(L-R) US producer Dede Gardner, US producer Jeremy Kleiner, British director Steve McQueen, producer Anthony Katagas and US producer/actor Brad Pitt pose in the press room after winning the Best Film award for '12 Years A Slave' at the 2014 EE British Academy Film Awards ceremony at The Royal Opera House in London, Britain, 16 February 2014.
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London (AFP) - Harrowing historical epic "12 Years a Slave" won the best film award on Sunday at the Baftas, seen as an indicator for the upcoming Oscars.
The film, adapted from Solomon Northup's 1853 memoir, took the most prestigious prize at a star-studded ceremony at London's Royal Opera House.
The film scored an earlier success when British actor Chiwetel Ejiofor, who portrays free black man Northup as he is kidnapped and enslaved in the United States, walked away with the best actor prize.
Director Steve McQueen used his acceptance speech to thank his "one and only mother" and to highlight the issue of modern day slavery.
"There are 21 million people in slavery as we sit here," he explained. "I just hope 150 years from now our ambivalence will not allow another film-maker to make this film".
