candidate, John Ambrose Fauntroy V (the great-grandson of one of the men who helped found the C.S.A.), is interviewed. Narration explains fake historical newsreel footage, which is either acted for the production, or made of genuine archival footage dubbed with fictional narration. Racialist adverts aimed at white, slave-owning families appear throughout the movie, including an electronic shackle for tracking runaway slaves, television programs such as "Runaway" (parodying "Cops"), "Leave it to Beaulah" (parodying "Leave it to Beaver" and "Beulah"), "Better Homes and Plantations" (parodying "Better Homes and Gardens"), "Meet the Nation" (parodying "Meet the Press") and "That's My Boy", Sambo X-15 Axle Grease, Darkie Toothpaste, Gold Dust washing powder, Niggerhair cigarettes, and the Coon Chicken Inn restaurant.
C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America | Overview
"500 Years Later" studies the African diaspora and the impact of slavery throughout history, identifying key issues facing the world's black communities, including poor education, poverty, crime, and the way that such issues dehumanize and degrade black peoples. The film also gives insight into the struggles faced by continental Africans today, for instance in terms of poverty, disease, and corrupt governments. While the continuing negative impact, influence, and effects of the trans-Atlantic slave trade are highlighted, scholars interviewed for the film express hope that "old scars can be healed" and Africans as a race will advance through education about their history.
500 Years Later | Plot
Identifying these events as taking place near Belgrade, Serbia, the film then tracks the fictional girls through Croatia to Amsterdam's red-light district De Wallen, and to sex markets in Berlin and Las Vegas. The film states that this slavery goes unnoticed in cities where prostitution is legal. Slaves are depicted in confinement, at their places of work, and as they are sold. Many of the girls are orphans, and all are either kidnapped or tricked into forced prostitution. Traffickers in the film use hard drugs, brainwashing and sexual and physical abuse to keep the girls under control. One of the scenes in Southeast Asia takes place near a karaoke club, and depicts groups of girls, apparently ranging in age from early to late teens, offering sexual services to customers.
Nefarious: Merchant of Souls | Re-enactments and live footage
The question of slavery in American memory necessarily involves its depictions in feature films. Most Hollywood films used American settings, although "Spartacus" (1960), dealt with an actual revolt in the Roman Empire known as the Third Servile War. The revolt failed, and all the rebels were executed, but their spirit lived on according to the film. "Spartacus" stays surprisingly close to the historical record.
Slavery | Media
After this, slaves would be branded with the initials of their new owners. The system had a number of advantages for the slave sellers. A captain arriving in port typically wished to sell the cargo as quickly as possible to realise his profit and, given the possibility of a slave revolt, minimize his personal risk. Slaves were "prepared" for the auction, given food and rum to make them appear strong and healthy. Slave sellers had many tricks up their sleeves to present their cargo in the best possible light. Grey hair might be darkened, damaged skin oiled—even dysentery might be disguised by literally plugging the anus of the unfortunate slave with a cork.
Scramble (slave auction) | History
As a young enslaved man, Lunsford Lane recalls selling a basket of peaches for money he could keep and very soon, he says, "plans for money-making took the principal possession of my thoughts." In six to eight years he had amassed one thousand dollars, enough to purchase his freedom, as we read from "The Narrative of Lunsford Lane" (1842).
African-American businesses | Tobacconist
The White Slave Trade () is a 1910 Danish silent drama film directed by August Blom. It is the only August Bloom movie from 1910 that has been preserved. The film produced by Nordisk Films was the company's first feature film and became a major sales success, 103 copies being sold world-wide. However the film could not be released in the United States of America because of censorship. The film was a remake of an eponymous film by competing producer Fotorama , which is considered lost.
The White Slave Trade | Introduction
Chiwetel Ejiofor – "12 Years a Slave"
Online Film Critics Society Awards 2013 | Best Actor
The film earned seven nominations at the 71st Golden Globe Awards, winning for Best Motion Picture – Drama. At the 67th British Academy Film Awards, the film garnered ten nominations and went on to win two awards: Best Film and Best Actor for Ejiofor.
List of accolades received by 12 Years a Slave (film) | Introduction
The plot centers around a white slavery ring operating out of the Italian port of Genoa, luring young German woman for worker as dancers.
Black Market of Love | Synopsis
The official poster art for "6 Years" was released by the IMDb on July 24, 2015. The official trailer was released exclusively by Yahoo! Movies on July 30, 2015. On August 17, 2015, Vulture.com released the first seven minutes of the film.
6 Years | Marketing
The Slave Market is a painting of about 1882 by the 19th century French artist Gustave Boulanger, who specialized in classical and Orientalist genre scenes. It depicts an Ancient Roman slave auction. It shows the marketing of seven young people, ranging in age from children to young adults, as slaves. Both male slaves, as well as three of the female slaves, bear a similarity in appearance perhaps suggesting that they are members of a family forced into slavery by economic conditions. All are wearing tags to indicate their availability as slaves. The youngest boy is completely naked, while the young man next to him is wearing a loincloth.
The Slave Market (Boulanger painting) | Introduction
Banks back in Louisiana to support education of freedmen. Each of the photos noted that sale proceeds would be "devoted to the education of colored people".
White slave propaganda | A special case: Freed slaves from Louisiana
White Slave () is a 1985 Italian cannibal romantic horror film directed by Mario Gariazzo (under the name Roy Garrett) and starring Elvire Audray, Will Gonzalez, Dick Campbell and Andrea Coppola. The film is also known as Amazonia: The Catherine Miles Story and Cannibal Holocaust 2: The Catherine Miles Story (in Spain and Germany).
White Slave (film) | Introduction
Confederate films shown included "A Northern Wind" (parodying the famous 1939 film "Gone with the Wind"), "I Married an Abolitionist" (parodying the 1949 film "I Married a Communist"), "The Dark Jungle" and "The Jefferson Davis Story". Additional advertisements were produced but deleted from the film's final cut, including several for the Confederate States Air Force and a children's show, "Uncle Tom and Friends", which features various classic cartoons: Pixie and Dixie and Mr. Jinks, and Yogi Bear. Also shown is a slave auction held online, with the Internet replacing the traditional slave market.
C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America | Overview
On July 20, 1991, Jeffries gave a controversial speech at the Empire State Black Arts and Cultural Festival, in Albany, New York. During the two-hour speech, he said that "rich Jews" financed the slave trade and control the film industry together with Italian mafia, using it to paint a brutal stereotype of blacks.
Leonard Jeffries | 1991 speech
Immediately after graduating from Yale, Nyong'o landed her breakthrough role when she was cast for Steve McQueen's historical drama "12 Years a Slave" (2013). The film, which met with wide critical acclaim, is based on the life of Solomon Northup (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free-born African-American man of upstate New York who is kidnapped and sold into slavery in Washington, DC, in 1841. Nyong'o played the role of Patsey, a slave who works alongside Northup at a Louisiana cotton plantation; her performance met with rave reviews. Ian Freer of "Empire" wrote that she "gives one of the most committed big-screen debuts imaginable," and critic Peter Travers added that she "is a spectacular young actress who imbues Patsey with grit and radiant grace".
Lupita Nyong'o | Film and stage breakthrough (2013–2015)
Chiwetel Ejiofor – "12 Years a Slave"
Florida Film Critics Circle Awards 2013 | Best Actor
The former won Best Picture, Best Screenplay (John Ridley), and Best Supporting Actress (Lupita Nyong'o), while the latter won Best Director (Alfonso Cuarón), Best Cinematography (Emmanuel Lubezki), and Best Musical Score (Steven Price). The Best Picture win for "12 Years a Slave" continued a trend of critics groups across the United States giving their top prizes to the film adaptation of the autobiography by Solomon Northup, a free negro who was kidnapped and sold into slavery. Only one other film, "Dallas Buyers Club", earned multiple 2013 honors from the DFWFCA. Set in mid-1980s Dallas, the drama received top honors for Best Actor (Matthew McConaughey) and Best Supporting Actor (Jared Leto).
Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards 2013 | Introduction
A viral campaign was launched on the web prior to the film's general release, spearheaded by a mock nonprofit organization called "Fight Smack in the Orphanage" (FSITO).
Black Dynamite | Marketing
He then invites the men to try ISM and see what its collectivist vision would allegedly bring. The worker finds himself shackled to a machine and branded a state union member, the capitalist removed from his factory, the farmer stripped of his power, and the politician turned into a propaganda speaker. Disgusted with the ISM, the men turn on the salesman and chase him out of town. The film ends with patriotic music backing up the now-united marchers, claiming that an ever-increasing abundance for all is the secret to American prosperity.
Make Mine Freedom | Plot
A version of the trailer was made for a Super Bowl XLVI commercial in February 2012. Archival news footage of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and David Cameron in the beginning of the trailer are excerpts of their 2011 speeches condemning Colonel Gaddafi. Internet rumors claimed the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had banned Baron Cohen from attending the 84th Academy Awards in his role as Admiral General Aladeen, but the Academy said the rumors were unfounded, saying, "We haven't banned him. We're just waiting to hear what he's going to do", and specifying of the publicity stunt: "We don't think it's appropriate.
The Dictator (2012 film) | Marketing and publicity
Set in the 1850s South, the film follows Cassy and Luke, two black slaves who are sold to the sadistic plantation owner MacKay. He wants labor from the men and sex from the women. On this, he is determined to exploit both Cassy and Luke.
Slaves (film) | Plot
"Slaves of New York" received mostly unfavorable reviews at the time of its release. Janet Maslin wrote that the film "...simply drifts from situation to situation" and is "never terribly involving". Roger Ebert, who gave the movie a half-star rating, opened his review with the statement "I detest "Slaves of New York" so much that I distrust my own opinion." According to Box Office Mojo, the film's domestic gross was $463,972. "Slaves of New York" became a cult classic amongst the gay communities in the United States. It is notorious for a scene that features a very convincing drag act performing "Love Is Like an Itching in My Heart" by The Supremes while making their way down a street in full evening gowns.
Slaves of New York | Reception
Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, surveyed 358 reviews and judged 95% to be positive. "12 Years a Slave" garnered awards and nominations in a variety of categories with particular praise for its direction, screenplay and the acting of its cast. At the 86th Academy Awards, the film received nine nominations including Best Picture, Best Director for McQueen and went on to win three awards: Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay for Ridley, and Best Supporting Actress for Nyong'o. McQueen was the first black director to direct a Best Picture winning film as well as the first black producer to win Best Picture.
List of accolades received by 12 Years a Slave (film) | Introduction
The film "Sana Oula Nasb" was mostly marketed and sold through DVD's, since it was published before the rise of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.
First Year of Deception | Marketing
The film industry created the National Association of the Motion Picture Industry in 1916 in an effort to preempt censorship by states and municipalities, and it used a list of subjects called the "Thirteen Points" which film plots were to avoid. "Sold at Auction", with its white slavery plot line, is an example of a film that clearly violated the Thirteen Points and yet was still distributed. Since the NAMPI was ineffective, it was replaced in 1922.
Sold at Auction | Censorship
The film explores the 21st century slave trade industry and offers firsthand accounts on the issue from Cornel West, Madeleine Albright, Daryl Hannah, Julia Ormond, Ashley Judd, Nicholas D. Kristof, and many other prominent political and cultural figures. The film also includes musical performances from Moby, Natasha Bedingfield, Cold War Kids, Matisyahu, Imogen Heap, Emmanuel Jal, Talib Kweli, The Scrolls, Five For Fighting, Switchfoot, Rocco Deluca, and Justin Dillon. "Call + Response" led to the formation of Fair Trade Fund, Inc., d.b.a. Made In A Free World, a non-profit organization dedicated to ending modern-day slavery. All profits from "Call + Response", such as from sales of the DVD, soundtrack, and iTunes downloads, are used to support Made In A Free World's projects, aimed at disrupting the business of slavery, particularly child slavery and forced labor.
Call + Response | Details
[...] It took a bit of persuading from [McQueen] to give me the confidence to do it". On April 30, 2013, it was officially announced that Zimmer was scoring the film.
12 Years a Slave (score) | Composition