BFI LFF PREVIEW: 12 YEARS A SLAVE

I know it looks like I saved this for my final preview post, but this order was actually chosen at random, and Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave was the last film in line to be featured! This was the first ticket I booked, since I knew it'd be a damn popular choice for festival-goers following its incredible reviews, originating at its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival back at the end of August. And it remains possibly the film I'm most looking forward to seeing at LFF, in part due to the response from audiences around North America (it has so far screened at five festivals across the continent, and will screen at two more over the next two days, and it beat films such as Alfonso Cuaron's Gravity to win the People's Choice award at TIFF), and in part due to my reaction to both of McQueen's previous feature films, Hunger and Shame, both of which I completely adore. I also made sure to catch early screenings of both of those films, as I'm doing for 12 Years a Slave - a trend I have no plans to discontinue for the British former video artist. The film is based on Solomon Northup's factual account of the twelve years he spent in slavery, having been abducted and sold into it, in the 19th Century, despite having been born and raised as a free man in New York state.