Lupita Nyongo set to win Hollywood Film Award

Kenyan actress Lupita Nyong’o is set to receive an award at a Hollywood Film Awards ceremony set for October 21 at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California.

Carlos de Abreu, the founder and  executive producer of the 17th Annual Hollywood Film Awards, announced on Monday that Ms Nyong’o will receive the “New Hollywood Award” for her great performance in the upcoming movie “12 years a Slave.”

De Abreu also announced that Steve McQueen the film’s director will be honored with the “Hollywood Breakout Director Award” at the ceremony dubbed “Hollywood Film Awards Gala” 

“We look forward to celebrating this exceptionally talented director and actress for their outstanding work and creative vision,” said de Abreu.

Ms Nyong’o and Mr McQueen were picked for the awards by de Breu and an advisory committee.

Previous recipients of the New Hollywood Award include Robert Pattinson,Gabourey Sidibe, Jennifer Lawrence, Felicity Jones and Quvenzhane Wallis.

Hollywood Film Awards honorees over the last 10 years have gone on to scoop a total of 96 Oscar nominations and 34 Oscars.

The ceremony is the first awards show of the 2013 season.

The ceremony could be televised in future years after the Hollywood Film Awards and Dick Clark Productions, which also produced the Golden Globe Awards, entered into a partnership.

In the movie, Ms Nyong’o plays the role of Patsey — a hardworking slave who suffers horrific abuse in the hands of Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender) and his wife (Sarah Paulson) on their Louisiana plantation.

At the Telluride and Toronto Film Festivals, audiences have shed tears over her role as she goes through a horrific experience.

The movie has won over audiences and critics alike at the festivals.

It received the “People’s Choice Audience Award” at the Toronto festival last month.

The film is based on an incredible true story of Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free black man from upstate New York, who is abducted and sold into slavery.

Northrup who faces great cruelty from the master, Solomon struggles not only to stay alive, but to retain his dignity.

A chance meeting with a Canadian abolitionist (Brad Pitt) forever alters his life.

Later this year, Ms Nyong’o will co-star alongside Liam Neeson, Michelle Dockery and Julianne Moore in the thriller Non-Stop set to be released on February 28, 2014 by Universal Pictures.

ANTONY KARANJA

in DALLAS, TEXAS