To historian Brenda Stevenson, a scholar on American slavery, 12 Years a Slave is a masterful cinematic work that achieves more than any other film on slavery, so worthy that she plans to screen it in classes at her university, UCLA.

Escaped slave Frederick Douglass was made welcome in Cork, but he later fell out with our own Apostle of Temperance, writes Laurence Fenton

12 Years a Slave *****

Steve McQueen charts the harrowing true story of a free man sold into slavery in Oscar-tipped drama ‘12 Years A Slave’; a 40-something slacker (Vince Vaughn) discovers he has fathered 533 children in ‘Delivery Man’ and Colin Firth plays an emotionally damaged husband in ‘The Railway Man’.

Michael Fassbender had to master cracking a whip for '12 Years A Slave'.

'American Hustle' and '12 Years a Slave' lead the Golden Globes 2014 nominations with seven nods each.

Benedict Cumberbatch has joined the cast of 'Twelve Years a Slave'.