British director Steve McQueen lost Oscar's top directing statue to Mexico's Alfonso Cuarón, but his film took the even bigger prize. McQueen's celebrated 12 Years a Slave, based on an 1853 memoir by a free black man who was kidnapped into slavery in Washington, D.C., won Best Picture, giving McQueen his first Oscar. Meanwhile, Matthew McConaughey won Best Actor for The Dallas Buyers' Club, and Cate Blanchett won Best Actress for her role in Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine.
