Steve McQueen's new film 12 Years a Slave is proving to be quite a hit.
The historical film was great enough that the audience gave the film a standing ovation Friday night, USA Today reports. The film is starting to build Oscar buzz after it premiered last week at the Telluride film festival.
The film stars Chiwetel Ejifor (Children of Men) as a free black man, Solomon Northup, who is kidnapped one night and sold into slavery to the South. The story is based upon Northup's biography that he published after being rescued. Michael Fassbender (McQueen's Shame) and Brad Pitt also appear in the movie.
During the Q & A session afterwards Ejifor commented, "It was very intense to go to these places. Solomon's story...was full of beauty and hope, the hope of human respect and human dignity."
According to Entertainment Weekly, the movie left the audience speechless as they left the theater, many able to only conjure up "Wow," "Amazing" or "Oh My God..." in response.
The Hollywood Reporter's Scott Feinberg saw the movie at Telluride and how the movie is "an extremely dark and disturbing work that will almost certainly resonate more with critics than general public."
He also, and this is being echoed by others, that the film could find itself in the race for many of the Oscar's biggest award races.
12 Years a Slave will see a limited release starting Oct. 19.
Trailer: