12 Years a Slave The movie 12 Years a Slave is a 2013 period drama film and an adaptation of the 1853 slave narrative memoir Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup. The film was directed by Steve McQueen . The screenplay was written by John Ridley. Chiwetel Ejiofor stars as Solomon Northup. The film won three Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress for Nyong'o, and Best Adapted Screenplay for Ridley. it 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. The movie is set in New York in the 1840s and 1850s. It was filmed on Nueva Orleans , Louisiana. The film is about Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free black man who lives in New York, is kidnapped and sold as a slave. Solomon must fight not only to remain alive but also to preserve his dignity in the face of the cruelty of...