Steven McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave (2013) has won Best Picture at the eighty-sixth Academy Awards. Born in London in 1969, McQueen studied fine art at Goldsmith College, University of London, where he first explored his interest in film. His first major work, Bear (1993), was quickly followed by a succession of other short films, including Deadpan (1997) and Drumroll (1998). In 1999, McQueen won the Turner Prize for his video art. His first feature film, Hunger (2008), premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and won the inaugural Sydney Film Festival Prize, the 2008 Diesel Discovery Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, and a Los Angeles Film Critics Association award. Later that year, McQueen was chosen to represent Britain at the 2009 Venice Biennale. Along with an Academy Award, 12 Years a Slave has also won the BAFTA and Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture in 2014.