12 Years a Slave wins Best Picture

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12 Years a Slave wins Best Picture
(Image credit: Facebook/12 Years a Slave)

12 Years a Slave just won Best Picture at the 86th annual Academy Awards.

"Everyone deserves not just to survive, but to live," said director Steve McQueen during his acceptance speech — a quote from Solomon Northup, on whose 1853 memoir the film was based. McQueen finished the speech by dedicating the award to "all the people who have endured slavery, and the 21 million people who still suffer slavery today."

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Scott Meslow

Scott Meslow is the entertainment editor for TheWeek.com. He has written about film and television at publications including The Atlantic, POLITICO Magazine, and Vulture.