'12 Years a Slave' Director Steve McQueen to Speak at UCLA

Steve McQueen, director of the Oscar-nominated film 12 Years a Slave, will help the UCLA Anderson School of Management kick off its "Entertainment that Matters" speaker series on Friday.

The purpose of the program, developed by UCLA Anderson's Center for Management of Enterprise in Media, Entertainment and Sports, "is to encourage dialogue that can help raise awareness of, educate and influence social change through the power of media, storytelling and celebrity."

"The critical and commercial success of McQueen's Oscar-nominated movie, 12 Years a Slave, clearly demonstrates the power of storytelling to educate a new generation about an important period in America that is currently omitted from most school curriculum," said Sanjay Sood, a UCLA Anderson professor of marketing and MEMES faculty director.

Darnell Hunt, a professor of sociology and director of UCLA's Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies, will conduct the interview with McQueen.

For additional information on the Entertainment That Matters event, visit the MEMES website.

--City News Service