Popular period drama 12 Years A Slave won big last night at the 2014 Film Independent Awards in Santa Monica, California.
The movie, starring actors Chiwetel Ejiofor and Lupita Nyong’o, took home five prizes, including director, feature, best supporting female, director, screenplay and cinematography. It won in all but two categories in which it was nominated – Ejiofor lost for best male actor to Matthew McConaughey for his role in Dallas Buyers Club.
Congrats to the cast and crew on their big wins. Be sure to tune in to the Academy Awards show tonight, where they’re also front-runners for many of the evening’s top honors.
We’ll be live tweeting along for all the red carpet and acceptance speech fun. Visit ESSENCE.com at 5pm EST to join @ESSENCEMag and @ESSENCEGlam in conversation.