List of films based on actual events (2000–present)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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This is a list of films and miniseries that are based on actual events. All films on this list are from American production unless indicated otherwise.
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[edit]
2000s
[edit]
2000
- A Father's Choice (2000) – made-for-television drama film about two sisters who are accustomed with the fast-paced life in the big city being forced to live with their father in the country when their mother is killed, loosely based on a true story
- Ali: An American Hero (2000) – made-for-television biographical sports-drama film chronicling portions of the career of heavyweight boxer Muhammad Ali
- All-American Girl: The Mary Kay Letourneau Story (2000) – made-for-television crime drama film based on Mary Kay Letourneau's illicit affair with one of her sixth grade students
- Almost Famous (2000) – comedy-drama film based on Cameron Crowe's early life, telling the coming-of-age story of a teenage journalist writing for Rolling Stone magazine while covering a fictitious rock band named Stillwater
- American Tragedy (2000) – made-for-television crime drama film based on the O. J. Simpson murder case for the 1994 murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman
- The Audrey Hepburn Story (2000) – made-for-television biographical drama film based on the life of British actress and humanitarian Audrey Hepburn
- Bawandar (2000) – Indian Hindi-language crime drama film based on the true story of Bhanwari Devi, a rape victim from Rajasthan, India
- The Beach Boys: An American Family (2000) – biographical miniseries depicting a dramatization of the early years of The Beach Boys
- Beat (2000) – biographical drama film focusing primarily on the last weeks of writer Joan Vollmer's life in 1951 Mexico City, leading up to her accidental killing by her husband, the writer William S. Burroughs
- Before Night Falls (2000) – biographical romantic drama film based on both the autobiography of the same name by Reinaldo Arenas and a documentary entitled Havana
- Best (2000) – British film portraying the football career of the Northern Irish soccer star George Best, particularly his years spent at Manchester United
- Bharathi (2000) – Indian Tamil-language biographical film based on the life of Indian writer, poet, journalist, Indian independence activist and social reformer Mahakavi Bharathiyar
- Bread and Roses (2000) – British-Spanish film based on the "Justice for Janitors" campaign of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
- Britannic (2000) – made-for-television spy film depicting a fictional account of the sinking of the ship of the same name off the Greek island of Kea in November 1916
- Burnt Money (Spanish: Plata quemada) (2000) – Argentine action thriller film inspired by the true story of a notorious 1965 bank robbery in Buenos Aires
- Cheaters (2000) – made-for-television drama film chronicling the story of the 1994–1995 Steinmetz High School team that cheated in the United States Academic Decathlon (USAD)
- Chopper (2000) – Australian crime drama film based on the biography of Australian criminal Chopper Read
- The Color of Friendship (2000) – made-for-television film based on actual events about the friendship between two girls; Mahree & Piper, one from the United States and the other from apartheid South Africa, who learn about tolerance and friendship
- The Courage to Love (2000) – made-for-television historical film about Henriette DeLille
- The Crossing (2000) – made-for-television historical drama film about George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River and the Battle of Trenton
- Dark Prince: The True Story of Dracula (2000) – made-for-television war-horror film depicting the story of Vlad Dracula, the historical figure who gave Bram Stoker's Dracula his name
- Daydream Believers: The Monkees' Story (2000) – made-for-television biographical film about the rock and pop band the Monkees
- Dirty Pictures (2000) – made-for-television docudrama based on the 1990 trial of Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center director Dennis Barrie, who was accused of promoting pornography by presenting an exhibit of photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe that included images of naked children and graphic displays of homosexual sadomasochism
- The Dish (2000) – Australian historical comedy-drama film, the story of the Parkes antenna in New South Wales, Australia, how it plays a key role in the first Apollo Moon landing, and the quirky characters of the nearby town of Parkes
- Divided We Fall (Czech: Musíme si pomáhat) (2000) – Czech comedy-drama film about a childless couple who agree to hide a Jewish friend at great personal risk in Nazi occupied Czechoslovakia
- Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar (2000) – Indian English-Hindi bilingual drama film telling the story of B. R. Ambedkar, known mainly for his contributions in the emancipation of the downtrodden and oppressed classes in India and shaping the Constitution of India, as the chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Indian Constituent Assembly
- Enslavement: The True Story of Fanny Kemble (2000) – made-for-television biographical drama film based on the life of British actress and abolitionist Fanny Kemble, who sees first-hand the horrors of slavery when she marries an American plantation owner
- Erin Brockovich (2000) – biographical legal drama film based on the true story of Erin Brockovich, who fought against the energy corporation Pacific Gas and Electric Company regarding its culpability for the Hinkley groundwater contamination incident
- Essex Boys (2000) – British crime film loosely based around events in December 1995 that culminated in the Rettendon murders of three drug dealers
- The Farewell (German: Abschied – Brechts letzter Sommer) (2000) – German drama film about Bertolt Brecht
- For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story (2000) – made-for-television biographical drama film about Cuban jazz musician Aurturo Sandoval
- Freedom Song (2000) – made-for-television biographical drama film based on true stories of the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi in the 1960s
- Getting Away with Murder: The JonBenét Ramsey Mystery (2000) – made-for-television biographical drama film based on the 1996 murder of JonBenét Ramsey
- Greenfingers (2000) – British comedy film loosely based on the true story about the award-winning prisoners of HMP Leyhill, a minimum-security prison in the Cotswolds, England, a story published in The New York Times in 1998
- Growing Up Brady (2000) – made-for-television biographical drama film based on the 1992 autobiography Growing Up Brady: I Was a Teenage Greg written by actor Barry Williams with Chris Kreski
- Harlan County War (2000) – made-for-television biographical drama film about a Kentucky woman who joins the picket lines for a long, violent strike after her mine-worker husband is nearly killed in a cave-in, and whose father is slowly dying of black lung in the 1970s
- Hendrix (2000) – made-for-television biographical drama film about the life of Jimi Hendrix
- I Dreamed of Africa (2000) – biographical drama film based on the autobiographical novel I Dreamed of Africa by Kuki Gallmann, an Italian writer who moved to Kenya and became involved in conservation work
- In His Life: The John Lennon Story (2000) – made-for-television biographical drama film about John Lennon's teenage years
- In the Light of the Moon (2000) – horror film based on the crimes of Wisconsin murderer Ed Gein
- Innocents (2000) – made-for-television medical drama film based on the Bristol heart scandal of the 1980s and 90s
- The Iron Ladies (Thai: สตรีเหล็ก) (2000) – Thai comedy film based on the true events of a men's volleyball team, composed mainly of gay and kathoey (transgender) athletes
- Isn't She Great (2000) – biographical comedy-drama film that presents a fictionalized biography of author Jacqueline Susann
- Jason and the Argonauts (2000) – made-for-television drama film based on the Greek myth of Jason and the Argonauts
- Joe Gould's Secret (2000) – drama film based on the magazine article Professor Sea Gull and the book Joe Gould's Secret by Joseph Mitchell
- Joseph: King of Dreams (2000) – direct-to-video animated biblical musical drama film depicting the story of Joseph from the Book of Genesis in the Bible
- King of the World (2000) – made-for-television biographical drama film depicting the early stages of the career of heavyweight boxer Muhammad Ali
- Le roi danse (Template:Translation The King is Dancing) (2000) – French costume drama based on Philippe Beaussant's biography of Jean-Baptiste Lully, Lully ou le musicien du soleil (1992)
- The Legend of Rita (German: Die Stille nach dem Schuss) (2000) – German film that focuses on collusion between the East German secret police, or Stasi, and the West German terrorist group Red Army Faction (RAF). The fictional characters all have close parallels to real-life RAF members
- Leak (Dutch: Lek) (2000) – Dutch thriller film based on the book Sans Racune by ex-police officer Jan van Daalen and on a real-life Dutch police scandal from 1994
- The Linda McCartney Story (2000) – made-for-television biographical drama film telling the life story of Linda McCartney
- Livin' for Love: The Natalie Cole Story (2000) – made-for-television biographical drama film about Natalie Cole
- Lumumba (2000) – biographical centered on Patrice Lumumba in the months before and after Congo-Léopoldville achieved independence from Belgium in June 1960
- Men of Honor (2000) – drama film based on Master Chief Petty Officer Carl Brashear the first African-American Master Diver of the U.S. Navy
- Mermaid (2000) – made-for-television film based on the real-life story of Desiree Leanne Gill as she learns to accept her father's death
- Miracle in Lane 2 (2000) – made-for-television Disney Channel Original Movie about the true story of Justin Yoder, a young boy born with spina bifida and hydrocephalus, who uses a wheelchair and is determined to win a trophy like his athletic older brother
- The Miracle Maker (2000) – British-Russian-American stop motion-animated film about the life of Jesus Christ, through the eyes of Tamar; the terminally ill daughter of Jairus, a priest in Capernaum
- The Miracle Worker (2000) – made-for-television biographical film based on the life of Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan's struggles to teach her
- Murderous Maids (French: Les blessures assassines) (2000) – French film which tells the true story of two French maids Christine and Lea Papin
- My Dog Skip (2000) – comedy-drama film based on the story of a 9-year-old Willie Morris as he is given a Jack Russell Terrier for his birthday, and how the dog fundamentally changes several aspects of his life
- Noriega: God's Favorite (2000) – made-for-television biographical film telling the story of the rise of general Manuel Antonio Noriega from utter poverty to military dictator of Panama
- One Hundred Steps (Italian: I cento passi) (2000) – Italian crime drama film about the life of Peppino Impastato, a political activist who opposed the mafia in Sicily
- Padre Pio: Between Heaven and Earth (Italian: Padre Pio - Tra cielo e terra) (2000) – Italian made-for-television biographical drama film based on real life events of Roman Catholic friar and later Saint, Padre Pio
- Padre Pio: Miracle Man (Italian: Padre Pio) (2000) – Italian made-for-television biographical drama film based on real life events of Roman Catholic friar and later Saint, Padre Pio
- Pandaemonium (2000) – biographical film based on the early lives of English poets Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth
- Perfect Murder, Perfect Town (2000) – made-for-television biographical drama film covering in great detail what was considered a botched investigation into the murder of six-year-old JonBenét Ramsey
- The Perfect Storm (2000) – biographical disaster drama film based on the story of the Andrea Gail, a commercial fishing vessel that was lost at sea with all hands after being caught in the Perfect Storm of 1991
- Pollock (2000) – independent biographical romantic drama film that tells the life story of American painter Jackson Pollock
- Possessed (2000) – made-for-television horror film inspired by the exorcism case of Roland Doe
- Quills (2000) – period film inspired by the life and work of the Marquis de Sade
- Range of Motion (2000) – made-for-television drama film based on a book by Elizabeth Berg, about a woman who intensely believes her husband will recover from a coma during the holiday season
- Rated X (2000) – made-for-television film chronicling the story of the Mitchell brothers, Jim and Artie, who were pioneers in the pornography and strip club businesses in San Francisco in the 1970s and 1980s
- Remember the Titans (2000) – biographical sports film based on the 1971 football season of the newly integrated T. C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Virginia
- The Replacements (2000) – sports comedy film loosely based on the 1987 NFL strike
- Ricky 6 (2000) – American-Mexican-Canadian film loosely based on the life of Ricky Kasso, a suburban teenager accused of Satanism and murder in the 1980s
- Seven Songs from the Tundra (Finnish: Seitsemän laulua tundralta) (2000) – Finnish film based on Anastasia Lapsui's own experiences and Nenets folklore
- Shadow of the Vampire (2000) – metafiction horror film telling the story of the making of Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens
- St. Patrick: The Irish Legend (2000) – made-for-television historical drama film about the life of Saint Patrick who was born in Wales and who brought Christianity to Ireland
- The Stalking of Laurie Show (2000) – made-for-television film based on the true-life murder of Lancaster native Laurie Show
- Steal This Movie! (2000) – biographical film following Abbie Hoffman's relationship with his second wife Anita and their "awakening" and subsequent conversion to an activist life
- Thirteen Days (2000) – historical political thriller film set during the two-week Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, centering on how President John F. Kennedy, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, and others handled the explosive situation
- This Is Personal: The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper (2000) – British crime drama miniseries, a dramatization of the real-life investigation into the notorious Yorkshire Ripper murders of the late 1970s
- The Three Stooges (2000) – made-for-television biographical film about the slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges
- Too Late (Portuguese: Tarde Demais) (2000) – Portuguese film about a group of Portuguese fishermen who get caught in the middle of a storm in the Tejo river (Lisbon) and struggle to survive
- Two of Us (2000) – made-for-television film which offers a dramatized account of April 24, 1976, six years after the break-up of the Beatles and the day in which Lorne Michaels made a statement on Saturday Night Live offering the Beatles $3,000 to reunite on his program
- Vatel (2000) – French-British historical drama film based on the life of 17th-century French chef François Vatel
- When Andrew Came Home (2000) – made-for-television film about a woman who is reunited with her kidnapped son after five years
- When the Sky Falls (2000) – film à clef inspired by the assassination of drug-related crime reporter Veronica Guerin
- Who Killed Atlanta's Children? (2000) – German-American made-for-television film about the Atlanta murders of 1979-1981
- Word and Utopia (2000) – Portuguese biographical film depicting the life of António Vieira
[edit]
2001
- 61* (2001) – made-for-television sports drama film inspired by Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle on their quest to break Babe Ruth's 1927 single-season home run record of 60 during the 1961 season of the New York Yankees
- A Beautiful Mind (2001) – biographical drama film based on the life of the American mathematician John Nash, a Nobel Laureate in Economics and Abel Prize winner
- A Glimpse of Hell (2001) – American-Canadian made-for-television drama film about the 1989 turret explosion incident on Template:USS and its aftermath
- A Huey P. Newton Story (2001) – solo performance film depicting activist Huey P. Newton's life and time as a person, a citizen and an activist
- The Affair of the Necklace (2001) – historical drama film based on what became known as the Affair of the Diamond Necklace, an incident that helped fuel the French populace's disillusionment with the monarchy and, among other causes, eventually led to the French Revolution
- Ali (2001) – biographical sports drama film focuses on ten years in the life of the boxer Muhammad Ali from 1964 to 1974, featuring his capture of the heavyweight title from Sonny Liston, his conversion to Islam, criticism of the Vietnam War, and banishment from boxing
- Almost a Woman (2001) – made-for-television film about Esmeralda Santiago and her family who move to New York from a rural area of Puerto Rico and the challenges she and her family face
- An American Rhapsody (2001) – Hungarian-American biographical drama film based on the true story of the director, Éva Gárdos' American-Hungarian family
- Anatomy of a Hate Crime (2001) – made-for-television biographical film based on the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard
- Anne Frank: The Whole Story (2001) – made-for-television film based on the 1998 book Anne Frank: The Biography by Melissa Müller
- Another Life (2001) – British crime film about couple Edith Thompson and Frederick Bywaters, who were executed for the murder of Thompson's husband Percy in 1920s London
- Anybody's Nightmare (2001) – British made-for-television crime drama film based on the true story of the imprisonment of Sheila Bowler, who was accused of murdering her aunt
- Aśoka (2001) – Indian Hindi-language epic historical drama film about the early life of emperor Asoka, of the Maurya dynasty, who ruled most of the Indian subcontinent in the 3rd century BCE
- Attila (2001) – miniseries set during the waning days of the Western Roman Empire and follows Attila the Hun (reigned 434–453) during his rise to power
- Behind Enemy Lines (2001) – war film loosely based on the Mrkonjić Grad incident that occurred during the Bosnian War
- The Believer (2001) – drama film loosely based on the true story of Daniel Burros, a member of the American Nazi Party, and the New York branch of the United Klans of America, who committed suicide after being revealed as Jewish by a New York Times reporter
- The Big Heist (2001) – Canadian-American made-for-television crime drama film based on the 1978 Lufthansa heist
- Black Hawk Down (2001) – war film about the U.S. military's 1993 raid in Mogadishu
- Blonde (2001) – made-for-television biographical film depicting the life of Marilyn Monroe
- Blow (2001) – biographical crime film about American cocaine smuggler George Jung
- Bojangles (2001) – made-for-television biographical drama film that chronicles the life of entertainer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson
- Boss of Bosses (2001) – made-for-television biographical film depicting the life of former Gambino crime family boss Paul Castellano
- Boycott (2001) – made-for-television biographical drama film based on the story of the 1955–1956 Montgomery bus boycott
- Brian's Song (2001) – made-for-television drama film, telling the story of Brian Piccolo, a white running back who meets, clashes with and befriends fellow Chicago Bears running back Gale Sayers
- Bride of the Wind (2001) – period drama film loosely based on the life of Alma Mahler, Bride of the Wind recounts Alma's marriage to the composer Gustav Mahler and her romantic liaisons
- Bully (2001) – crime drama film based on the murder of Bobby Kent, by seven teens in what is now Weston, Florida
- Bus 44 (Mandarin: 車四十四) (2001) – Chinese short film based on the true story of a bus driver and her passengers' encounter with highway robbers
- The Cat's Meow (2001) – historical drama film inspired by the mysterious death of film mogul Thomas H. Ince that occurred on William Randolph Hearst's yacht during a weekend cruise celebrating Ince's birthday in November 1924
- Conspiracy (2001) – German made-for-television war film that dramatizes the 1942 Wannsee Conference
- Das Experiment (Template:Translation The Experiment) (2001) – German thriller film based on Mario Giordano's novel Black Box and deals with a social experiment which resembles Philip Zimbardo's Stanford prison experiment of 1971
- The Day Reagan Was Shot (2001) – made-for-television biographical drama film loosely based on events surrounding the Reagan assassination attempt on March 30, 1981, by John Hinckley, Jr.
- The Days of Sadat (2001) – Eygptian biographical film about former President of Egypt Anwar Al Sadat
- Dhyaas Parva (2001) – Indian Marathi-language drama biographical film about social reformer Raghunath Dhondo Karve
- The Diaries of Vaslav Nijinsky (2001) – Australian biographical film about Vaslav Nijinsky, based on the premier danseur's published diaries
- Die Manns – Ein Jahrhundertroman (2001) – German docudrama-miniseries telling the story of the Mann family, a family of famous writers
- Enemy at the Gates (2001) – war film based on Vasily Zaytsev during the Battle of Stalingrad
- From Hell (2001) – period horror thriller film based on the murders of Jack the Ripper
- Goebbels und Geduldig (2001) – German made-for-television war comedy film about Joseph Goebbels and Nazi Germany
- The Grey Zone (2001) – war film and Holocaust crime drama film about the story of a Jewish Sonderkommando XII in the Auschwitz death camp in October 1944
- Herman U.S.A. (2001) – romantic comedy film about seventy-eight bachelor farmers who advertise for companionship, leading to a response far outstripping expectations in a small Minnesota town
- Hot Money (2001) – British made-for-television crime drama film inspired by the Loughton incinerator thefts that occurred between 1988 and 1992 at the Bank of England's incinerator plant in Loughton, Essex
- In Love and War (2001) – made-for-television film based on the 1971 World War II memoir Love and War in the Apennines by Eric Newby
- In the Time of the Butterflies (2001) – made-for-television film depicting a fictionalized account of the lives of the Mirabal sisters, Dominican revolutionary activists, who opposed the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo and were assassinated on November 25, 1960
- Inside the Osmonds (2001) – made-for-television drama film about the personal lives and professional careers of The Osmonds
- Invincible (2001) – drama film depicting the story of a Jewish strongman in Germany, based on the real-life figure Zishe Breitbart
- Iris (2001) – biographical drama film about Irish novelist Iris Murdoch and her mental decline from Alzheimer's disease
- Jackie, Ethel, Joan: The Women of Camelot – drama miniseries based on the 2000 book Jackie, Ethel, Joan: Women of Camelot by J. Randy Taraborrelli about Jackie, Ethel and Joan Kennedy
- James Dean (2001) – made-for-television biographical drama film based on the life and career of Hollywood actor James Dean, as well as his relationship with his estranged father
- Jewel (2001) – made-for-television drama film based on the book of the same name by Bret Lott, about a 40-year-old woman who gives birth to a girl with down syndrome in the 1940s
- Just Ask My Children (2001) – made-for-television drama film recounting the true story of the Kern County child abuse cases from the perspectives of various members of the Kniffen Family
- Kandahar (Dari: قندهار) (2001) – Iranian film about Afghan refugee Nelofer Pazira's return to Afghanistan
- Let's Get Skase (2001) – Australian comedy film based on the life of failed Australian businessman Christopher Skase, who after the collapse of his Qintex business, fled to Majorca, Spain
- Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows (2001) – made-for-television drama film based on the 1998 book Me and My Shadows: A Family Memoir written by Lorna Luft, the daughter of legendary singer-actress Judy Garland
- The Lost Battalion (2001) – made-for-television war drama film about the Lost Battalion of World War I, which was cut off and surrounded by German forces in the Argonne Forest during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive of 1918
- Mad Love (Spanish: Juana la Loca) (2001) – Spanish period drama film about the tragic fate of Queen Joanna of Castile, madly in love with an unfaithful husband, Philip the Handsome, Archduke of Austria
- The Miracle of the Cards (2001) – Canadian-American made-for-television drama film based on the true story of English youngster Craig Shergold, who in 1988 is diagnosed with a brain tumor
- Mockingbird Don't Sing (2001) – independent film based on the true story of Genie, a modern-day feral child
- The Moonhunter (Thai: 14 ตุลา สงครามประชาชน) (2001) – Thai film based on the autobiography of Seksan Prasertkul
- The Moving True Story of a Woman Ahead of Her Time (West Frisian: Nynke) (2001) – Dutch West Frisian language drama film about the life of Nienke van Hichtum and Dutch socialist and politician Pieter Jelles Troelstra
- My Sassy Girl (Korean: 엽기적인 그녀) (2001) – South Korean romantic comedy film based on a true story told in a series of blog posts written by Kim Ho-sik, who later adapted them into a fictional novel
- Nowhere in Africa (German: Nirgendwo in Afrika) (2001) – German drama film film based on the 1995 autobiographical novel of the same name by Stefanie Zweig, telling the story of the life in Kenya of a German-Jewish family that emigrated there in 1938 to escape persecution in Nazi Germany
- One Night the Moon (2001) – Australian musical film based on the true story of a young girl who went missing in the Australian outback in 1932
- The Other Side of Heaven (2001) – adventure drama film based on John H. Groberg's autobiography In the Eye of the Storm
- Pearl Harbor (2001) – romantic war drama film based on the events of the Pearl Harbor attack and the Doolittle Raid
- Piñero (2001) – biographical film about the troubled life of Nuyorican poet and playwright Miguel Piñero
- The Princess and the Marine (2001) – made-for-television romantic drama film based on the true story of American Marine Jason Johnson and Bahraini Princess Meriam Al-Khalifa
- Prozac Nation (2001) – American-German drama film based on the 1994 autobiography of the same name by Elizabeth Wurtzel, which describes Wurtzel's experiences with atypical depression
- Quitting (Mandarin: 昨天) (2001) – Chinese drama based on the life of actor Jia Hongsheng, who suffered from heroin and marijuana addiction from 1992 to 1997
- Riding in Cars with Boys (2001) – biographical film based on the life of memoirist, children's author and creative writing teacher Beverly Donofrio, who wrote the autobiographical book on her life by the same title
- Rock Star (2001) – musical comedy-drama film telling the story of Chris "Izzy" Cole, a tribute band singer whose ascendance to the position of lead vocalist of his favorite band was inspired by the real-life story of Tim "Ripper" Owens
- Surviving Gilligan's Island (2001) – made-for-television docudrama based on the making of 1964-1967 television sitcom Gilligan's Island
- Sword of Honour (2001) – made-for-television film loosely based upon Evelyn Waugh's own experiences in the Second World War
- Taurus (Russian: Телец) (2001) – Russian biographical drama film about former politician Vladimir Lenin
- There is a Secret in my Soup (Cantonese: 人頭豆腐湯) (2001) – Hong Kong horror film based on the Hello Kitty murder
- Time Out (French: L'Emploi du temps) (2001) – French drama film loosely based on the life story of spree killer and impostor Jean-Claude Romand
- The Tunnel (German: Der Tunnel) (2001) – German made-for-television drama film loosely based on true events in Berlin following the closing of the East German border in August 1961 and the subsequent construction of the Berlin Wall
- Uprising (2001) – war drama miniseries about the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising during the Holocaust
- Varian's War (2001) – made-for-television drama film based on the life and wartime exploits of Varian Fry who saved more than 2,000 Jewish artists from Vichy France, the conquered ally of Nazi Germany
- Vera Brühne (2001) – German made-for-television drama film about Vera Brühne who was convicted of murder
- What Makes a Family (2001) – made-for-television film involving a lesbian couple living in Florida who choose to have a child
- When Billie Beat Bobby (2001) – made-for-television sports comedy-drama film detailing the historic 1973 "The Battle of the Sexes" tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs and what led up to it
- Witness of Truth: The Railway Murders (2001) – made-for-television docudrama that dramatizes the crimes committed by John Duffy and David Mulcahy
- Zubeidaa (2001) – Indian film based on the life of the ill-fated actress Zubeida Begum
[edit]
2002
- 23rd March 1931: Shaheed (2002) – Indian Hindi-language historical biographical film which depicts the events leading up to the hanging of Indian freedom fighter Bhagat Singh and his companions Rajguru and Sukhdev on 23 March 1931
- 24 Hour Party People (2002) – British comedy-drama biographical film about Manchester's popular music community from 1976 to 1992, and specifically about Factory Records
- 10,000 Black Men Named George (2002) – made-for-television drama film about union activist A. Philip Randolph's efforts to organize the black porters of the Pullman Rail Company in 1920s America, known as the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters
- A Is for Acid (2002) – British made-for-television film based on the life of the serial killer John George Haigh, known as the Acid Bath Murderer, because he dissolved the bodies of six people in sulphuric acid
- Adaptation (2002) – based both on Susan Orlean's non-fiction book The Orchid Thief, as well as screenwriter Charlie Kaufman's struggle to adapt the book into a film
- The Adversary (French: L'Adversaire) (2002) – French drama film based on the 2000 book of the same name by Emmanuel Carrère which is inspired by the real-life story of French spree killer and impostor Jean-Claude Romand
- AKA (2002) – British drama film, set in the late 1970s in Britain and deals with the story of Dean, an 18-year-old boy who assumes another identity to enter high society, largely an autobiographical account of director and writer Duncan Roy's early life
- Amen. (2002) – historical drama film examining the political and diplomatic relationship between the Vatican and Nazi Germany during World War II
- Anita & Me (2002) – British comedy-drama film, based on the semi-autobiographical, book of the same name by Meera Syal, about Syal's childhood in the mining village of Essington, Staffordshire
- Antwone Fisher (2002) – biographical drama film inspired by the true story of writer Antwone Fisher, based on his autobiographical book Finding Fish
- Auto Focus (2002) – based on the life and career of Hogan's Heroes star Bob Crane, as well as his friendship with John Henry Carpenter
- Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (Mandarin: Xiao cai feng) (2002) – French/Chinese romance drama film based on the semi-autobiographical novel of the same title by Dai Sijie, revolving around two young Chinese boys of bourgeois background who were sent to a remote village in Sichuan for three years of re-education during the Cultural Revolution
- Bertie and Elizabeth (2002) – made-for-television film about the relationship between King George VI and his wife Queen Elizabeth from their first meeting to the King's death in the winter of 1952
- Better Luck Tomorrow (2002) – crime drama film loosely based on the murder of Stuart Tay, a teenager from Orange County, California by four Sunny Hills High School honor students on 31 December 1992
- Black and White (2002) – Australian biographical drama film based on the story of Max Stuart, a young aboriginal man who was sentenced to death after being found guilty of the murder of a nine-year-old girl on what was considered questionable evidence
- Bloody Sunday (2002) – British-Irish film based on the events of Bloody Sunday on 30 January 1972, in Derry, Northern Ireland, in which 26 unarmed civil-rights protesters and bystanders were shot by soldiers of the British Army
- Callas Forever (2002) – biographical partially fictionalised account of the making of a movie of Georges Bizet's Carmen, focusing on Maria Callas whose now-ragged voice is well past its prime
- Catch Me If You Can (2002) – biographical crime film telling the story of con artist Frank Abagnale
- Champion (South Korean: 챔피언) (2002) – South Korean biographical drama film about South Korean boxer Duk Koo Kim
- Chicago (2002) – musical black comedy crime film adapted from the stage musical by Bob Fosse and Fred Ebb, exploring the themes of celebrity, scandal, and corruption in Jazz Age Chicago
- Chopin: Desire for Love (Polish: Chopin. Pragnienie miłości) (2002) – Polish biographical film based on the life story of the Polish pianist and composer Frédéric Chopin and his affair with feminist writer George Sand
- City by the Sea (2002) – crime drama film based on the story of former police detective Vincent LaMarca
- City of God (Portuguese: Cidade de Deus) (2002) – Brazilian crime drama film, adapted from a book by Paulo Lins, depicting the growth of organized crime in Rio de Janeiro between the end of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1980s
- Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002) – biographical spy comedy film depicting the life of popular game show host and producer Chuck Barris, who claimed to have also been an assassin for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
- Conviction (2002) – made-for-television biographical film about Carl Upchurch, a hardcore felon who managed to educate himself and developed a spiritual awakening during one of his numerous stints inside prison
- Copenhagen (2002) – made-for-television drama film based on an event that occurred in Copenhagen in 1941, a meeting between the physicists Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg
- Crossed Over (2002) – Canadian made-for-television film based on Beverly Lowry's memoir Crossed Over: A Murder, A Memoir
- Dahmer (2002) – the story of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer
- Door to Door (2002) – made-for-television drama film about Bill Porter, an inspiring and successful door-to-door salesman with cerebral palsy
- Double Teamed (2002) – made-for-television Disney Channel Original Movie based on the life stories of professional identical twin basketball players Heather and Heidi Burge
- The Enclave (2002) – made-for-television film about the fall of Srebrenica and the Dutch government's failure to protect the town from attackers
- Evelyn (2002) – Irish drama film loosely based on the true story of Desmond Doyle and his fight in the Irish courts (December 1955) to be reunited with his children
- Expedition: Bismarck (2002) – made-for-television film following an underwater expedition to the German Battleship Bismarck and digitally reconstructing events that led up to the ship's sinking during World War II
- Facing the Truth (Danish: At kende sandheden) (2002) – Danish film shot in black-and-white documentary style, and based on the real life of director Nils Malmros' father, the film relates the hardships of a young neurosurgeon struggling through a medical lawsuit
- The Falklands Play (2002) – made-for-television film detailing a dramatic account of the political events leading up to, and including, the 1982 Falklands War
- Fidel (2002) – biographical miniseries about the Cuban revolution and political career of Fidel Castro
- Frida (2002) – drama film the story of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo
- Führer Ex (2002) – German neo-nazi drama film that deals with the German neo-Nazi scene at the time of the political change in the GDR and after reunification, based on the autobiographical book Die Abrechnung by Ingo Hasselbach
- Gada Meilin (2002) – Chinese film about the story of Inner Mongolian hero Gada Meiren, who led a failed rebellion at the beginning of the 1930s against dispossession of Mongol banner lands by Zhang Zuolin and Zhang Xueliang
- The Gathering Storm (2002) – British made-for-television biographical film about Winston Churchill in the years just prior to World War II
- Gerry (2002) – drama film, it is the first film of Gus Van Sant's "Death Trilogy", three films based on deaths that occurred in real life, and is succeeded by Elephant (2003) and Last Days (2005)
- Gleason (2002) – made-for-television biographical film about Jackie Gleason
- Gotta Kick It Up! (2002) – made-for-television Disney Channel Original Movie based on a true story of a middle school dance team
- Harold Shipman: Doctor Death (2002) – British television drama about the life and crimes of serial killer Harold Shipman
- Hell on Heels: The Battle of Mary Kay (2002) – made-for-television biographical comedy-drama film about Mary Kay Ash
- The Hours (2002) – psychological drama film featuring the story of Virginia Woolf in 1920s England, who is struggling with depression and mental illness while trying to write her novel Mrs Dalloway
- House of Fools (Russian: Dom durakov) (2002) – Russian film, partially inspired by the real-life tragedy of the psychiatric hospital in Shali, Chechnya, which was abandoned by the personnel during the Russian bombing campaign and in which many patients subsequently died from attacks and neglect
- Jeffrey Archer: The Truth (2002) – made-for-television satirical comedy drama film based on the life of Jeffrey Archer
- Joe and Max (2002) – American-German boxing film based on the true story of the two boxing matches between American Joe Louis and German Max Schmeling
- John XXIII: The Pope of Peace (Italian: Papa Giovanni - Ioannes XXIII) (2002) – Italian made-for-television film based on real life events of Roman Catholic Pope John XXIII
- The Junction Boys (2002) – made-for-television sports drama film about the Junction Boys and based on Jim Dent's 2001 book The Junction Boys
- K-19: The Widowmaker (2002) – historical submarine film that takes place in 1961 and focuses its story on the Soviet K-19 submarine
- Lapu-Lapu (2002) – Filipino historical film based on datu Lapulapu, the first Filipino native to resist imperial Spanish colonization
- The Laramie Project (2002) – adapted from the play The Laramie Project, both by Moisés Kaufman, telling the story of the aftermath of the 1998 murder of American student Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming
- Last Call (2002) – drama film about F. Scott Fitzgerald, based on Against the Current: As I Remember F. Scott Fitzgerald, the 1985 memoir by Frances Kroll Ring
- The Legend of Bhagat Singh (2002) – Indian Hindi-language biographical period film about Bhagat Singh, a socialist revolutionary who fought for Indian independence along with fellow members of the Hindustan Republic Association
- Lilya 4-ever (2002) – Russian-language Swedish-Danish Tragedy film depicting the downward spiral of Lilya Michailova, a girl in the former Soviet Union whose mother abandons her to move to the United States, the story is loosely based on the true case of Danguolė Rasalaitė
- Live from Baghdad (2002) – made-for-television film that focuses on the news media's (primarily CNN's) coverage of the Iraq War, based on Robert Wiener's book of the same title
- Madame Satã (2002) – Brazilian–French biographical drama film telling the story of Madame Satã
- The Magdalene Sisters (2002) – British/Irish drama film about three teenage girls who were sent to Magdalene asylums (also known as 'Magdalene Laundries') homes for women who were labelled as "fallen" by their families or society
- The Man Who Saved Christmas (2002) – biographical film based on the true story about the efforts of toymaker Alfred Carlton Gilbert of the A. C. Gilbert Company to continue making toys during World War I
- Martin and Lewis (2002) – made-for-television biographical film exploring the lives of the comedy team of Martin and Lewis
- Master Spy: The Robert Hanssen Story (2002) – Canadian-American made-for-television film based on the story of Robert Hanssen, who was charged with and convicted of selling American secrets to the Soviet Union
- The Matthew Shepard Story (2002) – Canadian-American made-for-television film based on the true story of Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old gay youth who was murdered in 1998
- Monday Night Mayhem (2002) – made-for-television film about the origin of ABC's television series Monday Night Football
- The Mothman Prophecies (2002) – adapted from the 1975 book of the same name by John Keel, telling the story of the Mothman sightings in the Point Pleasant, West Virginia, area in 1966 and 1967
- Murder in Greenwich (2002) – made-for-television film based on the 1998 book of the same title by Mark Fuhrman, about the Murder of Martha Moxley
- Nightstalker (2002) – crime horror film about American serial killer, serial rapist, and burglar Richard Ramirez
- Our America (2002) – drama film based on the book Our America: Life And Death on the South Side of Chicago, about two African-American teen radio reporters and their documentary investigation of a notorious child murder
- Paid in Full (2002) – based on events in the life of drug dealer Azie Faison during the crack epidemic in 1980s Harlem, leading up to the murders of his friends Rich and Donnell Porter
- Path to War (2002) – made-for-television biographical film telling the story of the Vietnam War as seen through the eyes of United States President Lyndon B. Johnson and his cabinet members
- The Pennsylvania Miners' Story (2002) – television film based on the real events occurred at the Quecreek Mine
- Perlasca – Un eroe Italiano (2002) – Italian drama film about Giorgio Perlasca, an Italian businessman working in Hungary for his government who began to help Jews find shelter in Spanish safe houses during World War II
- The Pianist (2002) – biographical drama war film based on the memoir by Władysław Szpilman, a Polish musician of Jewish origins and a childhood survivor of Nazi-occupied Poland
- Point of Origin (2002) – biographical crime film based on the true story of convicted serial arsonist John Leonard Orr
- Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002) – Australian drama film based on the book Follow The Rabbit Proof Fence by Doris Pilkington Garimara, based on the true story of the author's mother and two other mixed-race Aboriginal girls who ran away from the Moore River Native Settlement in Western Australia, to return to their Aboriginal families after having been placed there in 1931
- RFK (2002) – made-for-television film which takes place through the eyes of Robert F. Kennedy after his brother John F. Kennedy's assassination in 1963
- The Rookie (2002) – based on the life of American professional baseball player Jim Morris, known for his brief Major League Baseball career
- The Rosa Parks Story (2002) – made-for-television biographical film about Rosa Parks
- Salem Witch Trials (2002) – American-Canadian made-for-television historical drama film, a dramatization of the Salem witch trials
- Savage Messiah (2002) – Canadian thriller-drama film about the real-life story of Roch "Moïse" Thériault, a cult leader who was arrested in Burnt River, Ontario, in 1989
- Shackleton (2002) – British television film telling the true story of explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton's 1914 Antarctic expedition on the ship Endurance
- Sightings: Heartland Ghost (2002) – television film based on the TV series Sightings and inspired by true events
- Silent Night (2002) – Canadian fact-based television film set on Christmas Eve in 1944, during the Battle of the Bulge of World War II
- Sins of the Father (2002) – made-for-TV drama film based on a Texas Monthly article by Pamela Colloff chronicling the 1963 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama in which four young African American girls were killed while attending Sunday-school
- The Soul Keeper (2002) – Italian-French-British romance drama film loosely based on real life events of Russian psychoanalyst and physician Sabina Spielrein and notably on her therapeutic and sentimental relationship with fellow psychoanalyst Carl Gustav Jung
- St. Francis (Italian: Francesco) (2002) – Italian made-for-television biographical film based on real life events of Roman Catholic Friar and then Saint Francis of Assisi
- Tagged: The Jonathan Wamback Story (2002) – Canadian television film that follows the story of teenager Jonathan Wamback and his struggle with teen violence. The film is based on a true incident
- Ted Bundy (2002) – crime film about serial killer Ted Bundy
- Torso: The Evelyn Dick Story (2002) – Canadian made-for-television crime thriller film based on the 1946/1947 murder trial of Evelyn Dick that remains the most lurid murder case in Canadian history
- Two Men Went to War (2002) – British war comedy-drama film based on a true World War II story, from Raymond Foxall's book Amateur Commandos which describes the adventures of two army dental corps soldiers who sneak off on their own personal invasion of France
- Vampire Clan (2002) – drama/horror film based on the horrific true story of the 1996 "Vampire Killings" in Florida carried out by Roderick 'Rod' Justin Farrell
- Video Voyeur: The Susan Wilson Story (2002) – television drama based on the real-life story of Susan Wilson, a Louisiana woman, who was videotaped in her own home by a neighbor
- Warning: Parental Advisory (2002) – made-for-television drama film based on the formation of the Parents Music Resource Center and its impact on music during 1985
- We Were Soldiers (2002) – based on the Battle of Ia Drang, the first major engagement of American troops in the Vietnam War
- Whitewash: The Clarence Brandley Story (2002) – biographical film telling the true story of Clarence Brandley who was wrongly convicted for the rape and murder of Cheryl Dee Fergeson in 1981
- Windtalkers (2002) – war film based on the real story of Navajo code talkers during World War II
- Yossi & Jagger (2002) – Israeli romantic drama film about soldiers at the Israel–Lebanon border who try to find some peace and solace from the daily routine of war
- Young Arthur (2002) – made-for-television drama film about the childhood of King Arthur
[edit]
2003
- 44 Minutes: The North Hollywood Shoot-Out (2003) – made-for-television crime film based on the real-life story of the 1997 robbery known as the North Hollywood shootout
- A Date with Darkness: The Trial and Capture of Andrew Luster (2003) – made-for-television drama film based on a true story about criminal Andrew Luster
- Alltag (2003) – Turkish-German drama film depicting life in the neighborhood of Kreuzberg
- America's Prince: The John F. Kennedy Jr. Story (2003) – made-for-television biographical film about the life of John F. Kennedy Jr., based on Christopher Andersen's 2000 bestseller, The Day John Died
- American Splendor (2003) – biographical comedy-drama film about Harvey Pekar, the author of the American Splendor comic book series
- And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself (2003) – made-for-television western film based on the story of Pancho Villa in the Mexican Revolution and his bid to raise funds by making a film of his real battles
- Baadasssss! (2003) – biographical drama film based on the struggles of Van Peebles' father Melvin Van Peebles as he attempts to film and distribute Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, a film that was widely credited with showing Hollywood that a viable African-American audience existed, and thus influencing the creation of the Blaxploitation genre
- Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Three's Company (2003) – made-for-television comedy-drama film documenting the success of the sitcom Three's Company, as well as the interpersonal conflicts that occurred among its staff and cast
- Benedict Arnold: A Question of Honor (2003) – made-for-television drama film portraying the career of Benedict Arnold in the American Revolutionary War and his dramatic switch in 1780 from fighting for American Independence to being a Loyalist trying to preserve British rule in America
- Blind Flight (2003) – British biographical drama film based on the true-life story of the kidnapping and imprisonment of the Irish academic Brian Keenan and the English journalist John McCarthy, two of the hostages in the Lebanon hostage crisis
- Boudica (2003) – British biographical-historical made-for-television film about the queen of the Iceni tribe, Boudica
- The Brides in the Bath (2003) – British made-for-television film based on the life and Old Bailey trial of British serial killer and bigamist George Joseph Smith
- Calendar Girls (2003) – British comedy film based on a true story of a group of middle-aged Yorkshire women who produced a nude calendar to raise money for Leukaemia Research under the auspices of the Women's Institutes in April 1999 after the cancer death of the husband of one of their members
- Cambridge Spies (2003) – British miniseries concerning the lives of the best-known quartet of the Cambridge Five Soviet spies, from 1934 to the 1951 defection of Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean to the Soviet Union
- Catharisis (Japanese: カタルシス) (2003) – Japanese made-for-television film about a 14-year-old boy murders a young girl in the suburbs of Tokyo, based on a true story
- Conspiracy of Silence (2003) – British drama film set in Ireland and inspired by real events, the film challenges celibacy and its implication for the Catholic Church in the 21st century
- The Crooked E: The Unshredded Truth About Enron (2003) – made-for-television film based on the book Anatomy of Greed by Brian Cruver, about the rise and fall of the Houston-based Enron Corporation
- Danielle Cable: Eyewitness (2003) – British made-for-television true crime drama film, based upon the murder of Stephen Cameron by Kenneth Noye in a road rage incident in 1996
- Danny Deckchair (2003) – Australian comedy film inspired by the story of the Lawnchair Larry flight
- DC 9/11: Time of Crisis (2003) – made-for-television film about the September 11 attacks as seen from the point of view of President George W. Bush and his staff
- D.C. Sniper: 23 Days of Fear (2003) – made-for-television film based on the Beltway sniper attacks of 2002
- Deacons for Defense (2003) – made-for-television drama film loosely based on the activities of the Deacons for Defense and Justice in 1965 in Bogalusa, Louisiana
- The Deal (2003) – British made-for-television film depicting the Blair-Brown deal—a well-documented pact that Tony Blair and Gordon Brown made whereby Brown would not stand in the 1994 Labour leadership election, so that Blair could have a clear run at becoming leader of the party and later as Prime Minister instead
- Eila (2003) – Finnish drama film about a cleaning woman who decides to sue the state for illegal discharge
- Elephant (2003) – psychological drama film based on the events surrounding the 20 April 1999, Columbine High School massacre in Columbine, Colorado
- The Elizabeth Smart Story (2003) – made-for-television crime drama film about the high-profile Elizabeth Smart kidnapping case
- Escape from Taliban (2003) – Indian film based on the story A Kabuliwala's Bengali Wife by Sushmita Banerjee, who fled Afghanistan in 1995 after six years of living there with her Afghan husband
- Evil (Swedish: Ondskan) (2003) – Swedish drama film set in a private boarding school in the late-1950s with institutional violence as its theme
- Ferrari (2003) – Italian made-for-television biographical film telling the story of Enzo Ferrari's rise from a successful race driver to one of the most famous entrepreneurs of all time
- Frankie and Johnny Are Married (2003) – comedy film chronicling the troubles a producer has trying to mount a production of the Terrence McNally play Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune
- Full-Court Miracle (2003) – made-for-television film inspired by the true story of University of Virginia Cavaliers basketball star Lamont Carr
- Gacy (2003) – crime horror film based on serial killer John Wayne Gacy; focuses on Gacy's life after he moved to Norwood Park in 1971 up until his arrest in 1978
- Godforsaken (2003) – Dutch drama film based on the real life of the "Gang from Venlo", that left a trail of death and destruction in the North-Middle Limburg area from 1993 till 1994
- Gods and Generals (2003) – prequel to Gettysburg, about General Stonewall Jackson
- Going For Broke (2003) – made-for-television drama film based on the true story of former Juvenile Diabetes Foundation charity director Gina Garcia, who from 1993 to 1997 fraudulently issued cheques from the charity to herself to fund her gambling addiction
- The Good Pope: Pope John XXIII (Italian: Il Papa Buono) (2003) – Italian made-for-television drama film based on real life events of Pope John XXIII
- Grand Theft Parsons (2003) – American-British comedy-drama film based on the true story of country rock musician Gram Parsons, who died of an overdose in 1973
- Haggard: The Movie (2003) – independent comedy film based on the story of how reality television personality Ryan Dunn's girlfriend may have cheated on him
- Hear the Silence (2003) – semi-fictional made-for-television drama film based around the discredited idea of a potential link between the MMR vaccine and autism
- Helen of Troy (2003) – British-American miniseries based upon Homer's story of the Trojan War, as recounted in the epic poem, Iliad
- Henry VIII (2003) – British miniseries chronicling the life of Henry VIII of England from the disintegration of his first marriage to an aging Spanish princess until his death following a stroke in 1547, by which time he had married for the sixth time
- High Roller: The Stu Ungar Story (2003) – biographical film focusing on the life of American professional poker and gin player Stu Ungar
- Hitler: The Rise of Evil (2003) – Canadian television miniseries in two parts, exploring Adolf Hitler's rise to power during the years after the First World War
- Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story (2003) – made-for-television biographical film about Liz Murray
- I Accuse (2003) – Canadian drama film based on the case of John Schneeberger, a Canadian doctor convicted of using drugs to rape two patients
- Ice Bound (2003) – made-for-television film about Jerri Nielsen, a cancer-stricken physician stranded at a South Pole research station who, under dangerous circumstances, and with the help of co-workers, treats her own illness
- Imperium: Augustus (2003) – British-Italian historical film telling of the life story of Octavian and how he became Augustus
- In Search of Janáček (Czech: Hledání Janáčka) (2003) – Czech made-for-television film about life of composer Leoš Janáček
- Jasper, Texas (2003) – made-for-television drama film based on a true story and focuses on the aftermath of a crime in which three white men from the small town of Jasper, Texas, killed African American James Byrd Jr. by dragging him behind their pickup truck
- The Lion in Winter (2003) – made-for-television biographical historical film depicting the story of King Henry II of England and his need to choose a new heir to the throne following the death of his Eldest son, Henry
- LOC Kargil (2003) – Indian war film based on the 1999 Kargil War
- Looking for Victoria (2003) – British made-for-television biographical drama film based on the life of Queen Victoria
- The Lost Prince (2003) – British miniseries about the life of Prince John – youngest child of Britain's King George V and Queen Mary – who died at the age of 13 in 1919
- Lucy (2003) – made-for-television film based on the life and career of actress and comedian Lucille Ball
- Luther (2003) – historical drama film dramatizing the life of Protestant Christian reformer Martin Luther
- Maria Goretti (2003) – Italian made-for-television film based on real life events of Catholic virgin-martyr and Saint Maria Goretti
- Martha, Inc.: The Story of Martha Stewart (2003) – made-for-television film in which the life of Martha Stewart is outlined starting from her life in New Jersey to the scandal behind her arrest
- Memories of Murder (Korean: Salinui chueok) (2003) – South Korean crime drama film loosely based on the true story of Korea's first serial murders in history, which took place between 1986 and 1991 in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province
- The Middle of the World (2003) – Brazilian film based on the true story of Cícero Ferreira Dias, a former truck driver who took his family from Paráiba to Rio de Janeiro in search of a "R$1,000 job"
- The Miracle of Bern (German: Das Wunder von Bern) (2003) – German film which tells the story of a German family (particularly of a young boy and his depressed ex-POW father) and the unexpected West German miracle victory in the 1954 World Cup Final in Bern, Switzerland
- Monster (2003) – the story of serial killer Aileen Wuornos
- Mother Teresa of Calcutta (2003) – biographical television film based on the life of Mother Teresa, the founder of the Missionaries of Charity religious institute
- Ned Kelly (2003) – dramatization of the life of Ned Kelly, a legendary bushranger and outlaw who was active mostly in Victoria, the colony of his birth
- The Night We Called It a Day (2003) – Australian-American comedy drama film based on the true events surrounding Frank Sinatra's 1974 tour in Australia
- Open Water (2003) – drama film based on the story of Tom and Eileen Lonergan, who were left behind on their scuba diving trip in the South Pacific
- The Other Boleyn Girl (2003) – made-for-television film based on the story of Mary Boleyn, sister to Anne and George Boleyn
- Out of the Ashes (2003) – made-for-television biographical drama film, a dramatization of the life of Holocaust concentration camp survivor Gisella Perl and is based on her book I Was a Doctor in Auschwitz
- Owning Mahowny (2003) – Canadian film based on the true story of Brian Molony, a Toronto bank employee with a gambling addiction who embezzled more than $10 million to feed his gambling habit
- Paanch (Template:Translation Five) (2003) – Indian crime thriller film loosely based on the 1976–77 Joshi-Abhyankar serial murders in Pune
- Paradise Found (2003) – biographical film based on the life of Post-Impressionist painter Paul Gauguin
- Party Monster (2003) – biographical drama film telling the story of the rise and fall of the infamous New York City party promoter Michael Alig
- The Pentagon Papers (2003) – made-for-television historical drama film about Daniel Ellsberg and the events leading up to the publication of the Pentagon Papers in 1971
- The Postcard Bandit (2003) – Australian made-for-television film loosely based on the life of a convicted bank robber Brenden James Abbott
- The Private Life of Samuel Pepys (2003) – British made-for-television comedy film based on the life of historical diarist Samuel Pepys
- Radio (2003) – based on the real-life story of South Carolina high school football coach Harold Jones and his mentally challenged assistant, James Robert "Radio" Kennedy, adapted from a 1996 Sports Illustrated article by Gary Smith titled "Someone to Lean On"
- The Reagans (2003) – made-for-television biographical drama film about former U.S. President Ronald Reagan and his family
- Remake (2003) – Bosnian war film telling the parallel coming-of-age stories of a father living in Sarajevo during World War II and his son living through the Siege of Sarajevo during the Bosnian War
- Return to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt (2003) – made-for-television biographical action-comedy film based on the 1966–1968 Batman television series which features the original stars Adam West and Burt Ward as themselves
- Right on Track (2003) – made-for-television biographical film based on Courtney and Erica Enders, two sisters who get into junior drag racing and make it all the way to the top
- Rosenstrasse (2003) – German-Dutch film that deals with the Rosenstrasse protest of 1943
- Rudy: The Rudy Giuliani Story (2003) – made-for-television biographical film depicting the life of Rudy Giuliani, focusing primarily on his mayoral career and response to the September 11 attacks
- Saints and Soldiers (2003) – war drama film loosely based on events that took place after the Malmedy massacre during the Battle of the Bulge
- Salem Witch Trials (2003) – made-for-television historical drama film depicting a dramatization of the Salem witch trials
- Saving Jessica Lynch (2003) – made-for-television film about the rescue of Jessica Lynch by an Iraqi citizen, Mohammed Odeh al-Rehaief
- Seabiscuit (2003) – based on the book Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand about the champion American thoroughbred racehorse
- Shattered Glass (2003) – based on Stephen Glass's journalistic career at The New Republic during the mid-1990s and the discovery of his widespread journalistic fraud
- Silmido (2003) – South Korean action drama film based on the 1999 novel Silmido by Baek Dong-ho, which in turn is based on the true story of Unit 684
- Sleeping Luck (Spanish: La suerte dormida) (2003) – Spanish film based on Ángela, a lawyer who has recently lost her family, and accepts an indemnity case against a construction company for the death of one of its workers
- Soldier's Girl (2003) – Canadian-American drama film based on a story of the relationship between Barry Winchell and Calpernia Addams and the events that led up to Barry's murder by a fellow soldier
- Song for a Raggy Boy (2003) – Irish historical drama film based on the book of the same name by Patrick Galvin, about a teacher's fight against a prefect's sadistic disciplinary regime and other abuse in a Catholic Reformatory and Industrial School in 1939 Ireland
- Spinning Boris (2003) – comedy film based on the true story of three American political consultants who worked for the successful reelection campaign of Boris Yeltsin in 1996
- Spy Sorge (2003) – Japanese biographical film based on the life of Richard Sorge, a German spy for the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) of the Soviet Army in Japan
- Stander (2003) – based on the life and death of Andre Stander, a South African police captain turned bank robber
- Stealing Rembrandt (Danish: Rembrandt) (2003) – Danish action-comedy film concerning a father and son who accidentally steal a painting by Rembrandt
- Stealing Sinatra (2003) – made-for-television film telling the story of the idiosyncratic kidnapping of Frank Sinatra, Jr. by Barry Keenan
- Swimming Upstream (2003) – Australian biographical drama film about Australian competitive swimmer Tony Fingleton
- Sylvia (2003) – British biographical drama film based on the real-life romance between prominent poets Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes
- Tere Naam (2003) – Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film based on a real-life incident of a friend of director Bala, who had fallen in love, lost his mind and ended up at a mental asylum
- Veronica Guerin (2003) – based on the true story of Irish journalist Veronica Guerin
- Wonderland (2003) – based on the Wonderland murders in Los Angeles in 1981
[edit]
2004
- 3: The Dale Earnhardt Story (2004) – television film about the life and death of legendary NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt
- 12 Days of Terror (2004) – based on true events that occurred in July 1916 in central and southern New Jersey; recounts 12 days during which people along the Jersey coast were subjected to attacks by a shark
- 18-J (2004) – Argentine docudrama film. The film focuses on the 18 July 1994, bombing of the AMIA Building in Buenos Aires, where 18 people were killed and 300 others wounded. The perpetrators were never caught
- 36 Quai des Orfèvres (2004) – French film based on a true story about two cops (Auteuil and Depardieu) are competing for the vacant seat of chief of the Paris Criminal police while involved in a search for a gang of violent thieves
- A Bear Named Winnie (2004) – made-for-television drama film concerning one of the real-life inspirations behind A.A. Milne's Winnie The Pooh
- Against the Ropes (2004) – drama based on the life of American boxing manager Jackie Kallen, the first woman to become a success in the sport
- The Alamo (2004) – about the Battle of the Alamo during the Texas Revolution
- Alexander (2004) – based on the life of Alexander the Great
- The Aryan Couple (2004) – British/American film loosely based on the life events of Hungarian Jewish industrialist Manfred Weiss and his Manfréd Weiss Steel and Metal Works
- The Assassination of Richard Nixon (2004) – the story of would-be assassin Samuel Byck, who plotted to kill Richard Nixon in 1974
- The Aviator (2004) – the story of aviator Howard Hughes
- Ay Juancito (2004) – Argentine biographical drama film about the life of Juan Duarte, Eva Perón's brother and a political officer in Juan Domingo Perón's first presidency.
- Beautiful Boxer (2004) – Thai biographical sports film about kathoey (trans woman), Muay Thai fighter, actress and model Parinya Charoenphol
- Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Charlie's Angels (2004) – made-for-television drama film documenting the success of the series Charlie's Angels, as well as the interpersonal conflicts that occurred among its staff and cast
- Bettie Page: Dark Angel (2004) – biographical drama based on the career of Bettie Page, a famous American 1950s pin-up and bondage model
- Beyond the Sea (2004) – based on the life of singer Bobby Darin
- Black Friday (2004) – Indian Hindi film based on the 1993 Bombay bombings
- The Blue Butterfly (2004) – Canadian adventure drama film based on the life of David Marenger and his trip with entomologist Georges Brossard in 1987
- Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius (2004) – biographical drama film based on the life of golfer Bobby Jones, the only player in the sport to win all four of the men's major golf championships in a single season (1930)
- Call Me: The Rise and Fall of Heidi Fleiss (2004) – television film about Hollywood madame Heidi Fleiss
- The Clearing (2004) – drama film loosely based on the real life kidnapping of Gerrit Jan Heijn that took place in the Netherlands in 1987
- Cazuza – O Tempo Não Pára (2004) – Brazilian biographical film about the life of Brazilian singer-songwriter Cazuza
- The Chorus (French: Les Choristes) (2004) – French drama film inspired by the origin of the boys' choir The Little Singers of Paris
- Crutch (2004) – autobiographical coming of age film about writer-director Rob Moretti
- De-lovely (2004) – the story of the marriage of the songwriter Cole Porter and Linda Lee Thomas
- Downfall (German: Der Untergang) (2004) – German film based on the final twelve days of Adolf Hitler's life in his Berlin bunker and Nazi Germany in 1945
- Drum (2004) – based on the life of South African investigative journalist Henry Nxumalo
- Evilenko (2004) – Italian English-language thriller loosely based on the real life Soviet serial killer Andrei Chikatilo
- Fighter in the Wind (Korean: 바람의 파이터) (2004) – South Korean drama film telling a fictionalized account of karate competitor Choi Yeung-Eui who went to Japan during World War II to become a fighter pilot but found a very different path instead
- Finding Neverland (2004) – the story of Sir James Matthew Barrie's friendship with a family who inspired him to create Peter Pan
- First Love (Italian: Primo Amore) (2004) – erotic body horror drama film loosely based on the autobiographical novel by Marco Mariolini
- Friday Night Lights (2004) – adapted from Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream by H. G. Bissinger, about the 1988 football season of Permian High School in Odessa, Texas
- Garden State (2004) – romantic Comedy-drama film centering on Andrew Largeman, a 26-year-old actor/waiter who returns to his hometown in New Jersey after his mother dies, director Zach Braff based the film on his real life experiences
- Gracie's Choice (2004) – based on a story featured in Reader's Digest, about a teenage girl trying to raise her three half-brothers and one half-sister on her own after their drug-addicted mother is sent to jail
- The Hamburg Cell (2004) – British/Canadian television film describing the creation of the Hamburg cell, an Islamist and extremist group composed by the terrorists that piloted the airplanes hijacked during the September 11 attacks
- Hawking (2004) – British made-for-television drama film about Stephen Hawking's early years as a PhD student at Cambridge University, following his search for the beginning of time, and his struggle against motor neuron disease
- Helter Skelter – made-for-television film based on the 1974 non-fiction book by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry about the murders of the Manson Family
- Hidalgo (2004) – the story of American distance rider Frank Hopkins and his mustang Hidalgo, recounting his racing his horse in Arabia in 1891 against Bedouin riding pure-blooded Arabian horses
- The Hillside Strangler (2004) – based on the true story of the Hillside Strangler serial killers, Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono, Jr., who kidnapped, raped, tortured and killed girls and women in late 1977 to early 1978 in the hills above Los Angeles, California
- Holy Lola (2004) – French drama film about a French couple's efforts to adopt an orphan baby in Cambodia
- Hotel Rwanda (2004) – the story of Paul Rusesabagina's experiences during the Rwandan genocide
- Hustle (2004) – television film about the baseball player Pete Rose
- Identity Theft (2004) – crime-drama television film about the true story of Michelle Brown who has her identity stolen and $50,000 purchased under her name
- Ike: Countdown to D-Day (2004) – made-for-television historical war drama film deals with the difficult decisions Dwight D. Eisenhower made leading to up to D-Day
- Iron Jawed Angels (2004) – follows Alice Paul and the National Woman's Party's attempts to force President Wilson to grant American women the right to vote during World War I
- It's All Gone Pete Tong (2004) – British/Canadian mockumentary-drama film about a DJ who goes completely deaf
- Judas (2004) – Biblical television drama film depicting the intertwined lives of Judas Iscariot and Jesus of Nazareth
- Kaadhal (2004) – Indian Tamil romantic drama based on a true love story
- Kamaraj (2004) – Indian Tamil biographical film based on the life of Indian politician K. Kamaraj, known as the "Kingmaker" during the 1960s in India
- Kaya Taran (2004) – Indian Hindi film based on the backdrop of the 2002 Gujarat riots against Muslims and 1984 anti-Sikh riots
- Kekexili: Mountain Patrol (2004) – Chinese film inspired by the Wild Yak Brigade, a real-life volunteer group that patrolled the Tibetan Plateau during the 1990s, and events that took place between 1993 and 1996
- Khuni Shikder (Bengali: খুনী শিকদার) (2004) – Bangladeshi biographical crime thriller film based on the biography of the Bangladeshi notorious murderer Ershad Sikder
- King Arthur (2004) – British-American historical adventure film about King Arthur
- Kinsey (2004) – a look at the life of Alfred Kinsey, a pioneer in human sexuality research
- The Last Shot (2004) – action comedy film loosely based on the true story of an FBI sting operation code-named Dramex
- The Libertine (2004) – British-Australian drama film about John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, a notorious rake and libertine poet in the court of King Charles II of England
- The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004) – British-American television film about the life of English comedian Peter Sellers
- The Long Shot (2004) – drama film about a woman who moves with her husband and seven-year-old daughter from Colorado to California and finds solace while working at a horse farm and decides to enter her beloved horse in a high-stakes riding competition
- The Love Crimes of Gillian Guess (2004) – Canadian drama film loosely based on the real-life story of Gillian Guess, who was convicted of obstruction of justice in 1998 after she became romantically involved with an accused murderer while serving as a juror at his trial
- Love in Thoughts (German: Was nützt die Liebe in Gedanken) (2004) – German film about the so-called "Steglitz school tragedy" that occurred in 1927, when Günther Scheller and Paul Krantz founded a "suicide club"
- Man in the Mirror: The Michael Jackson Story (2004) – Canadian-American made-for-television biographical film about American pop star Michael Jackson, and follows his rise to fame and subsequent events
- Miracle (2004) – the story of Herb Brooks and the U.S. Olympic hockey team leading up to, and during, the 1980 Winter Olympics
- Miracle Run (2004) – drama film about a mom parenting her fraternal twin sons after they're diagnosed with autism
- Modigliani (2004) – biographical drama film based on the life of the Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani
- The Motorcycle Diaries (Spanish: Diarios de motocicleta) (2004) – biographical film about the early life of Che Guevara
- My Nikifor (Polish: Mój Nikifor) (2004) – Polish drama film based on the life of Nikifor, a folk and naïve painter
- The Mystery of Natalie Wood (2004) – made-for-television biographical film depicting the life and career of actress Natalie Wood, from her early childhood in the 1940s until her death in 1981
- Nero (2004) – Italian-British-Spanish made-for-television historical film about Roman emperor Nero
- Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero (2004) – Indian epic biographical war film. The film depicts the life of the Indian independence leader Subhas Chandra Bose in Nazi Germany: 1941–1943, and in Japanese-occupied Asia 1943–1945, and the events leading to the formation of Azad Hind Fauj
- The Ninth Day (German: Der neunte Tag) (2004) – German historical drama film about a Catholic priest from Luxembourg who is imprisoned in Dachau concentration camp, but released for nine days, based on a portion of Pfarrerblock 25487, the diary of Father Jean Bernard (1907–1994)
- Nobody Knows (Japanese: Dare mo Shiranai) (2004) – Japanese drama film based on the 1988 Sugamo child abandonment case
- Not Only But Always (2004) – British TV film telling the story of the working and personal relationship between the comedians Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, a hugely popular duo in the UK during the 1960s and 1970s
- Olga (2004) – Brazilian biographical film about German-Brazilian communist militant Olga Benário Prestes
- The Passion of the Christ (2004) – biblical drama film about Jesus of Nazareth
- The Perfect Husband: The Laci Peterson Story (2004) – made-for-television crime film based on the murder of Laci Peterson
- The Preacher (Dutch: De Dominee) (2004) – Dutch thriller film based on Bart Middelburg's biography of drug lord Klaas Bruinsma (named Klaas Donkers in the film)
- Prom Queen: The Marc Hall Story (2004) – Canadian television film based on the 2002 court case Marc Hall v. Durham Catholic School Board
- Ray (2004) – biographical film about singer Ray Charles
- Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story (2004) – made-for-television biographical crime drama film about the life of Stanley Tookie Williams, the co-founding member of the Crips street gang, principally his life in the streets and his life in prison
- The Remains of Nothing (Italian: Il resto di niente) (2004) – Italian Historical drama film about Eleonora Pimentel
- Rikidōzan (Korean: Yeokdosan) (2004) – Japanese/South Korean biographical sports drama film based on the life of Rikidōzan, a legendary ethnic Korean professional wrestler who became a national hero in Japan in the 1950s
- The Riverman (2004) – biographical crime drama television film based on the 2004 non-fiction book The Riverman: Ted Bundy and I Hunt for the Green River Killer by Robert D. Keppel and William J. Birnes
- The Rocket Post (2004) – British drama film very loosely based on experiments in 1934 by the German inventor Gerhard Zucker to provide a postal service to the island of Scarp by rocket mail
- Romasanta (2004) – Spanish/Italian/British horror film about Manuel Blanco Romasanta, Spain's first documented serial killer
- Saint John Bosco: Mission to Love (Italian: Don Bosco) (2004) – Italian television film based on real life events of Roman Catholic priest John Bosco
- Saint Rita (Italian: Rita da Cascia) (2004) – Italian television film based on real life events of Augustinian nun and Saint Rita of Cascia
- The Sea Inside (Spanish: Mar adentro) (2004) – Spanish drama film based on the real-life story of Ramón Sampredro, who was left quadriplegic after a diving accident, and his 28-year campaign in support of euthanasia and the right to end his life
- Soba (2004) – Mexican independent drama/crime film based on the true story of three girls raped by a group of cops in Tláhuac, Mexico City
- Something the Lord Made (2004) – made-for-television biographical drama film about the black cardiac pioneer Vivien Thomas (1910–1985) and his complex and volatile partnership with white surgeon Alfred Blalock (1899–1964), the "Blue Baby doctor" who pioneered modern heart surgery
- Stage Beauty (2004) – romantic period drama based on 17th-century English actor Edward Kynaston
- Suburban Madness (2004) – crime drama television film loosely based on the true story of 44-year-old Clara Harris, a successful Texas dentist and mother of young twins, who hired private investigator Bobbi Bacha, and eventually killed her husband
- The Terminal (2004) – comedy-drama film partially inspired by the true story of the 18-year stay of Mehran Karimi Nasseri in Terminal 1 of Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport, France, from 1988 to 2006
- Troy (2004) – epic historical war drama film loosely based on Homer's Iliad in its narration of the entire story of the decade-long Trojan War – condensed into little more than a couple of weeks, rather than just the quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon in the ninth year
- Voces inocentes (Template:Translation Innocent Voices) (2004) – Salvadoran war film set during the Salvadoran Civil War, and based on writer Óscar Torres's childhood
- Walking Tall (2004) – action film, remake of the 1973 film of the same name, about a former U.S. soldier who returns to his hometown to find it overrun by crime and corruption
[edit]
2005
- A Friend of the Family (2005) – Canadian TV film based on Alison Shaw's 1998 book of the same name, about the true story of David Snow, the "Cottage Killer"
- Ambulance Girl (2005) – made-for-television film based on the memoir by Jane Stern, Ambulance Girl: How I Saved Myself by Becoming an EMT
- An American Haunting (2005) – horror film based on the novel The Bell Witch: An American Haunting by Brent Monahan, about the legend of the Bell Witch
- Aurore (2005) – biographical drama based on the murder of Aurore Gagnon, a Canadian child abuse victim
- Capote (2005) – biographical film about Truman Capote who, during his research for his book In Cold Blood, an account of the murder of a Kansas family, develops a close relationship with murderer Perry Smith
- Cinderella Man (2005) – based on the story of James J. Braddock, a supposedly washed-up boxer who comes back to become a champion and an inspiration in the 1930s
- Coach Carter (2005) – based on the Richmond High School basketball team led by coach Ken Carter
- Code Breakers (2005) – television film following the Heisman Trophy presentation, based on the first three chapters of the 2000 novel A Return to Glory, chronicling the 1951 cheating scandal at West Point and its impact on Army's football team, which was forced to cut loose virtually its entire squad
- David & Layla (2005) – independent film inspired by a true story of a Jew and a Muslim falling in love in New York
- Dawn Anna (2005) – television film based upon real events surrounding the Columbine High School massacre
- Devaki (2005) – Indian Hindi film based on a real-life incident where a tribal woman named Devakibai was sold in an open auction in Pandhana, a sub-division of Khandwa district in Madhya Pradesh, in January 2003
- Domino (2005) – inspired by Domino Harvey, the English daughter of stage and screen actor Laurence Harvey, who became a Los Angeles bounty hunter
- Dreamer (2005) – loosely inspired by the story of the mare Mariah's Storm, a promising filly who was being pointed towards the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies in 1993
- Duma (2005) – family drama adventure film about a young South African boy's friendship with an orphaned cheetah, based on How It Was with Dooms by Carol Cawthra Hopcraft and Xan Hopcraft
- Dynasty: The Making of a Guilty Pleasure (2005) – made-for-television biographical film based on the creation and behind the scenes production of the 1980s prime time soap opera Dynasty
- End of the Spear (2005) – drama film that recounts the story of Operation Auca, in which five American Christian missionaries attempted to evangelize the Huaorani (Waodani) people of the tropical rain forest of Eastern Ecuador
- The Exonerated (2005) – television film that dramatizes the true stories of six people who have been wrongfully convicted of murder and other offenses, placed on death row, and later exonerated and freed after serving varying years in prison
- The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005) – supernatural horror crime drama film loosely based on the story of Anneliese Michel and follows a self-proclaimed agnostic who acts as defense counsel representing a parish priest, accused by the state of negligent homicide after he performed an exorcism
- Faith of My Fathers (2005) – television film based on the 1999 memoir of the same name by United States Senator and former United States Navy aviator John McCain (with Mark Salter), about John McCain's experiences as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam for five and a half years during the Vietnam War
- Fateless (Hungarian: Sorstalanság) (2005) – Hungarian film based on the semi-autobiographical novel Fatelessness by Imre Kertész, about the story of a teenage boy who is sent to Auschwitz and Buchenwald
- Fighting the Odds: The Marilyn Gambrell Story – television film based on Marilyn Gambrell
- Firecracker (2005) – thriller film about a young boy from a dysfunctional home who went to a carnival and met a singer, after which a murder took place
- The Game of Their Lives (2005) – based on the true story of the 1950 U.S. soccer team which, against all odds, beat England 1–0 in the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil during the 1950 FIFA World Cup
- Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2005) – biographical film about rapper Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson
- Gie (2005) – Indonesian biopic film about the story of Soe Hok Gie, a graduate from University of Indonesia who was known as an activist and nature lover
- Good Night, and Good Luck (2005) – chronicles Edward R. Murrow's opposition to senator Joseph McCarthy during the anti-Communist senate hearings of the mid-1950s
- The Great Raid (2005) – the story of the raid at Cabanatuan on the Philippine island of Luzon during World War II
- The Greatest Game Ever Played (2005) – based on the life of golfer Francis Ouimet
- Green River Killer (2005) – based on real-life serial killer Gary Ridgway
- Heart of the Beholder (2005) – drama film based on Ken Tipton's experiences as the owner of a chain of videocassette rental stores in the 1980s
- Jarhead (2005) – based on the Gulf War memoir of Anthony Swofford
- Joyeux Noël (Template:Translation Merry Christmas) (2005) – French/German/British/Belgian/Romanian epic war drama film based on the Christmas truce of December 1914, depicted through the eyes of French, Scottish, and German soldiers
- Kingdom of Heaven (2005) – epic historical drama film set during the Crusades of the 12th Century, a French village blacksmith goes to the aid of the Kingdom of Jerusalem in its defense against the Ayyubid Muslim Sultan, Saladin, who is fighting to claim the city from the Christians; this leads to the Battle of Hattin
- Kinky Boots (2005) – British/American comedy-drama film based on the true story of a struggling British shoe factory's young, strait-laced owner, Charlie, who forms an unlikely partnership with Lola, a drag queen, to save the business
- Knights of the South Bronx (2005) – television film based on the true story of David MacEnulty, who taught schoolchildren of the Bronx Community Elementary School 70 to play at competition level, eventually winning New York City and the New York State Chess Championships
- Last Days (2005) – drama film, a fictionalized account of the last days of a musician, loosely based on Kurt Cobain
- The Last Hangman (2005) – based on the life and career of British executioner Albert Pierrepont, from early 1933 through the end of his career in 1955, during which he executed some 608 people, including the Nuremberg war criminals and Ruth Ellis, the last women to be executed in Britain
- Lies My Mother Told Me (2005) – Canadian television movie based on the real life murder of Larry McNabney by his wife, Elisa McNabney, with the help of a college student
- Loggerheads (2005) – independent film about the story of an adoption "triad"—birth mother, child, and adoptive parents—each in three interwoven stories in the days leading up to Mother's Day, and each in one of the three distinctive geographical regions of North Carolina: Appalachian Mountains, Piedmont (a broad, gently hilly plateau) and Atlantic Coastal Plain
- Lord of War (2005) – crime drama film, inspired by the stories of several real-life arms dealers and smugglers
- Lords of Dogtown (2005) – biographical film based on the documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys about an influential group of skateboarders who revolutionized the sport
- Mozart and the Whale (2005) – romantic comedy-drama film about the love story between two savants with Asperger's syndrome, based on Jerry Newport and Mary Meinel
- Mrs. Henderson Presents (2005) – British/American biographical musical film telling the true story of Laura Henderson, an eccentric British socialite who opened the Windmill Theatre in London in 1931
- Mrs. Harris (2005) – American/British made-for-television drama film based on the book Very Much a Lady by Shana Alexander, focusing on the tempestuous relationship between Herman Tarnower, noted cardiologist and author of The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet, and headmistress Jean Harris
- Munich (2005) – loosely based on Operation Wrath of God following the aftermath of the Munich massacre
- Murder in the Hamptons (2005) – Canadian television film based on the events leading to the murder of multi-millionaire Ted Ammon and the conviction of Ted's estranged wife's lover Daniel Pelosi
- Murder Unveiled (2005) – Canadian television film based on the true story of the Jaswinder Kaur Sidhu murder
- Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero (2005) – Indian epic biographical war film depicting the life of the Indian independence leader Subhas Chandra Bose in Nazi Germany: 1941–1943, and in Japanese-occupied Asia 1943–1945, and the events leading to the formation of Azad Hind Fauj
- The New World (2005) – depicts the founding of the Jamestown, Virginia, settlement, inspired by the historical figures Captain John Smith and Pocahontas
- North Country (2005) – drama film chronicling the case of Jenson v. Eveleth Taconite Co., which changed sexual harassment law
- Our Fathers (2005) – made-for-television drama film based on the book Our Fathers: The Secret Life of the Catholic Church in an Age of Scandal by David France
- Parzania (2005) – Indian drama film inspired by the true story of a ten-year-old Parsi boy, Azhar Mody (named Parzaan Pithawala in the film) who disappeared after the 28 February 2002 Gulbarg Society massacre during which 69 people were killed and which was one of many events in the communal riots in Gujarat in 2002
- The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio (2005) – biographical film based on the book by Terry Ryan, about the true story of housewife Evelyn Ryan, who helped support her husband, Kelly, and their 10 children by winning jingle-writing contests
- Romanzo criminale (2005) – Italian film based on Giancarlo De Cataldo's 2002 novel, which is in turn inspired by the Banda della Magliana true story
- Sehar (2005) – Indian Hindi film depicting organized crime in the late 1990s in India, loosely based on real-life gangster and hired killer Shri Prakash Shukla
- Shooting Dogs (Beyond the Gates in the United States) (2005) – British/German film based on events during the early days of the Rwandan genocide
- Sins (2005) – Bollywood film based on the true story of a Catholic priest from Kerala who was hanged due to his sexual relationship with a married woman
- Sometimes in April (2005) – made-for-television historical drama film about the Rwandan genocide
- Sophie Scholl – The Final Days (German: Sophie Scholl – Die letzten Tage) (2005) – German historical drama film about the last days in the life of Sophie Scholl, a 21-year-old member of the anti-Nazi non-violent student resistance group the White Rose, part of the German Resistance movement
- Spirit Bear: The Simon Jackson Story (2005) – Canadian independent film based on the real life campaign by Spirit Bear Youth Coalition founder Simon Jackson to save the habitat of the Kermode bear
- Stoned (2005) – British biographical drama film about Brian Jones, the founder and original leader of the English rock band The Rolling Stones
- Syriana (2005) – geopolitical thriller film loosely based on the book See No Evil by Robert Baer, a former FBI agent, based on his experiences
- Taj Mahal: An Eternal Love Story (2005) – Indian historical drama film about Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, who commissioned the built of the Taj Mahal in 1632
- Two Sons of Francisco (Portuguese: 2 Filhos de Francisco) (2005) – Brazilian drama film about the lives of the musicians Zezé Di Camargo & Luciano
- Virginia, la monaca di Monza (2005) – Italian/Spanish television film loosely based on real life events of Marianna de Leyva
- Walk the Line (2005) – based on two autobiographies of American singer Johnny Cash, Man in Black and Cash: The Autobiography
- Wallis & Edward (2005) – British television film, dramatizing the events of the Edward VIII abdication crisis
- The White Masai (German: Die weiße Massai) (2005) – German film based on an autobiographical novel of the same name by the German born writer Corinne Hofmann
- Wolf Creek (2005) – inspired by the Backpacker murders by Ivan Milat
- The World's Fastest Indian (2005) – the life story of New Zealander Burt Munro, who spent years building a 1920 Indian motorcycle, a bike which helped him set the land-speed world record at Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats in 1967
- You Are My Sunshine (Korean: Neoneun nae unmyeong) (2005) – South Korean film about a farmer who falls in love with a local dabang delivery girl, Eun-ha, who, shortly after their marriage tests positive for HIV/AIDS
- The Zodiac (2005) – about the Zodiac Killer
[edit]
2006
- 10th & Wolf (2006) – based on a true story of a mob war in South Philadelphia
- 300 (2006) – fictionalized account of the Battle of Thermopylae, based on the comic series written by Frank Miller
- A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story (2006) – biographical drama television film dramatizing the events surrounding the 2002 murder of Gwen Araujo, a transgender teenager
- A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006) – drama film based on a 2001 memoir of the same name by author, director, and musician Dito Montiel, which describes his youth in Astoria, New York during the 1980s
- A Little Thing Called Murder (2006) – made-for-television drama film based on a true story of convicted murderer Sante Kimes
- After Thomas (2006) – British drama film, about the severely autistic child Kyle Graham and the progress he makes when his parents adopt Thomas, a golden retriever, based on the true story of Scottish child Dale Gardner and his dog Henry
- Alpha Dog (2006) – crime drama based on the kidnap and murder of 15-year-old Nicholas Markowitz and surrounding events in 2000, organized mainly by Jesse James Hollywood, a young middle-class drug dealer in California
- Amazing Grace (2006) – the story of William Wilberforce's fight to outlaw the slave trade in the British parliament
- The Amazing Grace (2006) – British-Nigerian historical drama film telling the reformation story of British slave trader John Newton sailing to what is now Nigeria to buy slaves. Later, increasingly shocked by the brutality of slavery, he gave up the trade and became an Anglican priest
- The Art of Crying (Danish: Kunsten at Græde i Kor) (2006) – Danish tragicomedy about an 11-year-old boy's struggle to hold intact his bizarre family with its abusive father, mother in denial, and rebellious sister during the social unrest of the early 1970s, based upon an autobiographical novel by Erling Jepsen
- Beau Brummell: This Charming Man (2006) – British made-for-television biographical film about the life of Beau Brummell
- Black Book (Dutch: Zwartboek) (2006) – Dutch film loosely based on the story of Esmée van Eeghen (named Rachel Stein in the film), a young Jewish girl, who started an affair with a German officer
- The Black Dahlia (2006) – based loosely on the true story of the unsolved Black Dahlia homicide in January 1947
- Bobby (2006) – based on speculated events leading to the shooting of Robert F. Kennedy at The Ambassador Hotel in 1968
- The Borgia (Spanish: Los Borgia) (2006) – Spanish-Italian biographical film depicting the story of the Borgia dynasty
- Buenos Aires, 1977 (a.k.a. Chronicle of an Escape) (Spanish: Crónica de una fuga) (2006) – Argentinian political thriller film which tells the true story of four men who narrowly escaped death at the hands of a military death squad during the Argentine Dirty War in the 1970s
- Cannibal (2006) – German direct-to-video horror film based on the true story of Armin Meiwes who killed and ate a man whom he met on the Internet
- Catch a Fire (2006) – based on the experiences of former migrant worker turned Umkhonto we Sizwe member Patrick Chamusso during apartheid in the 1980s
- Christmas at Maxwell's (2006) – independent drama film based upon director William C. Laufer's real-life experiences
- Color of the Cross (2006) – Christian film telling the story of Jesus as a black man, and portrays Jesus' persecution as the result of racism
- Copying Beethoven (2006) – biographical film depicting the last years of German composer and pianist Ludwig van Beethoven
- The Death of Poe (2006) – biographical film that tells the tragic story of the mysterious disappearance and death of the American author Edgar Allan Poe
- Dresden (2006) – German film depicting a romance story during the historical attack against the city of Dresden in February 1945
- Eduart (2006) – Greek drama film about Eduart, a young man raised in a cruel and oppressive family environment, who leaves Albania with the dream of becoming a rock star and living a better life
- Eight Below (2006) – survival drama film, an American remake based on the 1983 Japanese film Antarctica about 15 Sakhalin Husky sled dogs who were abandoned when an Antarctica expedition team was unable to return to the base
- El Benny (2006) – Cuban film depicting a fictionalized version of the life of the famous Cuban musician Benny Moré
- El Cantante (2006) – biographical film based on the life of the late salsa singer Héctor Lavoe
- Factory Girl (2006) – biographical film based on the rapid rise and fall of 1960s underground film star and socialite Edie Sedgwick known for her association with the artist Andy Warhol
- Faith like Potatoes (2006) – South African biographical drama film based on the 1998 book of the same name written by Angus Buchan, following Buchan and his family's move from Zambia to South Africa and chronicles his Christian faith throughout that time
- Fearless (Chinese: 霍元甲) (2006) – martial arts film loosely based on the life of Huo Yuanjia, a Chinese martial artist who challenged foreign fighters in highly publicized events, restoring pride and nationalism to China at a time when Western imperialism and Japanese manipulation were eroding the country in the final years of the Qing Dynasty before the birth of the Republic of China
- Find Me Guilty (2006) – based on the trial of mobster Giacomo "Jackie" DiNorscio, which became the longest Mafia trial in American history
- Flags of Our Fathers (2006) – based on the book Flags of Our Fathers, about the Battle of Iwo Jima and the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima
- Flight 93 (2006) – based on the events aboard United Airlines Flight 93 on 9/11
- Flyboys (2006) – war drama film loosely based on the enlistment, training, and combat experiences of a group of young Americans who volunteer to become fighter pilots in the Lafayette Escadrille, the 124th air squadron formed by the French in 1916
- The Flying Scotsman (2006) – British drama film based on the life and career of Scottish amateur cyclist Graeme Obree
- For One Night (2006) – television film based on the true story of Gerica McCrary, who made headlines in 2002 by getting Taylor County High School in her hometown of Butler, Georgia, to integrate the prom after thirty-one years of segregation
- Fur (2006) – largely fictionalized biography of iconic American photographer Diane Arbus, who was known for her strange, disturbing images
- Ghosts (2006) – British drama film based on the 2004 Morecambe Bay cockling disaster
- Glory Road (2006) – based on the story of the 1965–66 Texas Western Miners basketball team and its march to the national championship, although some liberties were taken
- The Good Shepherd (2006) – spy film, a fictional film loosely based on real events, but advertised as telling the untold story of the birth of counter-intelligence in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
- Goya's Ghosts (2006) – biographical drama film loosely based on Francisco Goya, a renowned painter who did portraits as the Official Court Painter to Spain's royalty, among others, during the French Revolution
- Gridiron Gang (2006) – based on real incidents involving youth gang members in a youth jail named "Killpatrick Camp" who played for a football team led by coach Sean Porter
- Grimm Love (German: Rohtenburg) (2006) – German psychological horror film inspired by the Armin Meiwes cannibal murder case
- The Hands (Spanish: Las manos) (2006) – Argentinean/Italian film inspired by the life and work of Catholic priest Mario Pantaleo
- Heavens Fall (2006) – based on the Scottsboro Boys incident of 1931
- The Hoax (2006) – recounting Clifford Irving's elaborate hoax on publishing an autobiography of Howard Hughes in the early 1970s
- Hollywoodland (2006) – based on the suspicious death of actor George Reeves on 16 June 1959
- Housewife, 49 (2006) – television film based on the wartime diaries of Nella Last
- Infamous (2006) – while researching his book In Cold Blood, writer Truman Capote develops a close relationship with convicted murderers Dick Hickock and Perry Smith
- Invincible (2006) – based on the story of Vince Papale, who played for the Philadelphia Eagles in the 1970s as a walk-on
- Karla (2006) – based on the true story of serial killers Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka
- The Killing of John Lennon (2006) – the story of Mark Chapman's plot to kill John Lennon
- Klimt (2006) – Austrian art-house biographical film about the life of the Austrian Symbolist painter Gustav Klimt
- Kokoda (2006) – Australian war film based on the experiences of Australian troops fighting Japanese forces during the 1942 Kokoda Track campaign
- The Last King of Scotland (2006) – based on factual events during Idi Amin's rule of Uganda
- Life Is Not A Fairy Tale: The Fantasia Barrino Story (2006) – made-for-television biographical film based on the life of American singer Fantasia Barrino
- Lonely Hearts (2006) – loosely based on the investigation of homicide detective Elmer C. Robinson into the Lonely Hearts Killers, directed by his own grandson Todd Robinson
- Marie Antoinette (2006) – based on the life of Marie Antoinette, the last queen of France, from her betrothal and marriage to Louis XVI to her reign as queen to the French Revolution
- Milarepa (2006) – Bhutanese Tibetan-language film about the life of the most famous Tibetan tantric yogi, the eponymous Milarepa
- Miss Potter (2006) – British-American biographical film about children's author and illustrator Beatrix Potter
- Mysterious Creatures (2006) – British indie drama about the true story of a married couple struggling to cope with the demands of their daughter with Asperger syndrome
- Not Like Everyone Else (2006) – made-for-television based on a true story of events that happened to Brandi Blackbear in 1999–2000
- One Night with the King (2006) – historical epic film, a dramatization of the Biblical story of Esther, who risked her life by approaching the King of Persia to request that he save the Jewish people
- Only the Brave (2006) – the story of the rescue of the Lost Battalion by the 442nd Regimental Combat Team during World War II
- Open Water 2: Adrift (2006) – German/American psychological thriller inspired by the short story Adrift by Japanese author Koji Suzuki, from which it took its original title, but promotional posters claimed the film is based on actual events. The film has no connection to Open Water (2003)
- Out of the Blue (2006) – New Zealand crime drama film based on the Aramoana massacre
- Pacquiao: The Movie (2006) – Filipino action-drama film based on a true story of Filipino boxer Emmanuel "Manny" Pacquiao
- Peaceful Warrior (2006) – American/German drama film based on the part-fictional, part-autobiographical 1980 novel Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman
- Pinochet in Suburbia (2006) – drama film about former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and the attempts to extradite him from Great Britain during his visit there in 1998 for medical treatment
- Provoked (2006) – based on the true story of Kiranjit Ahluwalia, who murdered her abusive husband
- The Pursuit of Happyness (2006) – based on the true story of Chris Gardner's nearly one-year struggle with homelessness
- The Queen (2006) – after the death of Princess Diana, HM Queen Elizabeth II struggles with her reaction to a sequence of events nobody could have predicted
- Raising Jeffrey Dahmer (2006) – drama film based on the case of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer
- Rampage: The Hillside Strangler Murders (2006) – direct-to-video crime thriller about the Hillside Strangler murders
- Rapid Fire (2006) – action television film based on the 1980 Norco shootout
- Requiem (2006) – German drama film focusing on the medical condition (epilepsy) as seen in the real-life events of Anneliese Michel (named Michaela Klingler in the film), a German woman who was allegedly possessed by six or more demons and died in 1976
- Rescue Dawn (2006) – based on the story of Dieter Dengler, a U.S. Navy pilot who was shot down in Laos during the Vietnam War
- The Ron Clark Story (2006) – television film based on the real-life educator Ron Clark
- Running with Scissors (2006) – comedy-drama film based on Augusten Burroughs' 2002 memoir of the same name
- Salvador (2006) – Spanish film based on the 2001 Francesc Escribano book Template:Lang, which depicts the time Salvador Puig Antich spent on death row prior to his execution by garrote (the last person to be executed by this method), under Franco's Francoist State in 1974
- See No Evil: The Moors Murders (2006) – two-part British television series telling the story of the Moors murders, which were committed, between July 1963 and October 1965, by Myra Hindley and Ian Brady
- Take the Lead (2006) – based on the story of Pierre Dulaine, a well-known ballroom dancer and dance instructor, known for "Dancing Classrooms", as he teaches potential high school dropouts how to ballroom dance during detention in an attempt to raise their self-respect and confidence
- Traces of Love (Korean: Gaeulro ) (2006) – Korean film based on the Sampoong Department Store collapse of 1995
- United 93 (2006) – based on United Airlines Flight 93 and the passengers on board who prevented the hijackers from reaching their intended target
- Walkout (2006) – based on the true story of the 1968 East L.A. walkouts, also referred to as the Chicano blowouts
- We Are Marshall (2006) – the story of the aftermath of the 1970 plane crash that killed 5 members of flight crew, 25 boosters, 8 coaches and 37 players of the Marshall University football team
- White Palms (Hungarian: Fehér tenyér) (2006) – Hungarian film based partly on elements of the director's life and partly on events with other real people
- Why I Wore Lipstick to My Mastectomy (2006) – television film based on the memoir of the same name, written by Geralyn Lucas, depicting Lucas's fight with breast cancer
- Wild Romance (2006) – Dutch biographical about Dutch singer and artist Herman Brood
- Woh Lamhe... (Template:Translation Those Moments) (2006) – Indian romantic drama film supposedly based on actress Parveen Babi's life, her battle with schizophrenia and her relationship with Mahesh Bhatt
- World Trade Center (2006) – based on the rescue of John McLoughlin and Will Jimeno, both freed from the wreckage of the collapsing World Trade Center towers
[edit]
2007
- 26 Years Diary (Korean: Anata wo Wasurenai) (2007) – South Korean biopic that tells the story of Lee Su-hyon's life and death
- 1612 (2007) – Russian epic historical drama film about the 17th century Time of Troubles and the Polish-Muscovite War with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
- A Life Interrupted (2007) – made-for-television film depicting events in the life of sexual assault victim Debbie Smith, which led to the passage of the Debbie Smith Act
- A Mighty Heart (2007) – based on the murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl in Pakistan
- A Secret (French: Un secret) (2007) – French film based on the 2004 autobiographical novel by Philippe Grimbert
- Alexandra (Russian: Aleksandra) (2007) – Russian film about the Second Chechen War
- American Gangster (2007) – based on the true life story of Frank Lucas, a former heroin dealer, and organized crime boss in Harlem during the late 1960s and early 1970s
- An American Crime (2007) – crime drama based on the torture and murder of Sylvia Likens by Indianapolis housewife Gertrude Baniszewski
- The Anna Nicole Smith Story (2007) – biographical film depicting the life of American model and actress Anna Nicole Smith
- The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) – based on the last year of Jesse James' life, leading up to his assassination by Robert Ford
- Bastard Boys (2007) – two-part Australian television miniseries telling the story of the 1998 Australian waterfront dispute
- Battle in Seattle (2007) – based on the protest activity at the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference of 1999
- Becoming Jane (2007) – biographical portrait of a pre-fame Jane Austen and her romance with a young Irishman
- The Black Pimpernel (Swedish: Svarta nejlikan) (2007) – Swedish biographical film about Harald Edelstam, Sweden's ambassador to Chile, who after the military coup of Augusto Pinochet in 1973, managed to save the lives of more than 1,300 people by taking them to his embassy and transporting them to Sweden
- Black Water (2007) – Australian horror film inspired by the true story of a crocodile attack in Australia's Northern Territory in December 2003
- Borderland (2007) – loosely based on serial killer and cult leader Adolfo Constanzo
- Bordertown (2007) – drama film inspired by the true story of the numerous female homicides in Ciudad Juárez and tells the story of an inquisitive American reporter sent in by her American newspaper to investigate the murders
- Breach (2007) – based on the capture of Soviet spy Robert Hanssen
- Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (2007) – Western historical drama television film adapted from the 1970 non-fiction book of the same name
- California Dreamin' (Romanian: California Dreamin' (nesfârșit)) (2007) – Romanian film based on the true story of a train containing American radar equipment required in Kosovo that was stopped for four days in a small village on the Bărăgan Plain during the 1999 NATO bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
- Caravaggio (2007) – Italian television film based on the real life events of Baroque painter Michelangelo Merisi de Caravaggio
- Chapter 27 (2007) – biographical film depicting the murder of John Lennon by Mark David Chapman
- Charlie Wilson's War (2007) – based on Texas congressman Charlie Wilson's covert dealings in Afghanistan to help launch Operation Cyclone, a program to organize and support the Afghan mujahideen during the Soviet–Afghan War
- Chicago Massacre: Richard Speck (2007) – based on the notorious mass murderer Richard Speck, who systematically tortured, raped and murdered a group of student nurses from South Chicago Community Hospital in 1966
- Colour Me Kubrick (2007) – British comedy-drama film loosely based on Alan Conway, a British con-man who had been impersonating director Stanley Kubrick since the early 1990s, the film follows the exploits of Conway as he goes from person to person, convincing them to give out money, liquor and sexual favours for the promise of a part in "Kubrick's" next film
- Control (2007) – based on the story of Ian Curtis, the singer of Joy Division, whose personal, professional and romantic life led him to commit suicide at the age of 23
- The Counterfeiters (German: Die Fälscher) (2007) – Austrian film based on Operation Bernhard
- Crazy (2007) – independent biographical musical drama film inspired by the life of Nashville guitarist Hank Garland
- Curse of the Zodiac (2007) – horror film based on the Zodiac killings in the San Francisco Bay area in the early 1970s
- Dark Matter (2007) – drama film loosely based on the University of Iowa shooting in 1991
- Death Defying Acts (2007) – British/Australian romance film about the life of Hungarian-American escapologist Harry Houdini at the height of his career in the 1920s
- Diana: Last Days of a Princess (2007) – made-for-television film depicting a semi-fictionalized account of the last two months in the life of Diana, Princess of Wales, leading up to her death on 31 August 1997
- The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (French: Le Scaphandre et le Papillon) (2007) – French biographical drama based on the life of Jean-Dominique Bauby, depicting his life after suffering a massive stroke in December 1995 at the age of 43, which left him with a condition known as locked-in syndrome
- Don't Waste Your Time, Johnny! (Italian: Lascia perdere, Johnny!) (2007) – Italian biographical comedy drama loosely based on real life events of musician Fausto Mesolella, a member of Piccola Orchestra Avion Travel
- Ed Gein: The Butcher of Plainfield (2007) – based on the crimes of Ed Gein
- Eichmann (2007) – British biographical drama detailing the interrogation of Adolf Eichmann
- Eight Miles High (German: Das wilde Leben) (2007) – German biographical motion picture, set in the 1960s and depicting the "wild life" of Uschi Obermaier, a West German sex symbol and icon of the era
- El Greco (2007) – Greek biographical film about the life of the Greek painter of the Spanish Renaissance, Domenicos Theotokopoulos, known worldwide as El Greco
- Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) – sequel to the 1998 film Elizabeth, depicting a mature Queen Elizabeth I of England, who endures multiple crises late in her reign, including court intrigues, an assassination plot, the Spanish Armada, and romantic disappointments
- The Final Season (2007) – baseball film based on the true story of Kent Stock, who in 1991 becomes the head coach of the Norway High School Tigers baseball team
- Freedom Writers (2007) – based on the book The Freedom Writers Diary by teacher Erin Gruwell, based on Woodrow Wilson Classical High School in Eastside, Long Beach, California
- Gandhi, My Father (2007) – Indian biographical drama film about the troubled relationship between Mahatma Gandhi and his son Harilal Gandhi
- Genghis Khan: To the Ends of the Earth and Sea (Japanese: 蒼き狼 地果て海尽きるまで) (2007) – Japanese historical drama film depicting the life of Genghis Khan
- Georg (2007) – Estonian biographical drama film about Estonian singer Georg Ots
- The Girl Next Door (2007) – horror film loosely based on the torture and murder of Sylvia Likens by Indianapolis housewife Gertrude Baniszewski and based on the book The Girl Next Door, written by Jack Ketchum
- Goodbye Bafana (2007) – based on the relationship between Nelson Mandela and writer James Gregory
- Gracie (2007) – sports drama film partially based on the childhood experiences of Elisabeth Shue
- The Gray Man (2007) – biographical thriller film based on the actual life and events of American serial killer, rapist and cannibal Albert Fish
- The Great Debaters (2007) – the story of the efforts of debate coach Melvin B. Tolson (Denzel Washington) at historically black Wiley College to place his team on equal footing with whites in the American South during the 1930s
- Guru (2007) – Indian bi-language (Hindi and Tamil) film loosely based on the life of Indian business tycoon Dhirubhai Ambani, who helped found Reliance Industries in Mumbai, India
- The Hoax (2007) – comedy-drama film recounting Irving's elaborate hoax of publishing an autobiography of Howard Hughes that he purportedly helped write, without ever having talked with Hughes
- The Home Song Stories (2007) – Australian film, an autobiographical account of Tony Ayres' (named Tom in the film) life at age eight
- Hwang Jin Yi (2007) – South Korean biographical drama film about the life of Hwang Jin Yi, the most famous courtesan (or "gisaeng") in Korean history
- I'm Not There (2007) – about the life of Bob Dylan, in which six characters embody a different aspect of the musician's life and work
- Il Pirata: Marco Pantani (2007) – Italian television film depicting real life events of road racing cyclist Marco Pantani
- In the Valley of Elah (2007) – based loosely on the homicide of returning Iraq War veteran Richard T. Davis in 2003 by fellow soldiers from Baker Company
- Into the Wild (2007) – based on the 1996 non-fiction book of the same name by Jon Krakauer about the adventures and travels of Christopher McCandless across North American and his life spent in the Alaskan wilderness in the early 1990s
- Joanne Lees: Murder in the Outback (2007) – Australian/British television film based on the real life disappearance of Peter Falconio
- Jump! (2007) – Austrian/British drama film loosely based on the real-life Halsman murder case
- Kalloori (2007) – Indian Tamil movie based on a real-life incident in which three girls were burnt to death in Dharmapuri, Tamil Nadu, India; directed by Balaji Shakthivel
- The Killing of John Lennon (2007) – biographical film about Mark David Chapman's plot to kill musician John Lennon
- The King (2007) – Australian television film examining the life of Australian entertainer Graham Kennedy
- The Kingdom (2007) – loosely based on the 1996 bombing of the Khobar housing complex and the 2003 bombing of the Riyadh compound
- Kings of South Beach (2007) – loosely based on a true story about the exploits of Chris Paciello, a transplanted New Yorker who was involved with the Mafia back in his hometown
- La Vie en rose (2007) – French biographical musical film about the life of French singer Édith Piaf
- Las 13 rosas (2007) – Spanish film that follows the tragic fate of thirteen young women, fighting for their ideals in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War
- Life Support (2007) – drama television film loosely based on the real-life story of Ana Wallace, an HIV-positive woman
- Lost Holiday (2007) – made-for-television film based on the true story of Jim and Suzanne Shemwell
- Lucky Miles (2007) – Australian drama film based on several true stories involving people entering Western Australia by boat in order to seek asylum
- The Man of Glass (Italian: L'uomo di vetro) (2007) – Italian crime drama film based on real life events of the first Sicilian Mafia's "pentito", Leonardo Vitale
- Manolete (2007) – biographical film about bullfighter Manuel Laureano Rodríguez Sánchez, better known as "Manolete"
- Maradona, the Hand of God (Spanish: Maradona - La mano de Dios) (2007) – Italian/Argentine biographical film based on real life events of footballer Diego Maradona
- Martian Child (2007) – comedy-drama film based on David Gerrold's 1994 novelette of the same name about a writer who adopts a strange young boy who believes himself to be from Mars
- Matters of Life and Dating (2007) – made-for-television based on the memoir Up Front by Linda Dackman as she re-enters the dating world after undergoing a mastectomy and breast reconstruction surgery due to cancer
- Miss Austen Regrets (2007) – made-for-television biographical film based on the life of Jane Austen
- Molière (2007) – French historical drama film about French playwright and actor Molière
- Mongol (2007) – intended to be the first in a trilogy of films based on the life of Genghis Khan
- Music Within (2007) – biographical period drama film based on the life of Richard Pimentel, a respected public speaker whose hearing disability attained in the Vietnam War drove him to become an activist for the Americans with Disabilities Act
- My Boy Jack (2007) – British biographical television film based on David Haig's 1997 play of the same name which tells the story of Rudyard Kipling and his grief for his son, John, who died in the First World War
- My Father (Korean: 마이 파더) (2007) – South Korean biographical period drama film based on a true story of an adopted son who is searching for his biological parents in South Korea only to find that his real father is a condemned murderer on death row
- Nightwatching (2007) – biographical film about the artist Rembrandt and the creation of his 1642 painting The Night Watch
- Operace Silver A (2007) – Czech two-part television film inspired by a real war operation of the same name from the beginning of 1942
- Periyar (2007) – Indian Tamil biographical film based on the life of social reformer and rationalist Periyar E. V. Ramasamy
- Persepolis (2007) – adult animated biographical drama film based upon Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical graphic novel of the same name
- Piano, solo (2007) – Italian drama film depicting the real life events of jazz pianist and composer Luca Flores
- The Pope's Toilet (Spanish: El Baño del Papa) (2007) – Uruguayan film about the 1988 visit of Pope John Paul II at Melo, a Uruguayan town on the Brazilian border
- Pride (2007) – based loosely on the true story of Philadelphia swim coach Jim Ellis and his African American swim team in 1974 Philadelphia
- Primeval (2007) – based on tales of a real man-eating crocodile named Gustave, still living in Burundi
- Protecting the King (2007) – drama film telling the story of David Stanley, the stepbrother and bodyguard of singer Elvis Presley
- PVC-1 (2007) – Colombian drama film inspired by a true story about a pipe bomb improvised explosive device (IED) that was placed around the neck of an extortion victim
- Redacted (2007) – war film, a fictional dramatization, loosely based on the 2006 Mahmudiyah killings in Mahmoudiyah, Iraq, when U.S. Army soldiers raped an Iraqi girl and murdered her along with her family
- Rise of the Footsoldier (2007) – British gangster film based on the true story of the Rettendon murders and the autobiography of Carlton Leach, a former football hooligan of the infamous Inter City Firm, who became a powerful figure of the English underworld
- Rogue (2007) – inspired by the true story of Sweetheart, a giant male saltwater crocodile that attacked boats in the late 1970s, although Sweetheart was never responsible for an attack on a human
- Romulus, My Father (2007) – Australian drama film based on the memoir by Raimond Gaita, the film tells the story of Romulus and his wife Christine, and their struggle in the face of great adversity to raise their son, Raimond
- Satham Podathey (2007) – Indian Tamil psychological thriller film based on a true story
- Savage Grace (2007) – French/Spanish/American drama film based on the book Savage Grace by Natalie Robins and Steven M.L. Aronson, about the dysfunctional, allegedly incestuous relationship between heiress and socialite Barbara Daly Baekeland and her son, Antony
- Say It in Russian (2007) – American/French film about an American businessman who hooks up with a young Russian girl who turns out to be the daughter of a rich Russian mafia oligarch. The poster of the film claims it's a true story
- September Dawn (2007) – based on the 7–11 September 1857, Mountain Meadows massacre
- Shake Hands with the Devil (2007) – Canadian war drama film based on Roméo Dallaire's autobiography recounting his harrowing personal journey during the 1994 Rwandan genocide and how the United Nations failed to heed Dallaire's urgent pleas for further assistance to halt the massacre
- Shoot on Sight (2007) – British film based on Operation Kratos, and the shooting of an innocent Brazilian on 22 July 2005 whom police thought to be a Muslim terrorist about to detonate a suicide bomb
- Shootout at Lokhandwala (2007) – Hindi film based on the 1991 Lokhandwala Complex shootout, a real-life gun battle between gangsters and Mumbai Police during an encounter with gangster Maya Dolas
- Sinners (2007) – true story about three young men who set off to avenge their sins
- The Sovereign's Servant (Russian: Sluga Gosudarev) (2007) – Russian swashbuckler film depicting the events of the Great Northern War, with a particular focus on the Battle of Poltava
- St. Giuseppe Moscati: Doctor to the Poor (Italian: Giuseppe Moscati - L'amore che guarisce) (2007) – Italian television film based on real life events of doctor and then Roman Catholic Saint Giuseppe Moscati
- The Staircase Murders (2007) – television film telling the story of Michael Peterson, who was convicted in 2003 of killing his wife by beating her over the head
- Stuck (2007) – loosely based on the hit and run committed by Chante Jawan Mallard, who left her victim Gregory Glenn Biggs to die slowly in her garage
- Sybil (2007) – true story based on the life of Shirley Ardell Mason, who was diagnosed with multiple personality disorder
- Talk To Me (2007) – based on the life of Washington, D.C., radio personality Ralph "Petey" Greene
- Theresa: The Body of Christ (Spanish: Teresa, el cuerpo de Cristo) (2007) – French/Spanish/British biographical film about Saint Teresa of Ávila
- Trainwreck: My Life as an Idiot (also known as: American Loser,) (2007) – comedy-drama film based upon the autobiographical book The Little Yellow Bus by Jeff Nichols
- Václav (2007) – Czech drama film inspired by the true story of an autistic person
- Voice of a Murderer (Korean: Geunom moksori) (2007) – South Korean crime thriller-drama film, a fictionalized account of a real-life kidnapping case in 1991
- What We Do Is Secret (2007) – based on the 1970s Los Angeles punk band the Germs and their lead singer Darby Crash
- Zodiac (2007) – based on the story of the Zodiac Killer
[edit]
2008
- 21 (2008) – inspired by the story of the MIT Blackjack Team
- Accidental Friendship (2008) – based on a true story of a homeless woman with her two pets as her only friends
- Admiral (Russian: Адмиралъ) (2008) – Russian biopic about Alexander Kolchak, a vice-admiral in the Imperial Russian Navy and leader of the anti-communist White Movement during the Russian Civil War
- Adoration (2008) – Canadian drama film based partly on the 1986 Hindawi affair
- The Alphabet Killer (2008) – thriller-horror film loosely based on the Alphabet murders that took place in Rochester, New York between 1971 and 1973
- Amália (2008) – Portuguese biographical film about legendary Portuguese fado singer Amália Rodrigues
- American Violet (2008) – based on Regina Kelly, a victim of Texas police drug enforcement tactics
- The Baader Meinhof Complex (German: Der Baader Meinhof Komplex) (2008) – German/French/Czech production based on German militant group the Red Army Faction, retells the story of the early years of the RAF, concentrating on its beginnings in 1967 (at the time of the German student movement) up to the German Autumn (Deutscher Herbst) of 1977
- Baby Blues (2008) – based on Andrea Yates, who drowned her five children in 2001 in a severe case of postpartum psychosis
- The Bank Job (2008) – based on a 1971 London Baker Street robbery allegedly concocted by MI5
- Billy: The Early Years (2008) – biographical film telling the story of the early life of evangelist Billy Graham
- Bloedbroeders (Template:Translation Blood Brothers) (2008) – Dutch television film based on the Baarn murder case, which took place between 1960 and 1963
- Bottle Shock (2008) – comedy-drama film based on the 1976 wine competition termed the "Judgment of Paris", when California wine defeated French wine in a blind taste test
- Bronson (2008) – fictionalized and based on the life of Britain's most violent prisoner Michael Gordon Peterson, better known as Charles Bronson
- Cadillac Records (2008) – based on the life of influential Chicago-based record company executive Leonard Chess and the singers who recorded for Chess Records
- Camino (2008) – Spanish drama film inspired by the real story of Alexia González-Barros, a girl who died from spinal cancer at age 14 in 1985 and who is in process of canonization
- Cape No. 7 (Chinese: Hǎijiǎo Qī Hào) (2008) – Chinese film based on a report about a Taiwanese postman who successfully delivered a piece of mail addressed in the old Japanese style; the sender was the former Japanese employer of the recipient
- Cass (2008) – British crime drama film based on the true story of the life of Cass Pennant
- Changeling (2008) – loosely based on the real-life Wineville Chicken Coop murders, involving Christine Collins and the disappearance of her son
- Chapter 27 (2008) – biographical drama film depicting the murder of John Lennon by Mark David Chapman
- Che (2008) – a merged version of two films: The Argentine and Guerrilla, about the life of Marxist revolutionary, Che Guevara
- The Children of Huang Shi (2008) – Australian/Chinese/German historical war drama film centering on the true story of George Hogg and the sixty orphans that he led across China in an effort to save them from conscription during the Second Sino-Japanese war
- The Christmas Choir (2008) – American/Canadian made-for-television Christmas drama film based upon a true story of a man who volunteered to work at a homeless shelter and started a choir with its residents
- Clubbed (2008) – British drama film based on Geoff Thompson's autobiography Watch My Back
- Coco Chanel (2008) – biographical drama television film about Coco Chanel
- The Curse of Steptoe (2008) – made-for-television based on Harry H. Corbett and Wilfrid Brambell's on- and off-screen relationship during the making of the BBC sitcom Steptoe and Son
- December Heat (Estonian: Detsembrikuumus) (2008) – Estonian historic action drama about the 1924 Estonian coup d'état attempt
- Defiance (2008) – the story of the Bielski partisans
- The Duchess (2008) – based on the life of Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire
- The Easy Way (French: Sans arme, ni haine, ni violence) – French heist film based on the real life thief Albert Spaggiari, who organized a break-in into a Société Générale bank in Nice, France in 1976
- The Edge of Love (2008) – British biographical romantic drama film loosely based on Welsh poet Dylan Thomas and his wife Caitlin Macnamara
- Everlasting Moments (Swedish: Maria Larssons eviga ögonblick) (2008) – Swedish drama based on the true story of Maria Larsson, a Swedish working-class woman in the early 20th century who wins a camera in a lottery and goes on to become a photographer
- The Express: The Ernie Davis Story (2008) – based on the life of "The Elmira Express" Ernie Davis, the first African American to win the Heisman Trophy
- Fab Five: The Texas Cheerleader Scandal (2008) – teen drama television film based on real-life events that occurred at McKinney North High School in McKinney, Texas, in 2006, five teenage cheerleaders became notorious for truancies, violations of the school dress code, and general disrespect to the school community
- Felon (2008) – based on events at California State Prison, Corcoran in the 1990s
- Fifty Dead Men Walking (2008) – loose adaptation of Martin McGartland's 1997 autobiography of the same name
- Flame & Citron (Danish: Flammen & Citronen) (2008) – Danish film based on the lives of Bent Faurschou-Hviid and Jørgen Haagen Schmith, members of the Holger Danske, a Danish resistance group in Nazi-occupied Denmark
- Flash of Genius (2008) – the story of Robert Kearns, inventor of the intermittent windshield wiper and his claims and lawsuit against Ford Motor Company
- Forever Enthralled (Chinese: 梅蘭芳) (2008) – Chinese biographical film depicting the life of Mei Lanfang, one of China's premiere opera performers
- Forever the Moment (Korean: Uri saengae choego-ui sungan) (2008) – South Korean fictionalized account of the achievements of the South Korean women's national handball team at the 2004 Summer Olympics
- Front of the Class (2008) – biographical drama film based on Brad Cohen's life with Tourette syndrome and how it inspired him to teach other students
- Frost/Nixon (2008) – the story of the 1977 televised Frost/Nixon interviews
- Gomorrah (2008) – Italian crime film based on the non-fiction book of the same name by Roberto Saviano, which documents Saviano's infiltration and investigation of various areas of business and daily life controlled or affected by criminal organization Camorra
- Haber (2008) – the work of Fritz Haber in developing chemical weaponry for the German army during World War I
- Hansie (2008) – South African film based on the true story of cricketer Hansie Cronje
- House of Saddam (2008) – British biographical miniseries about the rise and fall of Saddam Hussein
- How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (2008) – British comedy film based upon Toby Young's 2001 memoir How to Lose Friends & Alienate People
- Hunger (2008) – based on Bobby Sands and the 1981 Irish hunger strike
- The Hurt Locker (2008) – Oscar-winning war film about a three-man explosive ordnance disposal team during the Iraq War
- Il divo (2008) – Italian biographical drama film based on the figure of former Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti
- Ip Man (2008) – Hong Kong film based on the life of "Ip Man", a grandmaster of the martial art Wing Chun and master of Bruce Lee
- Jodhaa Akbar (2008) – Indian epic historical romance film based on the life of Mughal emperor Akbar the Great
- John Adams (2008) – miniseries chronicling most of U.S. President John Adams's political life and his role in the founding of the United States
- The Kautokeino Rebellion (Norwegian: Kautokeino-opprøret) (2008) – Norwegian film based on the true story of the Kautokeino riots in Kautokeino, Norway in 1852 in response to the Norwegian exploitation of the Sami community at that time
- The Last Confession of Alexander Pearce (2008) – Australian-Irish biographical drama film following the final days of Irish convict and bushranger Alexander Pearce's life as he awaits execution
- Last Stop 174 (Portuguese: Última Parada 174) (2008) – Brazilian film relating a fictionalized account of the life of Sandro Rosa do Nascimento, a street kid in Rio de Janeiro that survived the Candelária massacre and, in 2000, hijacked a bus
- Lemon Tree (Hebrew: Etz Limon) (2008) – Israeli/German/French film partly based on a real-life incident of an Israeli Defense Minister who moves to the border within Israel and the occupied territories and security forces began cutting down the lemon trees beside his house, arguing that it could be used by terrorists as a hiding place
- Little Ashes (2008) – Spanish-British biographical drama film three of the era's most creative young talents, Luis Buñuel, Salvador Dalí and Federico García Lorca, meet at university and set off on a course to change their world
- Little Girl Lost: The Delimar Vera Story (2008) – based on the events surrounding the kidnapping and rescue of Delimar Vera, who was kidnapped just ten days after she was born
- Living Proof (2008) – based on the true life story of Denny Slamon, who helped develop the breast cancer drug Herceptin 2
- The Longshots (2008) – comedy-drama sports film based on the real life events of Jasmine Plummer, the first female to participate in the Pop Warner football tournament
- Love Exposure (Japanese: Ai no mukidashi) (2008) – Japanese comedy-drama art film about the true story of a love triangle between a young Catholic upskirt photographer, a misandric girl and a manipulative cultist
- Machan (2008) – Italian/Sri Lankan comedy film inspired by the true story of a fake Sri Lankan national handball team that tricked its way into a German tournament, lost all of their matches, and subsequently vanished
- Mao's Last Dancer (2008) – Australian film based on professional dancer Li Cunxin's 2003 memoir of the same name
- Marley & Me (2008) – based on the memoir of the same title by journalist John Grogan
- Max Manus (2008) – Norwegian biographic war film based on real events in the life of resistance fighter Max Manus, who helped to save his country from the Germans during World War II
- Mesrine (2008) – French two-part biographical crime film on the life of French gangster Jacques Mesrine
- Meu Nome Não É Johnny (2008) – Brazilian biographical film based on the true story of João Guilherme Estrella, an upper-middle-class man from the State of Rio de Janeiro that would become the head of the drug traffic in the late 1980s and early 1990s
- Milk (2008) – based on the life of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man elected to public office in California
- Mogadischu (2008) – German made-for-TV thriller film chronicling the events surrounding the hijacking of Lufthansa Flight 181 by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in 1977
- North Face (German: Nordwand) (2008) – German film about the 1936 attempt by Toni Kurz and Andreas Hinterstoisser to summit the Eiger via the north face
- The Ode (2008) – Indian/American adaptation of the novel, Ode to Lata, based on actual events
- The Other Boleyn Girl (2008) – based on the lives of sisters Anne and Mary Boleyn, who compete for the affection of King Henry VIII
- Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! (2008) – Indian comedy film inspired by the real life shenanigans of Devinder Singh, alias Bunty, a real-life "super-chor", originally from Vikaspuri, Delhi
- Pattenrai!! ~ Minami no Shima no Mizu Monogatari (Japanese: パッテンライ!! ~南の島の水ものがたり) (2008) – Japanese anime biographical film portraying the career of Yoichi Hatta, a civil engineer active in Japanese Taiwan, and his interactions with the native Taiwanese
- The Poker House (2008) – based on director Lori Petty's own early life during the mid-1970s
- Portrait of a Beauty (Korean: 미인도) (2008) – South Korean fictionalized portrayal based on Joseon-era painter Shin Yun-bok (better known by his pen name, Hyewon) as being a woman disguised as a man
- Racing for Time (2008) – Lifetime television film based on the accomplishment of real life coach and prison guard Sergeant Noel Chestnut (later promoted to lieutenant) and the Ventura Youth Correctional Facility's track team he started
- Ramchand Pakistani (2008) – Pakistani drama film based on a true story of a boy who inadvertently crosses the border between Pakistan and India and the following ordeal that his family has to go through
- The Red Baron (German: Der rote Baron) (2008) – German/British biographical action war film about the World War I fighter pilot Manfred von Richthofen, known as the "Red Baron"
- Red Cliff: Part I (Chinese: 赤壁) (2008) – Chinese epic war film, based on the Battle of Red Cliffs (208–209 AD) and the events at the end of the Han dynasty
- Rivals (French: Les Liens du sang) (2008) – French action film inspired by the story of the Bruno brothers; one a pimp and the other a cop
- Sagan (2008) – French biographical film about French author Françoise Sagan's road to fame, her drug abuse, alcoholism, and gambling, her hedonistic lifestyle spending too much and becoming poor, as well as several complex love affairs with both men and women
- Séraphine (2008) – French-Belgian biographical film based on Séraphine Louis's life
- Sex and Lies in Sin City (2008) – Lifetime Television film detailing the events surrounding the death of Las Vegas casino owner Ted Binion
- The Sicilian Girl (Italian: La siciliana ribelle) (2008) – Italian film inspired by the story of Rita Atria, a key witness in a major Mafia investigation in Sicily
- Silent Wedding (Romanian: Nunta mută) (2008) – Romanian comedy-drama film about a young couple who has to celebrate their marriage in silence because the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin had died the night before
- Skin (2008) – British-South African biographical film about Sandra Laing, a South African woman born to white parents, who was classified as "Coloured" during the apartheid era, presumably due to a genetic case of atavism
- Stone of Destiny (2008) – the story of attorney Ian Hamilton, who helped recapture the Stone of Scone for Scotland
- The Stoning of Soraya M. (2008) – the story of Soraya Manutchehri, a victim of stoning in Iran
- Touching Home (2008) – drama film about two brothers who pursue a professional baseball career and their relationship with their father
- The Two Mr. Kissels (2008) – made-for-television true crime drama film chronicling the lives and murders of brothers Robert and Andrew Kissel
- Valkyrie (2008) – the story of the 20 July plot in 1944 by German army officers to assassinate Adolf Hitler and to use the Operation Valkyrie national emergency plan to take control of the country
- W. (2008) – based on the life and presidency of George W. Bush
- What Doesn't Kill You (2008) – crime drama loosely based on the true life story of the film's director Brian Goodman, detailing his own exploits involved with South Boston's Irish Mob
- The Wave (German: Die Welle) (2008) – German socio-political thriller film based on Ron Jones' social experiment The Third Wave and Todd Strasser's novel, The Wave
- Worlds Apart (Danish: To verdener) (2008) – Danish drama film based upon the true story of a 17-year-old Jehovah's Witness girl who struggles to reconcile her faith and her secret romance with a non-believer boy
[edit]
2009
- 3 Acts of Murder (2009) – Australian television film based on the true life story of how author Arthur Upfield inadvertently inspired The Murchison Murders
- 12 Paces Without a Head (German: Zwölf Meter ohne Kopf) (2009) – German film based on the life of Klaus Störtebeker
- 12 Winter (German: Zwölf Winter) (2009) – German television film based on the true story of two bank robbers who robbed a series of small banks throughout Germany for more than 12 years before they were captured in August 2002
- Accident on Hill Road (2009) – based on Chante Mallard, a Texas, woman convicted and sentenced to 50 years' imprisonment for her role in the death of a 37-year-old homeless man
- Agora (2009) – Spanish English-language historical drama film about Hypatia, a mathematician, philosopher and astronomer in late 4th-century Roman Egypt, who investigates the flaws of the geocentric Ptolemaic system and the heliocentric model that challenges it
- Amelia (2009) – a look at the life of legendary American pilot Amelia Earhart, who disappeared while flying over the Pacific Ocean in 1937 in an attempt to circumnavigate the globe
- An Englishman in New York (2009) – biographical film chronicling the years gay English writer Quentin Crisp spent in New York City
- April Showers (2009) – independent film inspired by the 1999 Columbine High School shooting and the days that followed
- The Assailant (2009) – Brazilian action drama film about Besouro Mangangá, a Brazilian Capoeirista from the early 1920s, to whom were attributed some heroic and legendary deeds
- Balibo (2009) – Australian war film that follows the story of the Balibo Five, a group of journalists who were captured and killed while reporting on activities just prior to the Indonesian invasion of East Timor of 1975
- Barbarossa (2009) – Italian English-language film set primarily in northern Italy during the late 12th century, concerning with the struggle of the Lombard League, which struggled to maintain independence from the Holy Roman Empire, led by the legendary Guelph warrior Alberto da Giussano
- Berdella (2009) – horror film based on the crimes of Missouri serial killer Robert Berdella
- Berlin 36 (2009) – German film telling the fate of Jewish track and field athlete Gretel Bergmann in the 1936 Summer Olympics
- The Blind Side (2009) – adapted from the 2006 Michael Lewis book The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game, focusing on the life of future NFL player Michael Oher
- The Boys Are Back (2009) – Australian/British drama film based on the 2000 book, The Boys Are Back In Town, by Simon Carr, about a sports writer who becomes a single parent in tragic circumstances
- Bright Star (2009) – drama based on the three-year romance between 19th-century poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne, which was cut short by Keats' untimely death at age 25
- Broken Promise (Slovak: Nedodržaný sľub) (2009) – Slovak/Czech/American drama film depicting the fate of a Jewish boy, Martin Friedmann, who has to avoid being transported to extermination camps in order to survive in World War II
- Coco avant Chanel (2009) – about fashion designer Coco Chanel before she was famous
- Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky (2009) – French romantic drama film based on a rumoured affair between Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky in Paris in 1920, the year that Chanel No. 5 was created
- The Consul of Sodom (Spain: El Cónsul de Sodoma) (2009) – Spanish biographical film about the Catalan poet Jaime Gil de Biedma
- The Countess (2009) – French-German historical crime thriller drama film based on the life of the notorious Hungarian countess Elizabeth Báthory
- The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler (2009) – television film based on the 2007 biography Die Mutter der Holocaust-Kinder: Irena Sendler und die geretteten Kinder aus dem Warschauer Ghetto, that focuses on Irena Sendler, a Polish social worker who smuggled approximately 2,500 Jewish children to safety during World War II
- Creation (2009) – British biographical drama film about Charles Darwin's relationship with his wife Emma and his memory of their eldest daughter Annie, as he struggles to write On the Origin of Species
- The Damned United (2009) – British sports film based on Brian Clough's tenure as Leeds United's manager
- Deadliest Sea (2009) – Canadian television film about the crew of the Kodiak, Alaska-based scallop fishing vessel St. Christopher
- Desert Flower (2009) – German biographical film based on the Somali-born model Waris Dirie's autobiography
- Don't Burn (Vietnamese: Đừng Đốt) (2009) – Vietnamese biographical film based on the diary of North Vietnamese doctor Đặng Thùy Trâm
- The Donner Party (2009) – period Western drama film based on the true story of the Donner Party, an 1840s westward traveling group of settlers headed for California. Becoming snowbound in the Sierra Nevada mountains, with food increasingly scarce, a small group calling themselves "The Forlorn Hope" turned to cannibalism
- Endgame (2009) – British film dramatizing the final days of apartheid in South Africa
- Enid (2009) – British biographical made-for-television film based on the life of children's writer Enid Blyton
- Everyman's War (2009) – based on the Battle of the Bulge during World War II
- Farewell (French: L'affaire Farewell) (2009) – French espionage thriller film loosely based on the actions of the high-ranking KGB official, Vladimir Vetrov
- Felicitas (2009) – Argentine romantic drama film based on the life of Argentine actress, screenwriter, producer and film director Felicitas Guerrero
- Formosa Betrayed (2009) – political thriller which depicts the KMT government's intentional wipe-out of the Taiwan people's opposition voices in the 1980s, inspired by two actual events – one the death of Professor Chen Wen-chen of Carnegie Mellon University in 1981, and the other the 1984 assassination of (American-citizen) journalist Henry Liu in California
- Fort Apache Napoli (Italian: Fortapàsc) (2009) – Italian biographical film about the fight against the Camorra and subsequent assassination of journalist Giancarlo Siani
- Georgia O'Keeffe (2009) – made-for-television biographical drama film about American painter Georgia O'Keeffe
- Get Low (2009) – drama film about a Tennessee hermit in the 1930s who throws his own funeral party while still alive, loosely based on the story of Felix Bushaloo "Uncle Bush" Breazeale
- Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story (2009) – based on the life of Ben Carson, who grew up to become a neurosurgeon at Johns Hopkins and the first surgeon to separate conjoined twins
- The Girl on the Train (French: La fille du RER) (2009) – French drama film inspired by the true story of a woman in her twenties who walked into a police station in Paris on 9 July 2004 claiming she had been the victim of an antisemitic attack on a suburban RER train
- Goemon (2009) – Japanese historical fantasy film based on the story of Ishikawa Goemon, a legendary outlaw hero who stole valuables from the rich and gave them to the poor
- Grey Gardens (2009) – biographical drama television film about the lives of Edith Bouvier Beale and her mother Edith Ewing Bouvier
- Hachi: A Dog's Tale (2009) – based on the faithful Akita Hachikō, remake of the Japanese film Hachiko Monogatari, and now set in the United States
- Held Hostage (2009) – Lifetime Movie based on the true story of Michelle Renee Ramskill-Estey, a single mother who is kidnapped by three masked men and held hostage until she is forced to rob a bank
- Hilde (2009) – German biographical film depicting the life of the German actress Hildegard Knef
- Hurricane Season (2009) – sports drama film based on the true story of John Ehret High School's 2005–06 State championship team
- I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell (2009) – independent comedy film loosely based on the work and persona of writer Tucker Max, who co-wrote the screenplay
- I Love You Phillip Morris (2009) – black comedy drama film based on the 1980s and 1990s real-life story con artist, imposter and multiple prison escapee Steven Jay Russell
- In Her Skin (2009) – Australian drama based on the brutal murder of 15-year-old Melbourne girl Rachel Barber, who went missing on 1 March 1999
- In the Beginning (2009) – French drama film about the true story of Philippe Berre, a Frenchman with a reputation as an impostor
- The Informant! (2009) – based on the real-life story of Mark Whitacre, the highest-ranked executive in U.S. history to turn whistleblower
- Ingenious (2009) – based on the rags-to-riches story of two friends, a small-time inventor and a sharky salesman, who hit rock bottom before coming up with a gizmo that becomes a worldwide phenomenon
- The Interrogation (Finnish: Kuulustelu) (2009) – Finnish war drama film focusing on the interrogation of Soviet intelligence agent Kerttu Nuorteva
- Into the Storm (2009) – British-American biographical film about Winston Churchill and his days in office during the Second World War
- Invictus (2009) – based on the real-life story of South African president Nelson Mandela and François Pienaar, the captain of the Springboks, the South African rugby union team
- John Rabe (2009) – German/Chinese/French biographical film focusing on the experiences of John Rabe, a German businessman who used his Nazi Party membership to create a protective International Safety Zone in Nanking, China, helping to save over 200,000 Chinese from the Nanking Massacre in late 1937 and early 1938
- Julie & Julia (2009) – comedy drama contrasting the lives of two food writers: pioneer chef Julia Child in the 1940s and 21st-century New Yorker Julie Powell, who aspires to cook all 524 recipes in Child's cookbook in 365 days
- Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja (2009) – Indian Malayalam-language historical drama film based on the life of Pazhassi Raja, a Hindu king who fought against the British in the 18th century
- The Killing Room (2009) – psychological thriller based on the Project MKUltra programme by the CIA, with fictionalized characters
- The Last Station (2009) – German English-language biographical drama film based on Jay Parini's 1990 biographical novel of the same name, which chronicled the final months of Leo Tolstoy's life
- The Least Among You (2009) – based on the true story of Rev. Dr. Charles Marks' formative years
- Lula, Son of Brazil (Portuguese: Lula: O Filho do Brasil) (2009) – Brazilian film based on the life of Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
- Mao's Last Dancer (2009) – based on the autobiography of ballet dancer Li Cunxin
- Margaret (2009) – made-for-television film fictionalising of the life of Margaret Thatcher and her fall from the premiership in the 1990 leadership election
- Middle Men (2009) – drama film based on the experiences of Christopher Mallick, who was previously associated with the Internet billing companies Paycom and ePassporte and was accused of stealing millions of dollars from his customers at ePassporte
- The Mighty Macs (2009) – sport drama film regarding Cathy Rush, a Hall of Fame women's basketball coach
- Moonshot (2009) – British television film about the events leading up to the Apollo 11 spaceflight
- Mulan (Chinese: 花木蘭) (2009) – Chinese action war film based on the life of Hua Mulan
- My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done (2009) – American/German crime drama film loosely based on the story of Mark Yavorsky, an actor at the University of San Diego who reenacted a scene from Orestes by murdering his mother with an antique saber
- Natalee Holloway (2009) – made-for-television film based on the disappearance of Natalee Holloway
- Notorious (2009) – depiction of the life and career of rapper Biggie Smalls/The Notorious B.I.G.
- Nowhere Boy (2009) – British biographical drama film about John Lennon's adolescence, his relationships with his aunt Mimi Smith and his mother Julia Lennon, the creation of his first band, the Quarrymen, and its evolution into the Beatles
- The Perfect Game (2009) – drama film based on the events leading to the 1957 Little League World Series, which was won by the first team from outside the United States, the Industrial Little League of Monterrey, Mexico
- Phantom Punch (2009) – biographical film based on the life of Sonny Liston
- Pope Joan (German: Die Päpstin) (2009) – biographical epic film based on American novelist Donna Woolfolk Cross novel of the same name about the legendary Pope Joan
- Prayers for Bobby (2009) – the true story of gay rights crusader Mary Griffith, whose teenage son committed suicide due to her religious intolerance, based on the book of the same title by Leroy F. Aarons
- Prince of Tears (2009) – Taiwanese historical drama film telling the story of a family embroiled in the tragic "White Terror" suppression of political dissidents that was wrought during the 1950s by the Kuomintang government (KMT) after their acquisition of Taiwan in the 1940s
- Princess Kaiulani – biographical drama film based on the life of [[Kaʻiulani|Princess KaTemplate:Okinaiulani]] of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi
- Public Enemies (2009) – biographical crime film in which the FBI tries to take down notorious American gangsters John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd during a booming crime wave in the 1930s
- Purple Sea (Italian: Viola di mare, also known as The Sea Purple) (2009) – Italian romance drama film based on the non-fiction novel Minchia di re written by Giacomo Pilati, telling the love story between Angela and Sara in 19th-century Sicily
- Safe Harbor (2009) – television film based on the beginnings of the Safe Harbor Boys Home, a residential educational program for at risk teenaged boys on the Saint Johns River in Jacksonville, Florida, founded by Doug and Robbie Smith
- Same Same But Different (2009) – German film, a love story following Benjamin Prüfer's 2006 autobiographical magazine article, later published as a novel in 2007, about a 21 year old bar girl in Phnom Penh and Ben, a young German student traveler
- Sister Smile (French: Sœur Sourire) (2009) – biographical drama film based on Jeannine Deckers, also known as The Singing Nun
- The Soloist (2009) – based on the life of Nathaniel Ayers, a musician who developed schizophrenia and became homeless
- The Spell (2009) – British horror film about a young woman that begins to dabble in witchcraft but soon gets in over her head, loosely based on the true story of Emma Whale
- Stoic (2009) – Canadian arthouse drama film centering on a true incident which occurred in Siegburg prison in 2006 where three prisoners raped, tortured and ultimately forced their cellmate to commit suicide over a period of ten hours in a series of events that began with a poker bet involving the consumption of a tube of toothpaste
- The Stoneman Murders (2009) – Indian Hindi neo-noir crime thriller film based on the real life Stoneman serial killings, which made headlines in the early 1980s in Mumbai
- Taken in Broad Daylight (2009) – television film based on the real-life kidnapping of Nebraska teenager Anne Sluti, who was abducted and held for six days in April 2001 by Anthony Steven Wright, also known as Tony Zappa
- Taking Chance (2009) – based on the experiences of Lt. Col. Michael Strobl, who escorted the body of Marine Chance Phelps back to his hometown from Iraq
- Taking Woodstock (2009) – comedy based on the Woodstock Festival of 1969
- Too Late to Say Goodbye (2009) – American/Canadian television film based on the 2007 true crime book of the same name by Ann Rule
- Tsar (2009) – Russian drama film set between the years 1566 and 1569 during the era of the Oprichnina and the Livonian War
- Van Diemen's Land (2009) – thriller set in 1822 in colonial Tasmania following the story of the infamous Irish convict, Alexander Pearce
- Vincere (2009) – Italian film based on the life of Benito Mussolini's first wife, Ida Dalser
- Vision (German: Vision - Aus dem Leben der Hildegard von Bingen) (2009) – German film depicting the story of Hildegard of Bingen, the famed 12th century Benedictine nun, Christian mystic, composer, philosopher, playwright, physician, poet, naturalist, scientist and ecological activist
- Wesley (2009) – biographical film about John Wesley and Charles Wesley, the founders of the Methodist movement
- Winter of Frozen Dreams (2009) – independent crime drama following the story of Barbara Hoffman, a Wisconsin biochemistry student and prostitute convicted of murder in the first televised murder trial ever
- The Young Victoria (2009) – dramatization of the turbulent first years of Queen Victoria's rule, and her enduring romance with Prince Albert
- Zen (Japanese: 禅) (2009) – Japanese biographical film about Dōgen Zenji, a Japanese Zen Buddhist teacher
[edit]
2010s
[edit]
2010
- 22 Bullets (French: L'Immortel) (2010) – French gangster-action film telling a part of the life story of Jacky Imbert
- 71: Into the Fire (2010) – South Korean war drama film based on a true story of a group of 71 under-trained and under-armed, outgunned student-soldiers of South Korea during the Korean War, who were mostly killed on August 11, 1950, during the Battle of P'ohang-dong
- 127 Hours (2010) – based on the story of Aron Ralston, the American mountain climber who amputated his own arm to free himself after being trapped by a boulder for six days in Bluejohn Canyon in 2003
- All Good Things (2010) – inspired by the life of accused murderer Robert Durst, the film chronicles the life of the wealthy son of a New York real estate tycoon, a series of murders linked to him, and his volatile relationship with his wife and her subsequent unsolved disappearance
- Amish Grace (2010) – television film based on the 2006 West Nickel Mines School shooting at Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, and the spirit of forgiveness the Amish community demonstrated in its aftermath
- Angel of Evil (Italian: Vallanzasca – Gli angeli del male) (2010) – Italian crime film about Italian bank robber and mobster Renato Vallanzasca
- Animal Kingdom (2010) – Australian crime drama film inspired by events which involved the Pettingill criminal family of Melbourne
- Antardwand (2010) – Indian film based on the cases of groom kidnapping reported in Bihar in India
- The Assault (2010) – French action thriller film based on the 1994 hijacking of Air France Flight 8969 by Algerian Islamic fundamentalist terrorists and the raid to free the hostages by the GIGN, the elite counter-terrorism unit of the French National Gendarmerie
- The Bang Bang Club (2010) – Canadian/South African film based on the lives of four photojournalists active within the townships of South Africa during apartheid, especially between 1990 and 1994
- Belgrano (2010) – Argentine biographical drama film based on the life of the Argentine national hero Manuel Belgrano
- Beneath Hill 60 (2010) – Australian war drama set during World War I, the film tells the story of the 1st Australian Tunnelling Company's efforts in mining underneath Hill 60 in the Ypres Salient on the Western Front, during the war, a series of mines filled with explosive charges were placed beneath the German lines to aid the advance of British troops
- Black Venus (2010) – French drama film based on the life of Sarah Baartman, a Khoikhoi woman who in the early 19th century was exhibited in Europe under the name "Hottentot Venus"
- Blood Done Sign My Name (2010) – drama film based on the autobiographical book Blood Done Sign My Name (2004) by historian Timothy Tyson
- Bond of Silence (2010) – television drama film based on the 1997 Murder of Bob Hutchinson in Squamish, British Columbia
- Bonded by Blood (2010) – British film loosely based on the Rettendon murders in 1995
- Bruce Lee, My Brother (2010) – based on the life of Bruce Lee from his teenage years through part of his adult years
- Burke & Hare (2010) – British black comedy film, loosely based on the Burke and Hare murders in 1828
- Carlos (2010) – French/German biographical three-part television miniseries about the life of the 1970s Venezuelan terrorist Carlos the Jackal
- Casino Jack (2010) – comedy-drama thriller film focusing on the career of Washington, D.C. lobbyist and businessman Jack Abramoff, who was involved in a massive corruption scandal that led to his conviction as well as the conviction of two White House officials
- Caterpillar (2010) – Japanese drama film, a critique of the right-wing militarist nationalism that guided Japan's conduct in Asia during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II
- Chasing 3000 (2010) – independent film chronicling the cross-country travel of two brothers to see the 3,000th base hit of Major League Baseball legend Roberto Clemente
- Chico Xavier (2010) – Brazilian drama film about the Brazilian medium Chico Xavier
- The Client List (2010) – made-for-television drama film based on the Odessa, Texas prostitution scandal of 2004
- The Clinic (2010) – Australian horror thriller film following six abducted women and their newborn babies, according to the poster it's "inspired by true events"
- Cold Fish (2010) – Japanese film about a quiet and unambitious owner of a tropical fish shop whose life and family are taken over by a fellow fish entrepreneur who happens to be a serial killer, the film is loosely based on the exploits of two Tokyo serial killers, Sekine Gen and Hiroko Kazama, a husband and wife duo who owned a pet shop and murdered at least four people
- Confucius (Chinese: 孔子) (2010) – Chinese biographical drama film depicting the life of Confucius
- The Conspirator (2010) – mystery Historical drama film telling the story of Mary Sturratt, the only female conspirator charged in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the first woman to be executed by the United States federal government
- Conviction (2010) – legal drama based on the story of a single mother, Betty Anne Waters, who goes to law school so she can become her brother Kenny's attorney after Kenny is wrongly convicted of murder
- Cornelis (2010) – Swedish biographical drama film about the life of the musician Cornelis Vreeswijk
- Crook (2010) – Indian Hindi-language action thriller film based on the controversy regarding the allegedly racial attacks on Indian students in Australia between 2007 and 2010
- Cyrus: Mind of a Serial Killer (2010) – thriller horror film based on real events regarding a serial killer by the name of Cyrus
- D.C. Sniper (2010) – direct-to-video drama thriller based on the Beltway sniper attacks of October 2002 committed by John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo
- Dear Mr. Gacy (2010) – Canadian drama thriller based on the book The Last Victim by Jason Moss
- Eat Pray Love (2010) – biographical romantic drama film starring Julia Roberts as Elizabeth Gilbert, based on Gilbert's 2006 memoir of the same name
- The End Is My Beginning (German: Das Ende ist mein Anfang) (2010) – German-Italian biographical drama film based on the posthumous autobiographical best-seller with the same name written by Tiziano Terzani
- The Experiment (2010) – drama thriller film about an experiment which resembles Philip Zimbardo's Stanford prison experiment in 1971, the film is a remake of the 2001 German film Das Experiment
- Extraordinary Measures (2010) – medical drama based on the story of John Crowley and Aileen Crowley, whose children have Pompe disease
- Fair Game (2010) – biographical political drama film based on Valerie Plame's 2007 memoir Fair Game and Joseph C. Wilson's 2004 memoir The Politics of Truth
- The Fighter (2010) – based on the life of boxer Micky Ward and his half-brother, Dicky Eklund
- The First Grader (2010) – biographical drama film based on the true story of Kimani Maruge, a Kenyan farmer who enrolled in elementary school at the age of 84 following the Kenyan government's announcement of free universal primary education in 2003
- Fortress of War (2010) – Russian/Belarusian war film recounting the June 1941 defense of Brest Fortress against invading Wehrmacht forces in the opening stages of Operation Barbarossa, Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II
- Frankie & Alice (2010) – Canadian drama film based on a true story about a popular go-go dancer/stripper in the 1970s who has dissociative identity disorder
- Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life (French: Gainsbourg (Vie héroïque)) (2010) – French drama film based on the life of French singer Serge Gainsbourg
- Green Zone (2010) – British-French-American war thriller depicting the events from the end of the invasion phase of the 2003 invasion of Iraq until the transfer of power to the Iraqis
- The Hammer (a.k.a. Hamill) (2010) – biographical film about Matt Hamill, a deaf wrestler and mixed martial artist
- Hidalgo: La historia jamás contada (2010) – Mexican film about Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla and his part in the Mexican War of Independence
- Holly Rollers (2010) – independent crime drama film inspired by a true story of a young Hasidic man who was lured into the world of international drug trafficking in the late 1990s
- Howl (2010) – biographical film exploring both the 1955 Six Gallery debut and the 1957 obscenity trial of 20th-century American poet Allen Ginsberg's noted poem "Howl"
- Ip Man 2 (2010) – Hong Kong film based on the life of Ip Man, a grandmaster of the martial art Wing Chun, and the story of him in Hong Kong
- Iron Lord (Russian: Ярослав. Тысячу лет назад) (2010) – Russian historical film telling the true story of Yaroslav the Wise
- Janie Jones (2010) – drama film written and directed by David M. Rosenthal, about a fading, alcoholic rock star meeting his daughter for the first time after being left by her drugged-up mother, and the growing relationship they have while on tour, Rosenthal based the film's storyline on his real-life meeting with his own daughter
- Jew Suss: Rise and Fall (2010) – German Historical drama film about Austrian actor Ferdinand Marian
- Kajínek (2010) – Czech action drama film based on the story of Jiří Kajínek, who managed to escape from a strictly guarded prison in the Mírov fortress
- Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey (2010) – Indian Hindi movie based on Chittagong uprising of 1930
- King of Devil's Island (2010) – French/Norwegian action drama film based on true events that occurred at Bastøy Prison in Norway
- The Kingdom of Solomon (Persian: ملک سلیمان)(2010) – Iranian religious historical film based on the Islamic accounts of Solomon's prophetic life extracted from the Qur'an
- The King's Speech (2010) – historical British drama based on King George VI, who suffered from a severe stammer
- The Legend Is Born: Ip Man (2010) – Hong Kong biographical martial arts film based on the early life of the Wing Chun grandmaster Ip Man
- Leonie (2010) – biographical film based on Léonie Gilmour
- Letters to God (2010) – based on the true story of Tyler Doughtie, an 8-year-old suffering from cancer with a love of writing and sending letters to God
- Lope (2010) – Spanish–Brazilian adventure drama film inspired in the youth of Lope de Vega
- Lost Loves (2010) – Cambodian drama film about Leav Sila, one of countless people that struggled to survive during the years of the Khmer Rouge regime
- Love Ranch (2010) – drama film based on the lives of Joe Conforte and Sally Conforte, a married couple who operated the first legal brothel in the United States, the Mustang Ranch in Storey County, Nevada
- Made in Dagenham (2010) – British film dramatizing the Ford sewing machinists strike of 1968 that aimed for equal pay for women
- Mahler on the Couch (German: Mahler auf der Couch) (2010) – German historical drama film depicting an affair between Alma Mahler and Walter Gropius, and the subsequent psychoanalysis of Mahler's husband Gustav Mahler by Sigmund Freud
- Malik Ek (2010) – Hindi spiritual film on Sai Baba of Shirdi
- Max Schmeling (2010) – German biographical film telling the story of German boxing icon Max Schmeling
- Meek's Cutoff (2010) – western film loosely based on a historical incident on the Oregon Trail in 1845, in which frontier guide Stephen Meek led a wagon train on an ill-fated journey through the Oregon desert along the route later known as the Meek Cutoff in the western United States
- Montevideo, God Bless You! (2010) – based on the events leading to the participation of the Yugoslavia national football team at the first FIFA World Cup in Montevideo, Uruguay in July 1930
- Mr. Nice (2010) – loosely based on the Welsh former drug smuggler turned author, Howard Marks, who achieved notoriety through high-profile court cases
- My Name Is Khan (2010) – Indian Hindi-language drama film centering on Rizwan Khan, an autistic Muslim man who tries to meet the President of the United States and convince him that he is not a terrorist to win his wife back
- Nanga Parbat (2010) – German mountaineering movie about Reinhold and Günther Messner, who climbed Nanga Parbat
- Nokas (2010) – Norwegian heist film portraying the real life NOKAS robbery that took place in Stavanger, Norway in 2004
- Of Gods and Men (2010) – based on the assassination of the monks of Tibhirine
- Once Upon a Time in Mumbai (2010) – Indian Hindi-language gangster film loosely based on the lives of Mumbai underworld gangsters Haji Mastan and Dawood Ibrahim
- Oranges and Sunshine (2010) – Australian drama film based on the book Empty Cradles by Margaret Humphreys
- Picco (2010) – German crime film about the torture murder in the Siegburg correctional facility in autumn 2006
- Piché: The Landing of a Man (French: Piché, entre ciel et terre) (2010) – Canadian drama film based on the true story of Robert Piché, an airline pilot who successfully landed Air Transat Flight 236 in the Azores after the plane lost engine power mid-air
- The Pregnancy Pact (2010) – made-for-television film based on the allegedly true story of a 2008 media circus surrounding a large group of teen girls at the Gloucester High School, Gloucester, Massachusetts, who allegedly agreed to concurrently get pregnant, give birth and raise their children communally
- Rakta Charitra (2010) – Indian trilingual (Telugu, Hindi, and Tamil) biographical crime film based on the life of political leader and factionist Paritala Ravindra
- Rasputin (2010) – Italian film about Grigori Rasputin
- Restless Heart: The Confessions of Saint Augustine (Italian: Sant'Agostino) (2010) – Italian miniseries chronicling the life of St. Augustine, the early Christian theologian, writer and Bishop of Hippo Regius at the time of the Vandal invasion (AD 430)
- Revolución: El cruce de los Andes (a.k.a. San Martín: El cruce de Los Andes) (2010) – Argentine historical epic film that follows the life of José de San Martín, with focus on the Crossing on the Andes
- Risen (2010) – Welsh sports drama biographical film about the Welsh boxer Howard Winstone
- The Road to Coronation Street (2010) – British dramatization of the creation of Coronation Street, the UK's longest-running television soap opera, from conception to its first transmission in December 1960
- The Robber (German: Der Räuber) (2010) – German drama film based on a novel by Austrian author Martin Prinz the novel's character is based on Austrian bank-robber and runner Johann Kastenberger
- The Round Up (French: La Rafle) (2010) – French film based on the true story of a young Jewish boy, the film depicts the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup (Rafle du Vel' d'Hiv), the mass arrest of Jews by French police who were accomplices of Nazi Germans in Paris in July 1942
- The Runaways (2010) – drama based on the 1970s all-girl rock band The Runaways, focusing in particular on the relationship between rockers Cherie Currie and Joan Jett, adapted from Currie's memoir
- The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister (2010) – made-for-television biographical historical drama film about 19th-century Yorkshire landowner Anne Lister
- Secretariat (2010) – based on the story of a Thoroughbred named Secretariat, who won the Triple Crown in the Belmont Stakes and still holds the record after 37 years, and his owner, Penny Chenery
- Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll (2010) – British biographical film about English new wave musician Ian Dury
- The Silent House (Spanish: La Casa Muda) (2010) – Uruguayan Spanish-language horror film allegedly inspired by real events that took place in the 1940s
- The Social Network (2010) – based on the creation, and lawsuits of Facebook
- The Special Relationship (2010) – American/British political film based on relationship between British Prime Minister Tony Blair and U.S. President Bill Clinton
- Striker (2010) – Bollywood action drama film set in a Mumbai ghetto in the mid-1980s, a story of triumph and human spirit over indomitable odds
- Temple Grandin (2010) – biographical film about Temple Grandin, a woman with autism who revolutionized practices for the inhumane handling of livestock on cattle ranches and slaughterhouses
- Times You Change (German: Zeiten ändern dich) (2010) – German biographical film based on Bushido's 2008 autobiography
- Unstoppable (2010) – action thriller loosely based on the CSX 8888 incident, which tells the story of a runaway train carrying hazardous material, which puts cities and people in danger
- Veda (2010) – Turkish biographical film based on the memoirs of Salih Bozok, which traces the life of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
- The Way Back (2010) – true story of seven men who escape from prison in Siberia (after being held by Stalin), then walk through the Gobi Desert, Himalayas and all the way to Sikkim, India
- When Love Is Not Enough: The Lois Wilson Story (2010) – made-for-television biographical film based on Lois Wilson and the true story of her husband's alcoholism and her subsequent finding of Al-Anon
- The Whistleblower (2010) – thriller which tells the story of Kathryn Bolkovac, a Nebraska police officer who was recruited to serve as a U.N. peacekeeper with DynCorp International in post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1999
- Who Is Clark Rockefeller? (2010) – police procedural television film based on the life of Christian Gerhartsreiter, a German con artist who for years impersonated many people, at one point claiming to be part of the Rockefeller family going by the faux name "Clark Rockefeller"
- You Don't Know Jack (2010) – television film based in part on the book Between the Dying and the Dead: Dr. Jack Kevorkian's Life and the Battle To Legalize Euthanasia, focusing on the life and work of physician-assisted suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian
- Yugapurushan (2010) – Indian film about the life and times of Sree Narayana Guru
- The Zero Hour (2010) – based on the events during the 1996 Venezuelan medical strike
[edit]
2011
- 17 Miracles (2011) – historical adventure film based on the alleged experiences of members of the Willie Handcart Company of Mormon pioneers following their late-season start and subsequent winter journey to Salt Lake City in 1856
- 1911 (Chinese: 辛亥革命) (2011) – Chinese historical drama film based on the 1911 Revolution and Xinhai Revolution
- 50/50 (2011) – comedy drama film loosely based on the life of screenwriter Will Reiser
- A Dangerous Method (2011) – historical film set on the eve of World War I, describes the turbulent relationships between Carl Jung, founder of analytical psychology; Sigmund Freud, founder of the discipline of psychoanalysis; and Sabina Spielrein, initially a patient of Jung and later a physician and one of the first female psychoanalysts
- A Funny Man (Danish: Dirch) (2011) – Danish biographical drama film about the Danish actor and comedian Dirch Passer
- A Yell from Heaven (Japanese: 天国からのエール) (2011) – Japanese drama film inspired by the true story of Hikaru Oshiro, an Okinawan altruist who founded the "Ajisai Ongaku Mura", a music village that is open for all to use
- Age of Heroes (2011) – British war film based on the real-life events of the formation of Ian Fleming's 30 Commando unit during World War II
- Amanda Knox: Murder on Trial in Italy (2011) – made-for-television film based on the murder of Meredith Kercher and the trial of the accused of Amanda Knox
- Anonymous (2011) – period drama film depicting a fictionalised version of the life of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford an Elizabethan courtier, playwright, poet and patron of the arts, and suggests that he was the actual author of William Shakespeare's play
- Bernie (2011) – black comedy film based on the 1996 murder of 81-year-old millionaire Marjorie Nugent in Carthage, Texas, by her 39-year-old companion Bernie Tiede
- Blackthorn (2011) – Western film based on the life of an aged Butch Cassidy living under the assumed name of James Blackthorn in a secluded village in Bolivia 20 years after his disappearance in 1908
- Cinema Verite (2011) – made-for-television drama film depicting a fictionalized account of the production of An American Family, a 1973 PBS documentary television series that is said to be one of the earliest examples of the reality television genre
- Citizen Gangster (2011) – Canadian biographical drama film based on the true story of Edwin Alonzo Boyd
- Confessions of a Brazilian Call Girl (2011) – Brazilian drama film about Bruna Surfistinha.
- The Conquest (2011) – French biographical film about Nicolas Sarkozy
- The Craigslist Killer (2011) – crime drama made-for-television film inspired by the true story of a man named Philip Markoff who killed one woman and is known to have assaulted at least two others in Massachusetts and Rhode Island
- The Cup (2011) – Australian biographical film about Damien Oliver's victory in the 2002 Melbourne Cup
- Dear Friend Hitler (2011) – Indian drama film based on letters written by Mohandes Gandhi to the leader of the Nazi Party and Chancellor of Germany Adolf Hitler
- The Devil's Double (2011) – Belgian-Dutch biographical film based on Latif Yahia, body double for Uday Hussein, the playboy son of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein
- The Dirty Picture (2011) – Indian Hindi-language biographical film based on the life of Silk Smitha, a South Indian actress known for her erotic roles
- Dolphin Tale (2011) – family drama film inspired by the true story of a bottlenose dolphin named Winter who was rescued off the Florida coast and taken in by the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, where she is fitted with a prosthetic tail
- The Eagle (2011) – epic historical drama film based on the Ninth Spanish Legion's supposed disappearance in Britain
- Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011) – drama film based on the September 11 attacks on the Twin Towers
- The Fields (2011) – suspense thriller film loosely based on the life of screenwriter Harrison Smith
- Free Man (2011) – French war drama film which recounts the largely untold story about the role that Algerian and other North African Muslims in Paris played in the French Resistance and as rescuers of Jews during the German occupation (1940–1944)
- Girl Fight (2011) – made-for-television film inspired by a 2008 beating in Florida; a video of some of the beating, released by Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, was used heavily by the news media and the story caused nationwide public outrage
- Hattie (2011) – British made-for-television film about the life of British comic actress Hattie Jacques, her marriage to John Le Mesurier and her affair with their lodger John Schofield
- Heleno (2011) – Brazilian biographical drama film telling the story of Heleno de Freitas, a legendary football star who played for Botafogo during the 1940s
- The Help (2011) – period drama film about a young white woman and her relationship with two black maids during the civil rights era
- Higher Ground (2011) – drama film following the true story of Corinne Walker and her vacillating relationship with Christianity
- The Intouchables (2011) – French buddy comedy drama film based on the true story of a paralyzed man who develops a friendship with his caretaker
- The Iron Lady (2011) – British biographical film based on the life of Margaret Thatcher, the longest-serving Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of the 20th century
- Isoruku (2011) – Japanese war drama film about Imperial Japanese Navy Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto
- J. Edgar (2011) – biographical drama film based on the life of J. Edgar Hoover
- Janie Jones (2011) – drama film based on the story of a young girl who is abandoned by her meth-addicted former-groupie mother, who informs a fading rock star that she is his daughter
- Juan and Eva (Spanish: Juan y Eva) (2011) – Argentine biographical film based on the first meeting of Argentine president Juan Perón and Eva Perón during the 1944 San Juan earthquake
- The Kennedys (2011) – miniseries chronicling the lives of the famous political Kennedy family, including key triumphs and tragedies it has experienced
- Kill the Irishman (2011) – biographical crime film based on the life of Irish American mobster Danny Greene
- The Lady (2011) – French-British biographical film depicting Aung San Suu Kyi and her late husband Michael Aris
- The Last Ride (2011) – biographical drama film about the last days of country music pioneer and legend Hank Williams
- The Lost Bladesman (2011) – Hong Kong-Chinese historical war biographical action film loosely based on the story of Guan Yu
- Machine Gun Preacher (2011) – biographical action drama film based on the life of former gang biker turned preacher and defender of Africa orphans Sam Childers
- Magic Beyond Words (2011) – made-for-television biographical film detailing the journey of struggling single mother J. K. Rowling, her bid to become a published author, and her rise to fame that followed the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
- Margin Call (2011) – independent drama film loosely modeled on "Lehman Brothers" and the financial crisis of 2007–2008
- Moneyball (2011) – biographical sports drama film based on the Oakland Athletics baseball team's 2002 season
- Monica (2011) – Indian Hindi-language film based on the true story of the murder case of Shivani Bhatnagar, a journalist working for the Indian Express newspaper
- My Week with Marilyn (2011) – British-American drama film depicting the making of the 1957 film The Prince and the Showgirl and focusing on the week during the shooting of the 1957 film when Monroe was escorted around London by Colin Clark after her husband Arthur Miller had returned to the United States
- Nadunissi Naaygal (2011) – Indian Tamil-language Psychological thriller film based on a true story about murderer Veera Bahu
- No One Killed Jessica (2011) – Indian Hindi-language crime thriller film based on real life murder case of Jessica Lall, a model in New Delhi who was working as a celebrity barmaid at a crowded socialite party when she was shot dead in April 1999
- Not a Love Story (2011) – Indian Hindi-language crime thriller film inspired by the murder of Neeraj Grover in 2008 that led to the arrest of Emile Jerome Mathew and Maria Susairaj
- The Pastor's Wife (2011) – made-for-television biographical film based on the true-crime book of the same title about Mary Winkler and her husband
- Perfect Game (Korean: 퍼펙트 게임) (2011) – South Korean biographical film based on the true story of rivals Sun Dong-yeol of the Haitai Tigers and Choi Dong-won of the Lotte Giants, the top pitchers in the Korea Baseball Organization league during the 1980s
- Puncture (2011) – independent film based on a true story about Mike Weiss, a young Houston lawyer and a drug addict
- Ragini MMS (2011) – Indian found footage horror partly based on the real story of a girl from Delhi named Deepika
- Ramabai Bhimrao Ambedkar (2011) – Indian Marathi-language biographical film based on the life of Ramabai Ambedkar also known as Ramai (mother Rama) wife of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar
- Raspoutine (2011) – French-Russian historical drama made-for-television film about the last year of the life of one of the most enigmatic figures of Russian history of the 20th century – Grigori Rasputin
- Red Dog (2011) – Australian comedy drama family film based on a true story about a Kelpie/cattle dog cross who was well known for his travels through Western Australia's Pilbara region
- The Resistance (Chinese: 反抗者) (2011) – Chinese martial arts action film set during World War II inspired by the beginning of the Japanese invasion of China where over 300,000 people in the capital of Nanjing were massacred
- The Rite (2011) – supernatural horror film based on actual events as witnessed and recounted by American then-exorcist-in-training Father Gary Thomas and his experiences of being sent to Rome to be trained and work daily with veteran clergy of the practice
- Sanctum (2011) – action-thriller film inspired by Andrew Wight's near-death experience after leading a diving expedition miles into a system of underwater caves, then having to find a way out after a freak storm collapses the entrance
- The Silence of Joan (2011) – French historical film about Joan of Arc's capture and execution in 1431
- Silenced (Korean: 도가니) (2011) – South Korean crime drama film based on events that took place at Gwangju Inhwa School for the hearing-impaired, where young deaf students were the victims of repeated sexual assaults by faculty members over a period of five years in the early 2000s
- Silent House (2011) – independent psychological horror film about a young woman who is terrorized in her family vacation home while cleaning the property with her father and uncle, based on an actual incident that occurred in a village in Uruguay in the 1940s
- Snowtown (2011) – Australian biographical crime drama film based on the Snowtown murders
- Soul Surfer (2011) – biographical drama film about Bethany Hamilton, a 13-year-old surfer who loses her arm in a shark attack, but is determined to get back in the water
- Taken from Me: The Tiffany Rubin Story (2011) – made-for-television film following the true story of the kidnapping and rescue of the son of Tiffany Rubin, who was kidnapped by his father and taken to South Korea
- Tatsumi (2011) – Singaporean Japanese-language animated drama film based on the manga memoir A Drifting Life and five earlier short stories by the Japanese manga artist Yoshihiro Tatsumi
- Texas Killing Fields (2011) – crime film based on true events surrounding the murder of women picked up along I-45 and dumped in an old oil field in League City, Texas
- Thambi Vettothi Sundaram (2011) – Indian Tamil-language docudrama crime film based on a true story, set in Kaliyikkavila, a town on the state border
- Traffic (2011) – Indian Malayalam-language thriller film based on actual events that happened in Chennai
- United (2011) – British made-for-teleision film based on the true story of Manchester United's "Busty Babes" and the aftermath of the 1958 Munich air disaster
- Violeta Went to Heaven (Spanish: Violeta se fue a los cielos) (2011) – Chilean biographical film about singer and folklorist Violeta Parra
- We Bought a Zoo (2011) – family comedy drama film based on a memoir by Benjamin Mee, owner of Dartmoor Zoological Park near the village of Sparkwell in the county of Devon in England
- White Vengeance (Chinese: 鴻門宴) (2011) – Chinese historical film loosely based on events in the Chu-Han Contention, an interregnum between the fall of the Qin dynasty and the founding of the Han dynasty in Chinese history.
- William & Kate: The Movie (2011) – made-for-teleision film about the relationship between Prince William and Catherine "Kate" Middleton (now The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge)
- Winnie Mandela (2011) – biographical drama film about the life of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela
- The Woman Knight of Mirror Lake (Chinese: 竞雄女侠·秋瑾) (2011) – Chinese-Hong Kong biographical film about Chinese feminist revolutionary Qiu Jin
- Yugapurushan (2011) – Indian Malayalam-language film based on the life of Narayana Guru
- Yuriko, Dasvidaniya (Japanese: 百合子、ダスヴィダーニヤ) (2011) – Japanese historical biographical film following the relationship between author Yuriko Miyamoto and openly lesbian Russian literature translator Yoshiko Yuasa
[edit]
2012
- A Smile as Big as the Moon (2012) – made-for-television film based on the 2002 memoir of the same title by teacher Mike Kersjes, outlining his venture to bring out the best from his special education students by taking them to Space Camp
- Abducted: The Carlina White Story (2012) – made-for-television film based on Carlina White
- Act of Valor (2012) – action film based on real US Navy SEALs missions around the world
- An Officer and a Murderer (2012) – made-for-television film about the crimes committed by Russell Williams, a former Colonel in the Royal Canadian Air Force
- Aravaan (2012) – Indian Tamil-language epic historical film which based on the history of Madurai from 1310 to 1910
- Argo (2012) – historical drama thriller film based on the Canadian Caper, dramatization of the rescue of six U.S. diplomats from Tehran in 1979 during the Iran hostage crisis
- As One (Korean: 코리아) (2012) – South Korean sports drama film based on the true story of the first ever post-war Unified Korea sports team which won the women's team gold medal at the 1991 World Table Tennis Championships in Chiba, Japan
- Bert and Dickie (2012) – made-for-television film depicting Dickie Burnell and Bert Bushnell's achievement at the 1948 Summer Olympics
- Big Miracle (2012) – drama film based on Tom Rose's 1989 book Freeing the Whales, which covers Operation Breakthrough, the 1988 international effort to rescue gray whales trapped in ice near Point Barrow, Alaska
- Blue Eyed Butcher (2012) – crime drama made-for-television film based on the 2003 stabbing death of Jeff Wright by the hands of his wife, Susan Wright, but focuses on Kelly Siegler, the case's prosecutor
- Buddha in a Traffic Jam (2012) – Indian political thriller film narrating a tale of inter-meddling of academia with corruption and maoism, loosely based on the life of Indian author and political activist Arundhati Roy
- Chasing Mavericks (2012) – biographical drama film about the life of American surfer Jay Moriarity
- Compliance (2012) – thriller film based upon a strip search phone call scam that took place in Mount Washington, Kentucky, in which the caller, posing as a police officer, convinced a restaurant manager to carry out unlawful and intrusive procedures on an employee
- The Consul of Bordeaux (Portuguese: O Cônsul de Bordéus) (2012) – Portuguese biographical historical drama film depicting the life of Aristides de Sousa Mendes
- Dandupalya (2012) – Indian Kannada-language crime film based on the real-life exploits of a notorious gang named 'Dandupalya'
- Emperor (2012) – American-Japanese historical drama film based on the investigation of the role of Emperor Hirohito in World War II
- Falling Flowers (Chinese: 蕭紅) (2012) – Chinese biographical drama film based on the life of writer Xiao Hong
- Fatal Honeymoon (2012) – made-for-television film loosely based on the suspicious death of Tina Watson whilst she was on her honeymoon
- Flight (2012) – action drama film inspired by the true incident of Alaska Airlines Flight 261, in which a Boeing MD-83 suffered vertical control malfunctions and plummeted 31,000 feet on January 31, 2000
- Florbela (2012) – Portuguese biographical film about poet Florbela Espanca
- For Greater Glory (a.k.a. Cristiada) (2012) – Mexican epic historical war drama film based on the Mexican Catholic counter-revolution of the 1920s
- Game Change (2012) – political drama made-for-television film based on John McCain's 2008 presidential election campaign
- Gangs of Wasseypur (2012) – Indian Hindi-language crime action film centered on the coal mafia of Dhanbad, and the underlying power struggles, politics and vengeance between three crime families from 1941 to the mid-1990s
- The Girl (2012) – British made-for-television film based on Donald Spoto's 2009 book Spellbound by Beauty: Alfred Hitchcock and His Leading Ladies, which discusses the English film director Hitchcock and the women who played leading roles in his films (Tippi Hedren)
- Hannah Arendt (2012) – German-French-Luxembourger biographical drama film centering on the life of German-Jewish philosopher and political theorist Hannah Arendt
- Hitchcock (2012) – biographical romantic drama film based on the book Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho about the relationship between director Alfred Hitchcock and his wife Alma Reville during the filming of Psycho
- House on the Hill (2012) – horror film based on the real-life killing spree of serial killers Leonard Lake and Charles Ng
- Hyde Park on Hudson (2012) – British historical comedy-drama film based on the diaries of Margaret Suckley, a close friend of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt
- The Iceman (2012) – biographical crime film about notorious hitman Richard Kuklinski
- The Impossible (2012) – Spanish English-language disaster drama film based on the experience of María Belón and her family in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami
- Ivan Megharoopan (2012) – Indian Malayalam-language biographical film based on the life of Malayalam poet P. Kunhiraman Nair
- Kazhugu (2012) – Indian Tamil-language comedy thriller film revolving around four people, referred to as "Kazhugu," who recover bodies of suicide victims who jump off a cliff
- Kon-Tiki (2012) – historical drama film about the 1947 Kon-Tiki expedition
- Last Flight to Abuja (2012) – Nigerian disaster thriller film based on a 2006 Nigerian aviation tragedy
- Lincoln (2012) – biographical historical drama based on the final four months of President Lincoln's life and his efforts in January 1865 to have the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution passed by the U.S. House of Representatives
- Liz & Dick (2012) – made-for-television biographical film chronicling the relationship of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton
- Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom (2012) – Indian Tamil-language black comedy film based on a true story that involves a young man who experiences retrograde amnesia after a cricket incident two days before his wedding
- National Security (Korean: 남영동) (2012) – South Korean prison drama film based on the memoir by Kim Geun-tae, a democracy activist who was kidnapped and tortured by national police inspector Lee Geun-an for 22 days in 1985 during the Chun Doo-hwan regime
- No (2012) – Chilean historical drama film based on the unpublished play El Plebiscito, focusing on how advertising tactics came to be widely used in political campaigns for the 1988 plebiscite
- Omar (Arabic: عُمَرْ) (2012) – Arab miniseries based on the life of Omar ibn al-Khattab, (Template:Circa 583–644), the second Caliph of Islam, and depicts his life from 18 years old until the moments of his death
- Paan Singh Tomar (2012) – Indian Hindi-language biographical film about the eponymous athlete who was a soldier in the Indian Army and won a gold medal at the Indian National Games, but was forced to become a rebel against the system
- People Like Us (2012) – drama film based on the true story of a sister and brother who never knew that they were siblings
- Renoir (2012) – French drama film based on the last years of Pierre-Auguste Renoir at Cagnes-sur-Mer during World War I
- Shadow Dancer (2012) – British-Irish drama film based on a IRA member turned MI5 Informant
- Soegija (2012) – Indonesian epic historical drama film about national hero Albertus Soegijapranata
- Sri Ramakrishna Darshanam (2012) – Singaporean-Indian biographical film based on the life and philosophy of 19th century Bengali mystic saint Ramakrishna
- Vinmeengal (2012) – Indian Tamil-language semi-biographical film detailing the extraordinary struggle of a father, who is a magician, to give a normal life to his son who is born with Cerebral Palsy
- The Vow (2012) – romantic drama film based on Kim and Krickitt Carpenter's story of Kim's memory loss following an accident
- Won't Back Down (2012) – drama film loosely based on the events surrounding the use of the parent trigger law in Sunland-Tujunga, Los Angeles in 2010
- Zero Dark Thirty (2012) – war thriller film based on the decade-long manhunt for Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden after the 11 September 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States
[edit]
2013
- 12 Years a Slave (2013) – biographical drama film based on Solomon Northup, a New York State-born free negro who was deceived and kidnapped in Washington, D.C., and sold into slavery (1841–1853)
- 42 (2013) – biographical sports film about baseball player Jackie Robinson, the first black athlete to play in Major League Baseball during the modern era
- 3096 (German: 3096 Tage) (2013) – German biographical drama film based on the story of Natascha Kampusch who was kidnapped at age 10 and held in captivity for 8 years
- A Journey of Samyak Buddha (Hindi: अ जर्नी ऑफ सम्यक बुद्ध) (2013) – Indian Hindi-language film about the journey of Gautam Buddha’s miraculous birth, marriage, and his path towards enlightenment
- American Hustle (2013) – black comedy crime film inspired by the FBI Abscam operation of the late 1970s and early 1980s
- An Adventure in Space and Time (2013) – British biographical made-for-television film dramatizing the events surrounding the creation of Doctor Who in the 1960s, with emphasis on actor William Hartnell as he took on the role of the original incarnation of the show's main character
- The Anna Nicole Story (2013) – biographical drama made-for-television film about late actress and Playboy Playmate, Anna Nicole Smith
- Ask This of Rikyu (Japanese: 利休にたずねよ) (2013) – Japanese biographical film based on Sen no Rikyū, the historical figure with the most profound influence on chanoyu, the Japanese "Way of Tea", particularly the tradition of wabi-cha
- The Attacks of 26/11 (2013) – Indian Hindi-language action thriller film based on the 2008 Mumbai attacks
- Attahasa (2013) – Indian Kannada-language biographical film based on the notorious forest brigand Veerappan
- Behind the Candelabra (2013) – biographical drama film based on the last ten years in the life of pianist Liberace and the relationship that he had with Scott Thorson
- Belle (2013) – British period drama film inspired by the 1779 painting of Dido Elizabeth Belle beside her cousin Lady Elizabeth Murray at Kenwood House
- Betty & Coretta (2013) – made-for-television drama film based on the widows of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X and how they carry on as single mothers after the assassination of their husbands
- Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2013) – Indian Hindi-language film biographical sports drama film based on life of Indian athlete Milkha Singh
- Big Sur (2013) – adventure drama film based on the time Jack Kerouac spent in Big Sur, California, and his three brief sojourns to his friend Lawrence Ferlinghetti's cabin in Bixby Canyon
- The Bling Ring (2013) – satirical crime film based on the Bling Ring, also known as the Hollywood Hills Burglar Bunch, who broke into Hollywood Hills homes from October 2008 through August 2009
- Blue Caprice (2013) – independent drama film based on the 2002 D.C. sniper attacks
- Bonnie & Clyde (2013) – revisionist miniseries about Great Depression-era outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow
- Bozo (Japanese: ぼっちゃん) (2013) – Japanese drama film based on the Akihabara massacre
- The Butler (2013) – historical drama film based on the real life of Eugene Allen, who worked in the White House for decades
- Camille Claudel 1915 (2013) – French biographical film based on sculptor Camille Claudel
- Captain Phillips (2013) – biographical action thriller film based on the story of the eponymous Captain Richard Phillips, a merchant mariner who was taken hostage by Somali pirates
- CBGB (2013) – biographical drama film about the former New York music venue CBGB
- Celluloid (2013) – Indian Malayalam-language biographical film based on the life story of J. C. Daniel, the father of Malayalam cinema
- The Conjuring (2013) – supernatural horror film based on purportedly real-life reports that inspired The Amityville Horror story
- CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story (2013) – made-for-television biographical film about the R&B and hip hop musical trio TLC
- Dallas Buyers Club (2013) – biographical drama film telling the story of Ron Woodroof, an AIDS patient diagnosed in the mid-1980s when HIV/AIDS treatments were under-researched, while the disease was not understood and highly stigmatized
- Devil's Knot (2013) – biographical crime drama film telling the true story of three murdered children, and the three teenagers known as the West Memphis Three who were convicted of killing them, during the Satanic ritual abuse panic
- The Devil's Violinist (2013) – Italian-German biographical film based on the life story of the 19th-century Italian violinist and composer Niccolò Paganini
- Diana (2013) – British biographical drama film based on the last two years in the life of Diana, Princess of Wales
- Empire State (2013) – crime drama film based on based on a true story of two childhood friends who rob an armored car repository and the NYPD officer who stands in their way
- Ephraim's Rescue (2013) – Christian historical drama film based on the true stories of Mormon pioneers Ephraim Hanks and Thomas Dobson and their experiences in the handcart brigades
- The Fifth Estate (2013) – biographical thriller film about the news-leaking website WikiLeaks
- The Frozen Ground (2013) – thriller film based on the crimes of the real-life Alaskan serial killer Robert Hansen
- Fruitvale Station (2013) – biographical drama film based on the events leading to the death of Oscar Grant, a young man killed in 2009 by BART police officer Johannes Mehserle
- Gagarin: First in Space (Russian: Гагарин. Первый в космосе) (2013) – Russian docudrama biographical film about the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, and the mission of Vostok 1
- Gimme Shelter (2013) – independent Christian drama film based on a true story about a runaway teenage girl who becomes pregnant and is placed in a home for pregnant girls
- The Grandmaster (2013) – martial arts drama film based on the life story of the Wing Chun
- Hope (Korean: 소원) (2013) – South Korean film based on the true story of the infamous Cho Doo-Soon case in 2008, in which an 8-year-old girl, named "Na-young" in the South Korean press, was raped and beaten by a drunk 57-year-old man in a public bathroom
- House of Versace (2013) – Canadian made-for-television biographical drama film depicting the real-life events of the Versace family
- The Informant (2013) – French crime thriller film loosely based on a true story of a bar owner in Gibraltar
- The Invisible Woman (2013) – British biographical drama film about the secret love affair between Charles Dickens and Nelly Ternan, which lasted for thirteen years until his death in 1870
- Jimi: All Is by My Side (2013) – biographical drama film about Jimi Hendrix
- Jobs (2013) – biographical drama film based on the life of Steve Jobs, from 1974 while a student at Reed College to the introduction of the iPod in 2001
- Jodi Arias: Dirty Little Secret (2013) – made-for-television drama film about the Murder of Travis Alexander
- Kill Your Darlings (2013) – biographical drama film about the college days of some of the earliest members of the Beat Generation and the killing in Riverside Park
- The Last of Robin Hood (2013) – independent biographical drama film about actor Errol Flynn
- Legend No. 17 (Russian: Легенда №17) (2013) – Russian biographical sports film based on real events and tells of the rise to fame of the Soviet hockey player Valeri Kharlamov and about the first match of the Summit Series USSR — Canada 1972
- Letters to Sofija (Lithuanian: Laiškai Sofijai) (2013) – Lithuanian biographical film about the life of Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis
- Like the Wind (Italian: Come il vento) (2013) – Italian biographical film telling the story of Armida Miserere, the first woman to direct a high security jail in Italy
- Lone Survivor (2013) – biographical war film based on the eponymous 2007 nonfiction book by Marcus Luttrell
- The Look of Love (2013) – British biographical film about Paul Raymond
- Louis Cyr (2013) – Canadian biographical drama film about Louis Cyr, the 19th-century strong man still considered to be one of the strongest men to have ever lived
- Lovelace (2013) – biographical drama film centered on porn actress Linda Lovelace, star of Deep Throat, a landmark 1972 film at the forefront of the Golden Age of Porn
- Madras Cafe (2013) – Indian Hindi-language political action thriller film set during the time of Indian intervention in the Sri Lankan civil war
- Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2013) – British-South African biographical film based on the 1994 autobiography by Nelson Mandela
- Marina (2013) – biographical film based upon the life of the Italian singer Rocco Granata who moved to Belgium when he was a young boy
- Meghe Dhaka Tara (2013) – Indian Bengali-language film inspired from the life and works of Bengali film director Ritwik Ghatak
- One Chance (2013) – British-American biographical comedy drama film about opera singer and Britain's Got Talent winner Paul Potts
- Orissa (2013) – Indian Malayalam-language romance film based on a Malayali constable, Christhudas, falling in love with an Oriya girl, Suneyi
- Pain & Gain (2013) – action comedy film based on the activities of Sun Gym gang, a group of ex-convicts and bodybuilders convicted of kidnapping, extortion, torture, and murder in Miami in the mid-1990s
- Philomena (2013) – British drama film based on the true story of Philomena Lee's 50-year search for her adopted son and Sixsmith's efforts to help her find him
- Prosecuting Casey Anthony (2013) – made-for-television crime film depicting the trial of Casey Anthony for the murder of her daughter, Caylee
- The Railway Man (2013) – British war film based on the 1995 autobiography of the same name by Eric Lomax
- Rush (2013) – British-German biographical sports film centred on the Hunt–Lauda rivalry between two Formula One drivers, the British James Hunt and the Austrian Niki Lauda
- Saving Mr. Banks (2013) – biographical drama film centered on the development of the 1964 film Mary Poppins
- Shootout at Wadala (2013) – Indian Hindi-language biographical-gangster-crime film dramatizing a 1982 encounter by Bombay police in which gangster Manya Surve was shot dead
- Snitch (2013) – action thriller film based on the real experiences of Drug Enforcement Agency informant James Settembrino
- Special 26 (2013) – Indian Hindi-language heist film based on the 1987 Opera House heist where a group posing as CBI officers executed an income tax raid on the jeweler in Bombay
- Tracks (2013) – Australian drama film chronicling Robyn Davidson's nine-month journey on camels across the Australian desert
- U Want Me 2 Kill Him? (2013) (stylised as Uwantme2killhim?) – British drama thriller film based on a true story and follows two teenage schoolboys who are drawn into a complicated world of online chatrooms, eventually leading to bizarre consequences
- Waltz for Monica (2013) – Swedish biographical drama film based on the true life and career of singer and actress Monica Zetterlund
- The Wind Rises (Japanese: 風立ちぬ) – Japanese animated historical drama film about Jiro Horikoshi (1903–1982), designer of the Mitsubishi A5M fighter aircraft and its successor, the Mitsubishi A6M Zero, used by the Empire of Japan during World War II
- Wolf Creek 2 (2013) – Australian horror film based upon the real-life murders of backpackers by Ivan Milat in the 1990s and Bradley Murdoch in 2001
- The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) – biographical crime black comedy film based on the 2007 memoir by Jordan Belfort
[edit]
2014
- 50 to 1 (2014) – drama film based on the true story of Mine That Bird, an undersized thoroughbred racehorse who won the 2009 Kentucky Derby in one of the biggest upsets in the history of the race
- A Murder Beside Yanhe River (Mandarin: 黃克功案件) (2014) – Chinese historical film based on the murder case of Huang Kegong, who was a general of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army
- Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B (2014) – made-for-television biographical film based on the life of R&B music star Aaliyah Dana Haughton, following her rise to fame and tragic death at age 22 when she was killed in a plane crash
- The Admiral: Roaring Currents (Korean: 명량) (2014) – South Korean epic action-war film based on the historical Battle of Myeongnyang
- American Sniper (2014) – biographical war drama film based on the life of Chris Kyle who became the deadliest marksman in U.S. military history with 255 kills from four tours in the Iraq War
- Amour Fou (2014) – Austrian biographical film about the German writer Heinrich von Kleist and his lover Henriette Vogel in the final stages of their lives
- An Honest Liar (2014) – biographical film about the life of former magician, escape artist, and skeptical educator James Randi, in particular the investigations through which Randi publicly exposed psychics, faith healers, and con-artists
- Bad Country (2014) – action film based on the true story of a veteran detective who infiltrates the most powerful criminal enterprise in the South
- Beloved Sisters (German: Die geliebten Schwestern) (2014) – German biographical film based on the life of the German poet Friedrich Schiller and upon his long relationships with two sisters, Caroline and Charlotte von Lengefeld
- Big Eyes (2014) – biographical drama film based on American artist Margaret Keane
- The Brittany Murphy Story (2014) – made-for-television biographical film based on the life of Brittany Murphy
- Cesar Chavez (2014) – Mexican-American biographical film about the life of American labor leader Cesar Chavez, who cofounded the United Farm Workers
- Chaar Sahibzaade (2014) – Indian Punjabi-language 3D animated historical drama film based on the sacrifices of the sons of the 10th Sikh guru Guru Gobind Singh
- Che (Persian: چ) (2014) – Iranian biographical war film depicting 48 hours of the life of Mostafa Chamran, who was then defense minister of Iran
- Desert Dancer (2014) – British biographical drama film based on the true story of Afshin Ghaffarian, a young, self-taught dancer in Iran, who risked his life for his dream to become a dancer despite a nationwide dancing ban
- Diplomacy (French & German: Diplomatie) (2014) – French-German historical drama film based on the Liberation of Paris and Hitler's response
- Effie Gray (2014) – British biographical film based on the true story of John Ruskin's marriage to Euphemia Gray and the subsequent annulment of their marriage
- Electric Slide (2014) – biographical crime film based on Los Angeles-based bank robber Eddie Dodson, who robbed 64 banks in 1983 before he was caught
- Escobar: Paradise Lost (2014) – romantic thriller film about the life of a surfer who falls in love while working with his brother in Colombia and finds out that the girl's uncle is Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar
- The Face of an Angel (2014) – British psychological thriller film based on the real-life story of the murder of Meredith Kercher in 2007
- Foxcatcher (2014) – biographical sports drama film loosely based on the events surrounding multimillionaire John du Pont's 1986 recruitment of Mark Schultz and his older brother David, to help coach U.S. wrestlers for participation in Olympic competition, and the subsequent murder of David Schultz by du Pont in January 1996
- Get on Up (2014) – biographical musical drama film about the life of singer James Brown
- Getúlio (2014) – Brazilian biographical drama film about Brazilian president Getúlio Vargas and the events that led to his death
- Gods (Polish: Bogowie) – Polish drama film based on the life and career of Polish cardiac surgeon Zbigniew Religa, who performed the first successful heart transplant in Poland in 1987
- Grace of Monaco (2014) – biographical drama film based on former Hollywood star Grace Kelly's crisis of marriage and identity, during a dispute between Monaco's Prince Rainier III and France's Charles de Gaulle in 1962
- Happy Face Killer (2014) – made-for-television film inspired by real-life events of the hunt and capture of serial killer Keith Hunter Jesperson
- Heaven Is for Real (2014) – Christian drama film based on Pastor Todd Burpo and Lynn Vincent's 2010 book of the same name
- Houdini (2014) – miniseries based on the life of the legendary illusionist and escape artist Harry Houdini, from poverty to worldwide fame
- House of Manson (2014) – biographical film based on the life of Charles Manson
- The Imitation Game (2014) – British historical drama film about cryptanalyst Alan Turing, who decrypted German intelligence messages for the British government during World War II
- The Internet's Own Boy (2014) – biographical film based on the life of Aaron Swartz
- Jamesy Boy (2014) – biographical crime drama depicting the true story of ex-convict James Burns
- Jersey Boys (2014) – musical drama film based on the 2004 Tony Award-winning jukebox musical of the same name about the musical group The Four Seasons
- Kajaki (2014) – British war docu-drama film based on the Kajaki Dam incident, involving Mark Wright and a small unit of British soldiers positioned near the Kajaki Dam, in Helmand province, Afghanistan
- Kill the Messenger (2014) – biographical crime thriller film about reporter Gary Webb who was found dead in his apartment
- The Letters (2014) – biographical drama film based on the life of Mother Teresa and how Vatican priest Father Celeste van Exem was charged with the task of investigating acts and events following her death
- Lizzie Borden Took an Ax (2014) – made-for-television biographical film based on the true story of Lizzie Borden
- Love & Mercy (2014) – biographical drama film about musician and songwriter Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys
- Marie's Story (French: Marie Heurtin) (2014) – French biographical film based on the true story of Marie Heurtin, a girl who was born deaf and blind in late 19th century France
- Marvellous (2014) – British made-for-television drama film about the life of Neil Baldwin
- Mary Kom (2014) – Indian Hindi-language biographical sports film based on the life of the eponymous boxer Mary Kom
- Million Dollar Arm (2014) – biographical sports drama film based on the true story of baseball pitchers Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel who were discovered by sports agent J. B. Bernstein after winning a reality show competition
- The Monuments Men (2014) – American-German war film loosely based on the true story of an Allied group from the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program that is given the task of finding and saving pieces of art and other culturally important items before Nazis destroy or steal them, during World War II
- Mr. Turner (2014) – biographical drama film based around the last twenty-five years of the life and career of painter J. M. W. Turner
- Noble (2014) – biographical film about the true life story of Christina Noble, a children's rights campaigner, charity worker and writer, who founded the Christina Noble Children's Foundation in 1989
- Pawn Sacrifice (2014) – biographical drama film portraying the Cold War-era championship chess match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky
- The Pilgrim (Portuguese: Não Pare na Pista) (2014) – Brazilian-Spanish biographical drama film about the Brazilian lyricist and novelist Paulo Coelho
- Pride (2014) – British LGBT-related historical comedy-drama film based on the true story of a group of lesbian and gay activists who raised money to help families affected by the British miners' strike in 1984, at the outset of what would become the Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners campaign
- Rang Rasiya (2014) – Indian erotic drama film based on the life of the 19th-century Indian painter Raja Ravi Varma
- Return to Zero (2014) – made-for-television drama film based on a true story of writer, Sean Hanish and his pregnant wife, only to have their lives devastated when they learn that the child has died in the womb
- Rosewater – political drama film based on Maziar Bahari's 2009 imprisonment by Iran, connected to an interview he participated in on The Daily Show that same year
- Selma (2014) – historical drama film based on the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches
- Set Fire to the Stars (2014) – Welsh semi-biographical drama film about Dylan Thomas and John Malcolm Brinnin
- The Tenor – Lirico Spinto (2014) – South Korean biographical film chronicling the life of South Korean tenor Bae Jae-chul who performed in numerous European operas, but lost his voice at the peak of his career due to thyroid cancer
- Testament of Youth (2014) – British drama film based on Vera Brittain, an independent young woman who abandoned her studies at Somerville College, Oxford, to become a First World War nurse
- The Theory of Everything (2014) – British biographical romantic drama film detailing the life of the theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking
- Tim Maia (2014) – Brazilian biographical drama film about the life of Brazilian musician Tim Maia
- Timbuktu (2014) – Mauritanian-French drama film based on the brief occupation of Timbuktu, Mali by Ansar Dine, and the 2012 public stoning of an unmarried couple in Aguelhok
- The Unauthorized Saved by the Bell Story (2014) – made-for-television film based on the story of delves into the experiences of six unknown young actors placed into the Hollywood spotlight when they were cast for Saved by the Bell
- Unbroken (2014) – war film about Louis Zamperini who survived in a raft for 47 days after his bomber ditched in the ocean during the Second World War, before being captured by the Japanese and being sent to a series of prisoner of war camps
- United Passions (French: United Passions: La Légende du football) (2014) – French drama film about the origins of FIFA
- Wild (2014) – biographical adventure drama film based on Cheryl Strayed and her determination to complete the Pacific Crest Trail by hiking and backpacking after numerous problems left her life in shambles
[edit]
2015
- 7 Days in Hell (2015) – sports mockumentary film inspired by the Isner–Mahut marathon men's singles match at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships
- 10 Days in a Madhouse (2015) – biographical film about undercover journalist Nellie Bly, a reporter for Joseph Pulitzer's New York World who had herself committed to the Women's Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell's Island to write an exposé on abuses in the institution
- The 33 (Spanish: Los 33) (2015) – Chilean biographical disaster-survival drama film based on the real events of the 2010 Copiapó mining disaster
- A Dark Reflection (2015) – British independent investigative thriller film based on actual events surrounding the issue of Aerotoxic Syndrome
- A Song for Jenny (2015) – British made-for-television film about Julie Nicholson, whose daughter Jenny was murdered in the 7 July 2005 London bombings
- Anton Tchékhov 1890 (2015) – French biographical drama film about Anton Chekhov
- Bajirao Mastani (2015) – Indian Hindi-language epic historical romance film narrating the story of the Maratha Peshwa Bajirao I (1700–1740 AD) and his second wife, Mastani
- Beautiful & Twisted (2015) – made-for-television crime drama film based on the Murders of Bernice and Ben Novack, Jr.
- Bessie (2015) – made-for-television drama film about the American blues singer Bessie Smith, and focuses on her transformation as a struggling young singer into "The Empress of the Blues"
- The Big Short (2015) – biographical comedy-drama film based on the 2010 book The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis showing how the financial crisis of 2007–2008 was triggered by the United States housing bubble
- Black Mass (2015) – biographical crime drama film about Irish-American mobster Whitey Bulger
- Blood, Sweat & Tears (Dutch: Bloed, zweet & tranen) (2015) – Dutch biographical film about the late Dutch singer André Hazes
- Born to Be Blue (2015) – drama film about American jazz musician Chet Baker
- Bridge of Spies (2015) – historical spy thriller based on the story of lawyer James B. Donovan, who is entrusted with negotiating the release of Francis Gary Powers—a U.S. Air Force pilot whose U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960—in exchange for Rudolf Abel, a convicted Soviet KGB spy
- Captive (2015) – crime drama thriller film based on the true story about Brian Nichols, who escapes from the Fulton County courthouse in Atlanta on March 11, 2005, and holds Ashley Smith as a hostage
- Chiamatemi Francesco (2015) – Italian biographical film about Pope Francis
- Child 44 (2015) – mystery thriller film loosely based on the case of Andrei Chikatilo
- The Classified File (Korean: 극비수사) (2015) – South Korean film based on a real life kidnapping case in Busan in 1978
- Cleveland Abduction (2015) – made-for-television crime drama film based on the Ariel Castro kidnappings
- Coalition (2015) – made-for-television political drama film about the formation of a coalition government following the 2010 United Kingdom general election
- Colonia (2015) – historical thriller film based on the 1973 Chilean military coup and the real "Colonia Dignidad", a notorious cult in the South of Chile, led by German lay preacher Paul Schäfer
- Concussion (2015) – biographical sports film based on the true story of Dr. Bennet Omalu, a forensic pathologist who fights against the National Football League trying to suppress his research on chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) brain degeneration suffered by professional football players
- Crimea. The Way Home (Russian: Крым. Путь на Родину) (2015) – Russian pseudo-documentary made-for-television film about the Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in 2014
- The Curse of Clara: A Holiday Tale (2015) – Canadian made-for-television film based on Vickie Fagan's experience as a young girl studying ballet at Canada's National Ballet School who is cast in the role of Clara in the school's annual production of The Nutcracker
- Cyberbully (2015) – made-for-television film based entirely on real experiences of cyberbullying
- Danny and the Human Zoo (2015) – British drama made-for-television film inspired by Lenny Henry's life as a teenager in 1970s Dudley
- Danny Collins (2015) – comedy-drama film inspired by the true story of folk singer Steve Tilston
- The Danish Girl (2015) – biographical romantic drama film inspired by the lives of Danish painters Lili Elbe and Gerda Wegener
- Dolly Parton's Coat of Many Colors (2015) – made-for-television drama film detailing Dolly Parton's upbringing in 1955 as her family struggles to live in Tennessee's Great Smoky Mountains, putting a strain on love and faith
- Eddie the Eagle (2015) – biographical sports film based on the life od Michael Edwards, a British skier who in 1988 became the first competitor to represent Great Britain in Olympic ski jumping since 1928
- The Eichmann Show (2015) – made-for-television drama film based on the true story of how American TV producer Milton Fruchtman and blacklisted TV director Leo Hurwitz came to broadcast the trial of one of World War II's most notorious Nazis, Adolf Eichmann, in 1961
- Eisenstein in Guanajuato (2015) – biographical romantic comedy-drama film based on Soviet film director Sergei Eisenstein
- The End of the Tour (2015) – biographical drama film about writer David Foster Wallace
- Everest (2015) – biographical survival adventure film based on the real events of the 1996 Mount Everest disaster, and focuses on the survival attempts of two expedition groups, one led by Rob Hall and the other by Scott Fischer
- Experimenter (2015) – biographical drama film based on the 1961 Milgram experiment
- Felix Manalo – Filipino biographical drama film about the life of Felix Ysagun Manalo, the first Executive Minister of the Iglesia ni Cristo
- Freeheld (2015) – drama film about police officer Laurel Hester's fight against the Ocean County, New Jersey Board of Chosen Freeholders to allow her pension benefits to be transferred to her domestic partner after being diagnosed with terminal cancer
- Full Out (2015) – made-for-television drama film based on the life story of American gymnast Ariana Berlin
- The Gamechangers (2015) – made-for-television biographical drama film based on the story of the controversies caused by Grand Theft Auto, a successful video game series, as various attempts were made to halt the production of the games
- I Am Michael (2015) – biographical drama film about Michael Glatze, a gay activist who renounces homosexuality and becomes a Christian pastor
- I Saw The Light (2015) – biographical drama film about Country music legend Hank Williams
- In the Heart of the Sea (2015) – historical adventure-drama film about the sinking of the American whaling ship Essex in 1820, an event that inspired Herman Melville's 1851 novel Moby-Dick
- Ip Man 3 (2015) – Hong Kong biographical martial arts film based on the life of the Wing Chun grandmaster Ip Man
- Jan Hus (2015) – Czech historical made-for-television film based on the life of Jan Hus
- Joy (2015) – biographical comedy-drama film about a struggling single mom of three children, Joy Mangano, who invented the "Miracle Mop" and became the President of Ingenious Designs, LLC
- Kid Kulafu (2015) – Filipino biographical sports drama film based on the life of the boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao during his childhood
- Kidnapping Freddy Heineken (2015) – British-Dutch crime drama film based on the 1983 kidnapping of Freddy Heineken
- Killing Jesus (2015) – made-for-television film depicting the life of Jesus of Nazareth through the retelling of the political, social, and historical conflicts during the Roman Empire that ultimately led to his crucifixion
- The Lady in the Van (2015) – British comedy-drama film based on the true story of Alan Bennett and his interactions with Mary Shepherd, an elderly woman who lived in a dilapidated van on his driveway in London for 15 years
- Last Cab To Darwin (2015) – Australian drama film inspired by the true story of Max Bell, a taxi driver who traveled from Broken Hill to Darwin to seek euthanasia after he was diagnosed with a terminal illness
- Legend (2015) – British biographical crime thriller film about the Kray Twins which deals with their career and the relationship that bound them together, and follows their gruesome career to life imprisonment in 1969
- Life (2015) – biographical drama film based on the friendship of Life photographer Dennis Stock and Hollywood actor James Dean
- The Man Who Knew Infinity (2015) – British biographical drama about the Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan, based on the 1991 The Man Who Knew Infinity by Robert Kanigel
- Manjhi – The Mountain Man (2015) – Indian Hindi-language biographical film based on the life of Dashrath Manjhi
- Manto (Urdu: منٹو) (2015) – Pakistani biographical drama film based on the life of Pakistani short-story writer Sadat Hassan Manto
- Mary: The Making of a Princess (2015) – Australian made-for-television film about Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark
- McFarland, USA (2015) – sports drama film based on the true story of a 1987 cross country team from a mainly Latino high school in McFarland, California
- The People vs. Fritz Bauer (German: Der Staat gegen Fritz Bauer) (2015) – German biographical drama film based on Fritz Bauer
- Persona Non Grata (Japanese: 杉原千畝 スギハラチウネ) (2015) – Japanese biographical drama film based on the life of Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara who was appointed a vice-consul and later a consul in Lithuania and served there from 1939 to 1940 and who saved lives of some 6,000 Jewish refugees by issuing transit visas to the Japanese Empire
- The Program (2015) – biographical drama film about Lance Armstrong
- Queen of the Desert (2015) – epic biographical drama film based on the life of British traveller, writer, archaeologist, explorer, cartographer and political officer Gertrude Bell
- The Revenant (2015) – western epic survival drama film based on frontiersman Hugh Glass's experiences in 1823
- Rudramadevi (2015) – Indian Telugu-language 3D biographical action film based on the life of Rudrama Devi, one of the prominent rulers of the Kakatiya dynasty in the Deccan
- The Sound of a Flower (Korean: 도리화가) (2015) – South Korean period drama film based on the life of Jin Chae-seon, who became Joseon's first female pansori singer in 1867
- Spare Parts (2015) – drama film based on the true story of a group of students from Carl Hayden High School, who won the first place over M.I.T. in the 2004 MATE ROV competition
- Spotlight (2015) – biographical crime drama film following The Boston GlobeTemplate:`s "Spotlight" team, the oldest continuously operating newspaper investigative journalist unit in the United States, and its investigation into cases of widespread and systemic child sex abuse in the Boston area by numerous Roman Catholic priests
- The Stanford Prison Experiment (2015) – docudrama thriller film based on the 1971 Stanford prison experiment, conducted at Stanford University under the supervision of psychology professor Philip Zimbardo, in which students played the role of either a prisoner or prison guard
- Steve Jobs (2015) – biographical drama film covering 14 years (1984–1998) in the life of Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs
- Straight Outta Compton (2015) – biographical musical crime drama film depicting the rise and fall of the gangsta rap group N.W.A and its members Eazy-E, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, MC Ren, and DJ Yella
- Suffragette (2015) – historical drama film about women's suffrage in the United Kingdom
- The Throne (Korean: 사도) (2015) – South Korean historical drama film based on King Yeongjo and his son Crown Prince Sado
- True Story (2015) – mystery drama film based on Christian Longo, a man on the FBI's most-wanted list accused of murdering his wife and three children in Oregon
- Trumbo (2015) – biographical drama film based on the life of Hollywood screenwriter Dalton Trumbo
- Truth – historical political drama film based on American television news producer Mary Mapes's memoir Truth and Duty: The Press, the President and the Privilege of Power focusing on the Killian documents controversy and the resulting last days of news anchor Dan Rather and producer Mary Mapes at CBS News
- The Unauthorized Beverly Hills, 90210 Story (2015) – made-for-television film based on the 1990s television drama Beverly Hills, 90210
- The Unauthorized Full House Story (2015) – made-for-television drama film based on the behind-the-scenes making of the sitcom Full House
- The Unauthorized Melrose Place Story (2015) – made-for-television drama film based on the behind-the-scenes making of the sitcom Melrose Place
- Visaranai (2015) – Indian Tamil-language crime drama film dealing with the lives of two men before and after thrown into a kafkaesque scenario in which they get tortured for confession
- The Walk (2015) – 3D biographical drama film based on the story of 24-year-old French high-wire artist Philippe Petit's walk between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center on August 7, 1974
- Walt Before Mickey (2015) – biographical drama film about the early years of Walt Disney
- Whitney (2015) – made-for-television biographical film based on American singer Whitney Houston and her turbulent marriage to R&B artist Bobby Brown
- Woman in Gold (2015) – British-American biographical drama film based on the true story of Maria Altmann, an elderly Jewish refugee living in Cheviot Hills, Los Angeles, who, together with her young lawyer, Randy Schoenberg, fought the government of Austria for almost a decade to reclaim Gustav Klimt's iconic painting of her aunt Adele Bloch-Bauer which was taken by the Nazi's prior to World War II
- Woodlawn (2015) – Christian sports drama film based on the true story of Tony Nathan and the Woodlawn High Colonels football team as coaches and teammates struggle to ease racial tensions during the 1973 desegregation of the Birmingham, Alabama school system
[edit]
2016
- 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016) – biographical action war film following six members of Annex Security Team who fought to defend the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya after waves of attacks by militants on September 11, 2012
- A United Kingdom (2016) – biographical romantic drama film based on the true-life romance between Seretse Khama, heir to the throne of Bechuanaland (later Botswana, of which he became president), and his wife Ruth Williams Khama
- Airlift (2016) – Indian Hindi-language action thriller film about a Kuwait-based businessman as he carries out the evacuation of Indians based in Kuwait during the Invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein's Iraq which lead to the beginning of the Gulf War
- Aligarh (2016) – biographical drama film based on the true story of Ramchandra Siras, a professor of Marathi and the head of the Classical Modern Indian Languages Faculty at the famed Aligarh Muslim University, who was suspended on grounds of morality
- All the Way (2016) – made-for-television biographical drama film based on events during the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson
- Altamira (2016) – Spanish biographical drama film chronicling the groundbreaking discovery of Stone Age cave paintings in the Cave of Altamira in Cantabria, Spain, and the subsequent controversy by leading religious and scientific figures of the day
- Amateur Night (2016) – biographical comedy film based on the early experiences of film writers Joe Syracuse and Lisa Addario in Hollywood
- Anna (2016) – Indian Hindi-language biographical drama film based on the life of Indian social activist Anna Hazare
- Anthropoid (2016) – British-French war film based on the story of Operation Anthropoid, the World War II assassination of Reinhard Heydrich by exile Czechoslovak soldiers Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš on May 27, 1942
- Azhar (2016) – Indian Hindi-language biographical sports drama film based on the life of Indian cricketer and former national team captain Mohammad Azharuddin
- Barry (2016) – drama film about Barack Obama's life at Columbia University in 1981
- The Birth of a Nation (2016) – American-Canadian historical drama film based on the story of Nat Turner, the enslaved man who led a slave rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia, in 1831
- Birth of the Dragon (2016) – martial arts action film based on the supposedly true story revolving around the young martial artist Bruce Lee, who challenged kung fu master Wong Jack-man in 1965 in San Francisco
- Bleed for This (2016) – biographical sports film based on the life of former world champion boxer Vinny Paz
- Brain on Fire (2016) – American-Irish biographical drama film telling the true story of a New York Post writer who begins to suffer a mysterious illness and would have been committed to the psychiatric ward and probably died of encephalitis, if it were not for the efforts and skills of Syrian-American neurologist Souhel Najjar
- Cézanne and I (French: Cézanne et moi) (2016) – French biographical drama film based on the friendship between 19th century novelist Émile Zola and painter Paul Cézanne
- Chocolat (2016) – French drama film loosely based on the real life of Rafael Padilla, a clown who performed in a Paris circus around the 1900s and son of a slave from Cuba, a Spanish colony at the time
- Christine (2016) – British-American biographical drama film about Christine Chubbuck, a news reporter who struggles with depression, along with professional and personal frustrations as she tries to advance her career
- The Chronicles of Melanie (Latvian: Melānijas hronika) (2016) – Latvian biographical drama film based on the real life of Melānija Vanaga
- Chuck (2016) – biographical sports drama film based on the life of heavyweight boxer Chuck Wepner and his 1975 title fight with the heavyweight champion, Muhammad Ali, which inspired Sylvester Stallone's character and screenplay for the 1976 film Rocky
- Confirmation – made-for-television political thriller film about Clarence Thomas' Supreme Court nomination hearings, and the controversy that unfolded when Anita Hill alleged she was sexually harassed by Thomas
- The Conjuring 2 (2016) – supernatural horror film based on purportedly real-life reports that inspired The Amityville Horror story
- The Dancer (French: La Danseuse) (2016) – French biographical historical drama film about Loie Fuller
- Dangal (2016) – Indian Hindi-language biographical sports drama film based on Mahavir Singh Phogat, a pehlwani amateur wrestler who trains his daughters Geeta Phogat and Babita Kumari to become India's first world-class female wrestlers
- Deepwater Horizon (2016) – biographical disaster film based on the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico
- Denial (2016) – biographical film dramatizing the Irving v Penguin Books Ltd case, in which Lipstadt, a Holocaust scholar, was sued by Holocaust denier David Irving for libel
- Donald Trump's The Art of the Deal: The Movie (2016) – satirical parody film loosely based on the 1987 autobiographical book Trump: The Art of the Deal
- Dongju: The Portrait of a Poet (Korean: 동주) (2016) – South Korean black-and-white biographical period drama film based on the life of poet Yun Dong-ju and his eventual imprisonment by the Japanese government for being involved in the Korean independence movement
- Egon Schiele: Death and the Maiden (German: Egon Schiele: Death and the Maiden) (2016) – Austrian-Luxembourgish biographical film based on the life of Egon Schiele
- Ek Thi Marium (Urdu: اک تھی مریم) (2016) – Pakistani made-for-television biographical drama film based on the life of Pakistani female fighter pilot Marium Mukhtiar
- El Inca (2016) – Venezuelan drama film about professional boxer Edwin Valero
- Elvis & Nixon (2016) – comedy-drama film based on the 21 December 1970 meeting of Elvis Presley and President Richard Nixon at the White House
- Fanny's Journey (French: Le Voyage de Fanny) (2016) – French-Belgian children's war drama film inspired by an autobiographical book by Fanny Ben Ami, a girl escaping the Holocaust
- The Finest Hours (2016) – action thriller film based on the historic 1952 United States Coast Guard rescue of the crew of Template:SS, after the ship split apart during a nor'easter off the New England coast
- Florence Foster Jenkins (2016) – biographical film about Florence Foster Jenkins, a New York heiress known for her poor singing and generosity
- The Founder (2016) – biographical drama film based on a true story about Ray Kroc and the start of the McDonald's franchise
- Free State of Jones (2016) – historical war film inspired by the life of Newton Knight and his armed revolt against the Confederacy in Jones County, Mississippi, throughout the American Civil War
- Genius (2016) – British-American biographical drama film based on the 1978 National Book Award-winner Max Perkins: Editor of Genius by A. Scott Berg
- Gold (2016) – crime drama film based on the true story of the 1993 Bre-X mining scandal, when a massive gold deposit was supposedly discovered in the jungles of Indonesia
- Greater (2016) – biographical sports film about American football player Brandon Burlsworth, a walk-on college player who became an All-American, dying in a car crash 11 days after being drafted high in the 3rd round to the National Football League
- Hacksaw Ridge (2016) – American-Australian biographical war film focusing on the World War II experiences of Desmond Doss, an American pacifist combat medic who, as a Seventh-day Adventist Christian, refused to carry or use a weapon or firearm of any kind
- Hands of Stone (2016) – biographical sports film about the career of Panamanian former professional boxer Roberto Durán
- Hidden Figures (2016) – biographical drama film about African American female mathematicians who worked at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) during the Space Race
- I'm Gilda (Spanish: Gilda, no me arrepiento de este amor) (2016) – Argentine biographical drama film about the life of tropical singer and songwriter Gilda
- I'm Not Ashamed (2016) – biographical drama film based on the journals of Rachel Scott, the first victim of the 1999 Columbine High School massacre in Columbine, Colorado
- The Infiltrator (2016) – biographical crime thriller film based on the eponymous autobiography by Robert Mazur, a U.S. Customs special agent, who in the 1980s helped bust Pablo Escobar's money-laundering organization by going undercover as a corrupt businessman
- Jackie (2016) – biographical drama film following Jacqueline "Jackie" Kennedy in the days when she was First Lady in the White House and her life immediately following the assassination of her husband, United States President John F. Kennedy, in 1963
- The Last Descent (2016) – biographical survival drama film based on the 2009 rescue attempt of John Edward Jones in Nutty Putty Cave, west of Utah Lake
- LBJ (2016) – political drama film about the beginning of the presidency of United States President Lyndon B. Johnson following the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy
- The Legend of Ben Hall (2016) – Australian bushranger film, based on the exploits of bushranger Ben Hall
- Lion (2016) – Australian-British biographical drama film based on the true story of how Saroo Brierley, 25 years after being separated from his family in India, sets out to find them
- The Lost City of Z (2016) – biographical adventure drama film based on the story of Percy Fawcett, who was sent to Brazil and made several attempts to find a supposed ancient lost city in the Amazon
- Loving (2016) – biographical romantic drama film which tells the story of Richard and Mildred Loving, the plaintiffs in the 1967 U.S. Supreme Court (the Warren Court) decision Loving v. Virginia, which invalidated state laws prohibiting interracial marriage
- Mah e Mir (Urdu: ماہ میر) (2016) – Pakistani biographical film based on the life of the famous poet Mir Taqi Mir
- Masterminds (2016) – crime comedy film based on the October 1997 Loomis Fargo robbery in North Carolina
- Maudie (2016) – Irish-Canadian biographical drama film about the life of folk artist Maud Lewis, who painted in Nova Scotia
- Miracles from Heaven (2016) – Christian drama film the true story of Annabel Beam who had a near-death experience and was later cured of an incurable disease
- M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story (2016) – Indian Hindi-language biographical sports drama film based on the life of former Test, ODI and T20I captain of the Indian national cricket team, Mahendra Singh Dhoni
- Neerja (2016) – Indian Hindi-language biographical thriller film based on the attempted hijacking of Pan Am Flight 73 in Karachi, Pakistan by Libyan-backed Abu Nidal Organization on 5 September 1986
- Nelly (2016) – biographical-drama film based on Nelly Arcan, an award-winning Canadian author and former sex worker who committed suicide in 2009
- Neruda (2016) – Spanish-language biographical drama film depicting the dramatic events of the suppression of Communists in Chile in 1948 and how the poet Pablo Neruda had to go on the run, eventually escaping on horseback over the Andes
- The Night Stalker (2016) – biographical drama film about the serial killer Richard Ramirez
- Nina (2016) – biographical film about American musician and civil rights activist Nina Simone
- The Odyssey (French: L'Odyssée) (2016) – French-Belgian biographical adventure film based on Jacques-Yves Cousteau, a French ocean-going adventurer, biologist, and filmmaker
- Patriots Day (2016) – action thriller film about the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013 and the subsequent terrorist manhunt
- Pelé: Birth of a Legend (2016) – biographical film about the early life of Brazilian footballer Pelé and his journey with Brazil to win the 1958 FIFA World Cup
- The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story (2016) – true crime miniseries revolving around the O. J. Simpson murder case
- The Promise (2016) – epic historical drama film set in the final years of the Ottoman Empire
- Queen of Katwe (2016) – biographical sports drama film based on the life of Phiona Mutesi, a girl living in Katwe, a slum of Kampala, the capital of Uganda who learns to play chess and becomes a Woman Candidate Master after her victories at World Chess Olympiads
- Race (2016) – biographical sports drama film about African American athlete Jesse Owens, who won a record-breaking four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games
- Ramabai (2016) – Indian Kannada-language biographical film based on the life of Ramabai Ambedkar, the first wife of Indian social reformer and politician B. R. Ambedkar
- Red Dog: True Blue (2016) – Australian family comedy film detailing the early days of the Red Dog, the Pilbara Wanderer
- Riphagen (2016) – Dutch drama film about Dries Riphagen, a Dutch criminal who collaborated with Nazi Germany
- Rudy Habibie (2016) – Indonesian biographical historical drama film about B. J. Habibie
- Rustom (2016) – Indian Hindi-language crime drama film based on the K. M. Nanavati v. State of Maharashtra court case
- Sarbjit (2016) – Indian biographical drama film based on Sarabjit Singh, an Indian man who was sentenced to death by the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 1991 and who consequently spent 22 years in prison for alleged terrorism and spying
- Snowden (2016) – biographical thriller film about Edward Snowden, a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) subcontractor and whistleblower who copied and leaked highly classified information from the National Security Agency (NSA) beginning in 2013
- Southside with You (2016) – biographical romantic drama film focusing on the Barack Obama and Michelle Robinson's first date in 1989
- Sully (2016) – biographical drama film about Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger's January 2009 emergency landing of US Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River, in which all 155 passengers and crew survived—most suffering only minor injuries—and the subsequent publicity and investigation
- Surviving Compton: Dre, Suge & Michel'le (2016) – made-for-television biographical drama film based on the true story of R&B singer, Michel'le
- USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage (2016) – war disaster film based on the true story of the loss of the ship of the same name in the closing stages of the Second World War
- Veerappan (2016) – Indian Hindi-language biographical crime film based on the real-life Indian bandit Veerappan and the events leading to Operation Cocoon, a mission to capture and kill him
- War Dogs (2016) – biographical black comedy crime film abotu two arms dealers, Efraim Diveroli and David Packouz, who receive a U.S. Army contract to supply ammunitions for the Afghan National Army worth approximately $300 million
- Xuanzang (Mandarin: 大唐玄奘) (2016) – Chinese historical adventure film based on Xuanzang's seventeen-year overland journey to India during the Tang dynasty in the seventh century
[edit]
2017
- 6 Below: Miracle on the Mountain (2017) – survival drama film based on the true story of former professional hockey player Eric LeMarque, who finds himself stranded in the High Sierra during a fierce snowstorm and must use his wit and willpower to survive
- 9/11 (2017) – drama depicting five elevator passengers trapped during the September 11 attacks
- Aftermath (2017) – thriller film based on events and persons surrounding the 2002 Überlingen mid-air collision of a passenger airline with a cargo jet, although the names, places, nationalities, and incidents were changed
- The Age of Pioneers (2017) – Russian historical drama film about cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, the first human to perform a spacewalk
- All Eyez on Me (2017) – biographical drama about hip-hop artist Tupac Shakur
- All Saints (2017) – Christian drama film about a small-town Tennessee preacher, Michael Spurlock, who attempts to save his struggling church as well as a group of refugees from Karen State, Myanmar, in Southeast Asia
- All the Money in the World (2017) – crime thriller film depicting the events surrounding the actual 1973 kidnapping of John Paul Getty III in Italy and the refusal of his grandfather, The multi-billionaire oil tycoon, J Paul Getty, to cooperate the extortion demands of the Italian organized crime group known as ‘Ndrangheta
- American Made (2017) – biographical crime film about Barry Seal, a drug-smuggling pilot who became a government informant
- Anarchist from Colony (Korean: Park Yeol) (2017) – South Korean biographical period drama film about the life of independence activist Park Yeol
- Baba Sathya Sai (2017) – Indian biographical film based on the life of Indian spiritual leader Sathya Sai Baba
- Battle of the Sexes (2017) – biographical sports drama of the 1973 exhibition tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs
- The Big Sick (2017) – romantic comedy film loosely based on the real-life romance between Kumail Nanjiani and Emily Gordon, it follows an interethnic couple who must deal with cultural differences after Emily becomes ill
- Bitter Harvest (2017) – romantic-action drama film based in Soviet Ukraine in the early 1930s
- The Black Prince (2017) – historical drama film depicting the story of Duleep Singh, the last Maharajah of the Sikh Empire and the Punjab area, and his relationship with Queen Victoria
- Bobbi Kristina (2017) – biographical drama film based on the life of Bobbi Kristina Brown
- Bomb City (2017) – crime film based on the death of Brian Deneke, the homicide that revealed the cultural clash between the local jocks and the punk community in Amarillo, Texas, and the result from the subsequent court case sparked debate over injustice in the American judicial system
- Borg vs McEnroe (2017) – sports drama film focusing on the famous rivalry between tennis players Björn Borg and John McEnroe at the 1980 Wimbledon Championships
- Breathe (2017) – biographical drama film that tells the story about Robin Cavendish, who became paralysed from the neck down by polio at age 28
- Britney Ever After (2017) – biographical drama film based on the life of Britney Spears
- The Case for Christ (2017) – Christian drama film based on the true story that inspired the 1998 book of the same name by Lee Strobel
- Chappaquiddick (2017) – drama film starring Jason Clarke as Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy, detailing the 1969 Chappaquiddick incident in which Kennedy drove his car into the Poucha Pond, killing Kopechne, as well as the Kennedy family's response
- Churchill (2017) – British historical war-drama film about Winston Churchill in June 1944 – especially in the hours leading up to D-Day
- Cocaine Godmother (2017) – biographical crime drama film based on the life of Griselda Blanco
- Crown Heights (2017) – biographical crime drama film depicting the true story of Colin Warner who was wrongfully convicted of murder, and how his best friend Carl King devoted his life to proving Colin's innocence
- The Current War (2017) – historical drama film inspired by the 19th century competition between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse over which electric power delivery system would be used in the United States (often referred to as the "war of the currents")
- Darkest Hour (2017) – war drama film set in May 1940, it stars Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill and is an account of his early days as Prime Minister during World War II and the May 1940 War Cabinet Crisis, while Nazi Germany's Wehrmacht swept across Western Europe and threatened to defeat the United Kingdom. The German advance leads to friction at the highest levels of government between those who would make a peace treaty with Adolf Hitler, and Churchill, who refused
- Dating Game Killer (2017) – made-for-television biographical film about serial killer Rodney Alcala
- The Death of Stalin (2017) – British satirical black-comedy film that depicts the power struggle following the death of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in 1953
- Detroit (2017) – period crime drama film of the Algiers Motel incident during the 1967 Detroit riot
- The Disaster Artist (2017) – comedy-drama film based on Tommy Wiseau's 2003 The Room
- Django (2017) – French biographical drama film about the life of Django Reinhardt
- Dunkirk (2017) – about the Dunkirk evacuation in France during World War II
- England Is Mine (2017) – British biographical drama film, based on the early years of singer Morrissey, before he formed The Smiths in 1982 with Johnny Marr
- Final Portrait (2017) – British-American drama film about the friendship between Swiss sculptor, painter, draftsman and printmaker Alberto Giacometti and American writer James Lord
- First They Killed My Father (2017) – story on how they forced 7-year-old Ung, to be trained as a child soldier while my siblings were sent to labor camps
- Flint (2017) – made-for-television drama film based on the Flint water crisis
- Gautamiputra Satakarni (Template:Translation Satakarni, son of Gautami) (2017) – Indian Telugu-language epic historical action film based on the life of 2nd century AD Satavahana ruler Gautamiputra Satakarni
- The Glass Castle (2017) – biographical drama film based Jeannette Walls' 2005 best-selling memoir of the same name, depicting Wall's childhood, where her family lived in poverty and sometimes as squatters
- Going Vertical (Russian: Dvizhenie vverkh) (2017) – Russian sports drama film about the controversial victory of the Soviet national basketball team over the 1972 U.S. Olympic team, ending their 63-game winning streak, at the Munich Summer Olympic's men's basketball tournament
- Goodbye Christopher Robin (2017) – British biographical drama film about A. A. Milne and his son Christopher Robin Milne, the inspiration for the Winnie-the-Pooh books
- The Greatest Showman (2017) – musical biographical drama film, inspired by the story of P. T. Barnum's creation of Barnum's American Museum and the lives of its star attractions
- I Am Elizabeth Smart (2017) – made-for-television biographical crime film based on the Kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart
- I, Tonya (2017) – biographical film with elements of black comedy and crime drama, it follows the life of figure skater Tonya Harding and her connection to the 1994 attack on her rival Nancy Kerrigan
- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2017) – made-for-television biographical telling the story of Henrietta Lacks, who was diagnosed with cervical cancer in the 1950s, and whose cancer cells (later known as HeLa) would change the course of cancer treatment
- The Institute (2017) – thriller film about a young girl's stay at The Rosewood Institute
- Jungle (2017) – circa 1981 true story of Yossi Ghinsberg who survived being lost in the Bolivian Jungle
- Loving Pablo (2017) – Spanish biographical crime drama film based on Virginia Vallejo's memoir Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar
- The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017) – biographical drama film based on the book of the same name by Les Standiford, following Charles Dickens (Stevens) as he conceives and writes A Christmas Carol
- The Man with the Iron Heart (2017) – English-language French-Belgian biographical war-drama-thriller film based on French writer Laurent Binet's novel HHhH, and focuses on Operation Anthropoid, the assassination of Nazi leader Reinhard Heydrich in Prague during World War II
- Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House (2017) – biographical political thriller film depicting how Mark Felt became the anonymous source nicknamed "Deep Throat" for reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein and helped them in the investigation which led them to the Watergate scandal, which resulted in the resignation of President Richard Nixon
- Marshall (2017) – biographical legal drama film starring Chadwick Boseman as Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American Supreme Court Justice, and focuses on one of the first cases of his career, the State of Connecticut v. Joseph Spell
- Megan Leavey (2017) – biographical drama film based on the true events about a young female marine named Megan Leavey and a combat dog named Rex
- Menendez: Blood Brothers (2017) – made-for-television biographical film based on the lives of Lyle and Erik Menendez, two brothers who were convicted of murdering their parents in 1989
- The Mercy (2017) – British biographical drama film based on the true story of the disastrous attempt by the amateur sailor Donald Crowhurst to complete the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race in 1968 and his subsequent attempts to cover up his failure
- Michael Jackson: Searching for Neverland (2017) – made-for-television biographical film based on the 2014 book, Remember the Time: Protecting Michael Jackson in His Final Days, written by Jackson's personal bodyguards Bill Whitfield and Javon Beard. The film dramatizes Jackson in the final years of his life
- Molly's Game (2017) – biographical crime drama film based on the memoir of the same name by Molly Bloom
- The Most Hated Woman in America (2017) – In 1995, Madalyn Murray O'Hair is kidnapped along with her son Garth and granddaughter Robin by three men
- My Friend Dahmer (2017) – biographical psychological drama film about American serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer
- The New Edition Story (2017) – biographical about the R&B group New Edition, from their rise to fame as a boy band from the Orchard Park Projects of Roxbury, Massachusetts, to becoming a successful adult act
- Only the Brave (2017) – The story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots and the 2013 Yarnell Hill Fire
- Papillon (2017) – biographical drama film telling the story of French convict Henri Charriere, nicknamed Papillon ("butterfly"), who was imprisoned in 1933 in the notorious Devil's Island penal colony and escaped in 1941 with the help of another convict, counterfeiter Louis Dega
- The Pirates of Somalia (2017) – drama about Jay Bahadur and his reporting on piracy in Somalia
- The Polka King (2017) – biographical comedy film about real-life Polish-American polka band leader Jan Lewan, who was imprisoned in 2004 for running a Ponzi scheme
- Poorna: Courage Has No Limit (2017) – Indian Hindi language biographical adventure film with Aditi Inamdar as Malavath Poorna, the youngest girl to climb the Mount Everest.<ref>{{
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- The Post (2017) – historical political thriller film starring Meryl Streep as Katharine Graham, the first female publisher of a major American newspaper, and Tom Hanks as Ben Bradlee, the executive editor of The Washington Post. Set in 1971, The Post depicts the true story of attempts by journalists at The Washington Post to publish the Pentagon Papers, classified documents regarding the 20-year involvement of the United States government in the Vietnam War
- Professor Marston and the Wonder Women (2017) – biographical drama film about William Moulton Marston, the creator of Wonder Woman
- Rebel in the Rye (2017) – biographical drama film about the life of writer J. D. Salinger during and after World War II
- Roxanne Roxanne (2017) – drama film revolving around the life of rapper Roxanne Shante
- Salyut-7 (2017) – Russian historical drama film about the 1985 Soyuz T-13 mission to the Salyut 7 space station
- Same Kind of Different as Me (2017) – Ron Hall, a successful art dealer, comes to the home of Julio, a man he previously sold a painting to. Julio allows Ron to write a book about his life and a life-changing event he experienced
- Sand Castle (2017) – film centering on Matt Ocre, a young soldier in the United States Army, who is tasked with restoring water to a village in Iraq, based on the true events and the experience of the film's writer Roessner during the Iraq War
- Stronger (2017) – biographical drama film based on the memoir of Boston Marathon bombing survivor Jeff Bauman
- Thank You for Your Service (2017) – biographical war drama film based on the 2013 non-fiction book of the same name by David Finkel. Finkel, a Washington Post reporter, wrote about veterans of the 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment returning to the vicinity of Fort Riley, Kansas, following a 15-month deployment in Iraq in 2007
- Three Christs (2017) – drama film based on Milton Rokeach's nonfiction book The Three Christs of Ypsilanti of three patients whose paranoid schizophrenic delusions cause each of them to believe they are Jesus Christ
- The Upside (2017) – comedy-drama film, a remake of the 2011 French film The Intouchables, which was itself inspired by the life of Philippe Pozzo di Borgo
- Viceroy's House (2017) – British-Indian historical drama film telling the true story of the final months of British rule in India. Viceroy's House in Delhi was the home of the British rulers of India. After 300 years, that rule was coming to an end. For 6 months in 1947, Lord Mountbatten, great-grandson of Queen Victoria, assumed the post of the last Viceroy, charged with handing India back to its people
- Victoria & Abdul (2017) – British biographical comedy-drama film based on the book of the same name by Shrabani Basu, about the real-life relationship between Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and her Muslim servant Abdul Karim
- War Machine (2017) – satirical war film depicting a fictionalized version of events surrounding Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal in Afghanistan
- Women Walks Ahead (2017) – biographical drama film about the story of Caroline Weldon, a portrait painter who travels from New York to Dakota to paint a portrait of Sitting Bull in 1890
- The Wizard of Lies (2017) – television biopic film starring Robert De Niro as businessman and fraudster Bernie Madoff, Michelle Pfeiffer as Ruth Madoff and Alessandro Nivola as their older son Mark Madoff
- The Zookeeper's Wife (2017) – war drama film telling the true story of how Jan and Antonina Zabiński rescued hundreds of Jews from the Germans by hiding them in their Warsaw Zoo during World War II
[edit]
2018
- 3 Days in Quiberon (German: 3 Tage in Quiberon) (2018) – German drama film about actress Romy Schneider
- 7 Days in Entebbe (2018) – action thriller film that tells about the story of Operation Entebbe, a 1976 counter-terrorist hostage-rescue operation
- 12 Strong (2018) – action war drama film based on the story of U.S. 5th Special Forces Group who were sent to Afghanistan immediately after the September 11 attacks
- The 15:17 to Paris (2018) – biographical drama film following Spencer Stone, Anthony Sadler, and Alek Skarlatos through life leading up to and including their stopping of the 2015 Thalys train attack
- 22 July (2018) – crime drama film about the 2011 Norway attacks and their aftermath
- 27 Guns (2018) – action adventure biographical film about Yoweri Museveni and his military colleagues during the Ugandan Bush War
- A Futile and Stupid Gesture (2018) – biographical comedy-drama film about comedy writer Douglas Kenny, during the rise and fall of National Lampoon
- A Private War (2018) – biographical war drama film about Marie Colvin, an American journalist for The Sunday Times, visiting the most dangerous countries and documenting their civil wars
- Adrift (2018) – survival drama film based on a true story set during the events of Hurricane Raymond in 1983
- The Angel (2018) – Egyptian-Israeli spy thriller film based on Ashraf Marwan, a high-ranking Egyptian official who became a double agent for both countries and helped achieve peace between the two
- At Eternity's Gate (2018) – French-British biographical drama film about the final years of painter Vincent van Gogh's life
- Beautiful Boy (2018) – biographical drama film based on a father-son relationship increasingly strained by the latter's drug addiction
- Believe Me: The Abduction of Lisa McVey (2018) – Canadian-American crime drama film recounting the true story of Lisa McVey who was abducted and raped for 26 hours by serial killer Bobby Joe Long in 1984
- Billionaire Boys Club (2018) – biographical crime drama film based on the real life Billionaire Boys Club from Southern California during the 1980s, a group of rich teenagers who get involved in a Ponzi scheme and eventual murder
- BlacKkKlansman (2018) –biographical crime film set in the early-1970s Colorado Springs, the plot follows Ron Stallworth, the first African-American detective in the city's police department as he sets out to infiltrate and expose the local Ku Klux Klan chapter
- Blaze (2018) – biographical drama film based on the life of country musician Blaze Foley
- Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) – biographical musical drama film depicting the story of the life of Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of the British rock band Queen, from the formation of the band in 1970 up to their 1985 Live Aid performance at the original Wembley Stadium
- Boy Erased (2018) – biographical drama film based on the story f the son of Baptist parents who is forced to take part in a gay conversion therapy program
- Burden (2018) – drama film based on the story of Mike Burden, an orphan raised within the Ku Klux Klan who attempts to break away when the woman he falls in love with urges him to leave for a better life together
- Brian Banks (2018) – biographical drama film about Brian Banks, a high school football linebacker who was falsely accused of rape and upon his release attempted to fulfil his dream of making the National Football League
- Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018) – biographical film based on the story of Lee Israel and her attempts to revitalize her failing writing career by forging letters from deceased authors and playwrights
- Charlie Says (2018) – biographical drama film about infamous killer, Charles Manson
- City of Lies (2018) – crime thriller film about the investigations by the Los Angeles Police Department of the murders of rappers Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G.
- Colette (2018) – biographical drama film based upon the life of French novelist Colette
- Come Sunday (2018) – drama film based on Carlton Pearson's excommunication
- Diary of My Mind (French: Journal de ma tête) (2018) – Swiss made-for-television true crime film about a school teacher who must confront the effects of having been made an unwitting accomplice to a murder committed by her student Benjamin, when he confesses to the murder and his motivations in a homework assignment he turned in to her just before committing the crime, based on a true crime story from European history
- Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot (2018) – comedy-drama film following a recently paralyzed alcoholic who finds a passion for drawing off-color newspaper cartoons
- Dovlatov (Russian: Довлатов) (2018) – Russian biographical film about writer Sergei Dovlatov
- The Drug King (Korean: 마약왕) (2018) – South Korean crime drama film depicting the true life story of Lee Doo-sam, a drug smuggler building his empire in Busan's crime underworld in the 1970s
- The Favourite (2018) – period black comedy film set in early 18th-century England, the film's plot examines the relationship between two cousins, Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough and Abigail Masham, who are vying to be Court favourites of Queen Anne
- First Man (2018) – biographical drama film exploring the years leading up to the Apollo 11 mission to the Moon in 1969
- First Name: Mathieu (French: Prénom: Mathieu) (2018) – Swiss made-for-television true crime film based on the real life case of serial killer Michel Peiry
- The Front Runner (2018) – political drama film chronicling the rise of American Senator Gary Hart, a candidate to be the 1988 Democratic presidential nominee, and his subsequent fall from grace when media reports suggested he was having an extramarital affair
- Girl in the Bunker (2018) – made-for-television film depicting the kidnapping of 14-year-old Elizabeth Shoaf
- Gold (2018) – Indian Hindi-language period-sports drama film based on the journey of India's first national hockey team to the 1948 Summer Olympics
- Gosnell: The Trial of America's Biggest Serial Killer (2018) – drama film based on the real life events about Kermit Gosnell, a physician and abortion provider who was convicted of first degree murder in the deaths of three infants born alive, involuntary manslaughter in the death of a patient undergoing an abortion procedure, 21 felony counts of illegal late-term abortion, and 211 counts of violating a 24-hour informed consent law
- Gotti (2018) – biographical crime film about New York City mobster John Gotti
- Goyo: The Boy General (Fillipino: Goyo: Ang Batang Heneral) (2018) – Filipino historical epic film about Gregorio del Pilar, who died during the historic Battle of Tirad Pass in the Philippine–American War
- Green Book (2018) – biographical comedy-drama film inspired by the true story of a tour of the Deep South by African American classical and jazz pianist Don Shirley and Italian American bouncer Frank "Tony Lip" Vallelonga, who served as Shirley's driver and bodyguard
- The Happy Prince (2018) – biographical drama film about Oscar Wilde
- Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance (2018) – made-for-television film about the meeting and courtship of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle
- Hotel Mumbai (2018) – Australian-American-Indian action thriller film inspired by the 2009 documentary Surviving Mumbai about the 2008 Mumbai attacks at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in India
- Hurricane (2018) – Polish-British biographical war drama film depicting the experiences of a group of Polish pilots of No. 303 Squadron RAF (Template:Lang 303) in the Battle of Britain in the Second World War
- I Can Only Imagine (2018) – Christian biographical drama film based on the story behind the group MercyMe's song of the same name, the best-selling Christian single of all time
- Indivisible (2018) – Christian drama film based on the true story of Darren Turner. It follows an Army chaplain as he struggles to balance his faith and the Iraq War
- In Like Flynn (2018) – Australian biographical film about the early life of actor Errol Flynn
- Killed by My Debt (2018) – British made-for-television drama film based on the life of Jerome Rogers who died by suicide aged twenty having accrued debts of over £1,000 stemming from two unpaid £65 traffic fines
- Kursk (2018) – Belgian-French-Luxembourgish disaster drama-thriller film depicting the true story of the 2000 Kursk submarine disaster
- Le Mans 1955 (2018) – computer-animated short film inspired by the 1955 Le Mans disaster
- Leto (Template:Translation Summer) (2018) – Russian musical film depicting the Leningrad underground rock scene of the early 1980s, drawing loosely from the lives of the Soviet rock musicians Viktor Tsoi and Mike Naumenko
- Lizzie (2018) – biographical thriller film based on the true story of Lizzie Borden, who was accused and acquitted of the axe murders of her father and stepmother in Fall River, Massachusetts, in 1892
- Mahanati (Template:Translation The great actress) (2018) – Indian Telugu-language biographical drama film based on the life of Indian actress Savitri
- Mary Queen of Scots (2018) – historical drama film about Mary, Queen of Scots and her cousin Queen Elizabeth I and chronicling the 1569 conflict between their two countries
- May the Lord Be with Us (Czech: Bůh s námi - od defenestrace k Bílé hoře) (2018) – Czech made-for-television historical drama film set during Bohemian Revolt that triggered Thirty Years' War
- Metanol (2018) – Czech made-for-television drama film focusing on the 2012 Czech Republic methanol poisonings
- The Miracle Season (2018) – sports drama film based on the true story of the Iowa City West High School volleyball team after the sudden death of the team's heart and leader, Caroline Found, in 2011
- The Mule (2018) – crime drama film which recounts the story of Leo Sharp, a World War II veteran who became a drug courier for the Sinaloa Cartel in his 80s
- My Dinner with Hervé (2018) – made-for-television drama film based on the later days of actor Hervé Villechaize
- No One Would Tell (2018) – made-for-television film based on the true story of Jamie Fuller, a 16-year-old high school student who murdered his 14-year-old girlfriend
- The Old Man & the Gun (2018) – biographical crime filmabout Forrest Tucker, a career criminal and escape artist
- On My Skin (Italian: Sulla mia pelle) (2018) – Italian drama film based on the real story of the last days of Stefano Cucchi, a 31-year-old building surveyor who died in 2009 during preventive custody, victim of police brutality
- On the Basis of Sex (2018) – biographical legal drama film based on the life and early cases of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who served as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1993 to her death in 2020, and became the second woman to serve on the Supreme Court
- Operation Finale (2018) – historical drama film that follows the efforts of Israeli Mossad officers to capture former SS officer Adolf Eichmann in 1960
- Outlaw King (2018) – British-American historical action drama film about Robert the Bruce, the 14th-century Scottish King who launched a guerrilla war against the larger English army. The film largely takes place during the 3-year historical period from 1304, when Bruce decides to rebel against the rule of Edward I over Scotland, thus becoming an "outlaw", up to the 1307 Battle of Loudoun Hill
- Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran (2018) – Indian Hindi-language historical action drama film based on India's second secret nuclear test series in Pokhran, Rajasthan in 1998
- Paterno (2018) – made-for-television drama film about former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, and his career leading up to his dismissal following the university's child sex abuse scandal in 2011
- Raazi (2018) – Indian Hindi-language spy thriller film about an Indian spy married to a Pakistani man during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
- Red Joan (2018) – British spy drama film inspired by the life of Melita Norwood who worked at the British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association as a secretary and supplied the Soviet Union with nuclear secrets
- Riot (2018) – Australian made-for-television drama film about the LGBTI rights movement in the 1970s and the beginnings of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras
- Sanju (2018) – Indian Hindi-language biogrophical comedy drama film depicting the life of Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, his addiction with drugs, arrest for his association with the 1993 Bombay bombings, relationship with his father, comeback in the industry, the eventual drop of charges from the Bombay bombings, and release after completing his jail term
- Sirius (2018) – Swiss made-for-television true crime film based on the Order of the Solar Temple fires at Salvan in 1994
- Skin (2018) – biographical drama film following the life of Bryon Widner, a former member of a Neo-Nazism-influenced skinhead group
- Soorma (Template:Translation) (2018) – Indian Hindi-language biographical sports drama film based on the life of and return of hockey player Sandeep Singh
- Stan and Ollie (2018) – biographical comedy-drama based on the later years of the lives of the comedy double act Laurel and Hardy
- Tag (2018) – comedy film based on the true story that was published in The Wall Street Journal about a group of grown men who spend one month a year playing the game of tag
- Traffic Ramasamy (2018) – Indian Telugu-language biographical film based on the real-life story of the veteran social activist K. R. Ramaswamy who received the nickname of Traffic Ramaswamy for his activism in controlling traffic related issues in Tamil Nadu
- Unbroken: Path to Redemption (2018) – Christian drama film that acts as a sequel to the 2014 film Unbroken, although none of the original cast or crew returns except the producer Matthew Baer, and actors Vincenzo Amato and Maddalena Ischiale. The film chronicles Louis Zamperini following his return from World War II, his personal struggles to adjust back to civilian life and his eventual conversion to evangelical Christianity after attending one of Billy Graham's church revivals
- Vice (2018) – biographical comedy-drama film following Dick Cheney on his path to become the most powerful Vice President in American history
- Vita and Virginia (2018) – British biographical romantic drama film based on the love affair between Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf
- Welcome to Marwen (2018) – drama film inspired by the true story of Mark Hogancamp, a man struggling with PTSD who, after being physically assaulted, creates a fictional village to ease his trauma
- White Boy Rick (2018) – biographical crime drama film based on a true story, the film stars Richie Merritt as Richard Wershe Jr., who in the 1980s became the youngest FBI informant ever at the age of 14
- The White Crow (2018) – British-French biographical drama film chronicling the life and dance career of ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev
- Winchester (2018) – supernatural horror film based on the life of Sarah Winchester and follows her as she is haunted by spirits inside her San Jose mansion in 1906
[edit]
2019
- 4x4 (2019) – Argentine-Spanish thriller crime film based on Ciro, a criminal who breaks into a 4x4 pickup truck owned by an obstetrician medic Enrique Ferrari to steal a car stereo
- 72 Hours: Martyr Who Never Died (2019) – Indian Hindi-language biographical film based on the life and times of rifleman Jaswant Singh Rawat, who fought against the enriching Chinese army during the 1962 Sino-Indian War
- 1917 (2019) – American-British war film based in part on an account told to Mendes by his paternal grandfather, Alfred Mendes, and chronicles the story of two young British soldiers during World War 1 who are given a mission to deliver a message. This warns of an ambush during a skirmish, soon after the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line during Operation Alberich in 1917
- A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019) – biographical drama film based on Lloyd Vogel, a troubled journalist for Esquire who is assigned to profile television icon Fred Rogers
- A Call to Spy (2019) – historical drama film inspired by the true stories of three women who worked as spies in World War II
- A Girl from Mogadishu (2019) – Irish-Belgian semi-biographical film based on the testimony of Ifrah Ahmed, who having escaped war-torn Somalia, emerged as one of the world's foremost international activists against gender-based violence
- A Hidden Life (2019) – epic historical drama film based on the life of Franz Jägerstätter, an Austrian farmer and devout Catholic who refused to fight for the Nazis in World War II
- Abducted: The Mary Stauffer Story (2019) – based on the true story of the kidnapping of Mary and Elizabeth Stauffer at the hands of Ming Sen Shiue
- The Accidental Prime Minister (2019) – Indian Hindi-language biographical drama film about Manmohan Singh, the economist and politician who served as the 13th Prime Minister of India from 2004 to 2014 under the United Progressive Alliance
- Adults in the Room (Greek: Enílikoi stin aíthous) (2019) – French-Greek film based on the 2015 Greek bailout
- The Aeronauts (2019) – biographical adventure film follows the balloon expedition of James Glaisher, whose life goal is to travel into the sky to predict the weather and breaks the world record for altitude after reaching a height of 36,000 feet
- Amundsen (2019) – Norwegian biographical film that details the life of Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen
- Bad Education (2019) – crime drama film based on the true story of the largest public school embezzlement in American history
- The Best of Enemies (2019) – drama film which focuses on the rivalry between civil rights activist Ann Atwater and Ku Klux Klan leader C. P. Ellis
- Blinded by the Light (2019) – British comedy-drama film inspired by the life of journalist Sarfraz Manzoor and his love of the works of Bruce Springsteen
- Bombshell (2019) – biographical drama film based upon the accounts of the women at Fox News who set out to expose CEO Roger Ailes for sexual harassment
- The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (2019) – British drama film based on the memoir The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer
- Breakthrough (2019) – Christian drama film about St. Louis author Joyce Smith's son John who slipped through an icy lake in January 2015 and was underwater for 15 minutes before resuscitative efforts were started. Although being rescued, he is in a coma, and his family must rely on their faith to get through the ordeal
- Brecht (2019) – German made-for-television biographical film dealing with the life and work of the German playwright Bertolt Brecht
- Brexit: The Uncivil War (2019) – British made-for-television drama film based on the lead-up to the 2016 referendum through the activities of the strategists behind the Vote Leave campaign, that prompted the United Kingdom to exit the European Union, known as Brexit
- Brotherhood (2019) – Canadian drama film based on the true story of a group of youth at a summer camp on Balsam Lake in the Kawartha Lakes, who had to fight for survival when an unforeseen thunderstorm overwhelmed their canoe trip
- Capsized: Blood in the Water (2019) – biographical natural horror-survival film, based on the 1982 true story of a small boat crew aboard a private yacht who are stranded in shark infested waters, following a storm that overturns their vessel
- Chernobyl (2019) – historical drama miniseries revolving around the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of April 1986 and the cleanup efforts that followed
- Claws of the Red Dragon (2019) – Canadian made-for-television drama film depicting a fictionalization of the political and diplomatic issues surrounding the 2018 arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
- Close (2019) – action thriller based on Jacquie Davis, one of the world's leading female bodyguards, whose clients have included J. K. Rowling, Nicole Kidman, and members of the British royal family
- The College Admissions Scandal (2019) – made-for-television film is based on the 2019 college admissions bribery scandal
- Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan (2019) – Australian war film about the Battle of Long Tan during the Vietnam War
- Dark Waters (2019) – legal thriller film based on Robert Bilott's real-life legal battle against DuPont over the release of a toxic chemical into Parkersburg, West Virginia's water supply, affecting 70,000 townspeople and livestock
- Death of a Cheerleader (2019) – made-for-television film about the Murder of Kirsten Costas
- The Devil Has a Name (2019) – dark comedy based on the decades-long legal battle between Fred Starrh and Aera Energy over allowing 600 million barrels of oil waste, from unlined wastewater ponds, to contaminate California's Central Valley groundwater where more than half the nuts, fruits and vegetables in the U.S. are grown
- The Dirt (2019) – biographical comedy-drama film about Heavy metal band Mötley Crüe
- Dolemite Is My Name (2019) – biographical comedy film about filmmaker Rudy Ray Moore, best known for portraying the character of Dolemite in both his stand-up routine and a series of blaxploitation films, starting with Dolemite in 1975
- Effigy: Poison and the City (German: Effigie – Das Gift und die Stadt) (2019) – German-American historical thriller film about German 19th century female serial killer Gesche Gottfried
- Elisa & Marcela (Spanish: Elisa y Marcela) (2019) – Spanish biographical romantic drama film based on the story of Elisa Sánchez Loriga and Marcela Gracia Ibeas, two women who posed as a heterosexual couple in order to marry in 1901 at the Church of Saint George in A Coruña becoming the first same-sex matrimony recorded in Spain
- Escaping the NXIVM Cult: A Mother's Fight to Save Her Daughter (2019) – made-for-television biographical film based on Catherine and India Oxenberg and their story of escaping the NXIVM cult
- Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019) – biographical crime thriller film about the life of serial killer Ted Bundy
- Fighting with My Family (2019) – British-American biographical sports comedy-drama film based on the WWE career of English professional wrestler Paige
- Fisherman's Friend's (2019) – British biographical comedy-drama based on a true story about Port Issac's Fisherman's Friends, a group of Cornish fishermen from Port Issac who were signed by Universal Records and achieved a top 10 hit with their debut album of traditional sea shanties
- Ford v Ferrari (2019) – sport drama film about automotive designer Carroll Shelby and race car driver Ken Miles, who lead a team of American engineers and designers from Ford to build a race car that can beat legendary Ferrari
- Fosse/Verdon (2019) – biographical miniseries which tells the story of director–choreographer Bob Fosse and actress and dancer Gwen Verdon's troubled personal and professional relationship
- Goalie (2019) – Canadian biographical sports film about the hockey goaltender Terry Sawchuk
- The Golden Glove (German: Der Goldene Handschuh) (2019) – German-French horror drama film depicting the story of German serial killer Fritz Honka who murdered four women between 1970 and 1975 and hid the parts of dead bodies in his apartment
- Gumnaami (2019) – Indian Bengali-language biographical mystery film based on the mystery of Netaji's death, based on the Mukherjee Commission hearings and the book Conundrum written by Anuj Dhar and Chandrachur Ghose
- Harriet (2019) – biographical drama film based on the life of abolitionist Harriet Tubman, who escaped slavery and led hundreds of enslaved people to freedom on the Underground Railroad
- The Haunting of Sharon Tate (2019) – horror thriller film based on the 1969 Tate murders mixed with fictional elements
- The Highwaymen (2019) – historical crime drama film about two former Texas Rangers who attempt to track down and apprehend notorious criminals Bonnie and Clyde in the 1930s
- Hustlers (2019) – crime comedy-drama film which follows a crew of New York City strippers who begin to steal money by drugging stock traders and CEOs who visit their club, then running up their credit cards
- I Am Somebody's Child: The Regina Louise Story (2019) – made-for-television film based on the life of Regina Louise
- I Am Woman (2019) – Australian biographical film about Australian feminist icon Helen Reddy
- Ip Man 4: The Finale (Mandarin: 葉問4:完結篇) (2019) – Chinese martial arts film, the fourth and final film in the Ip Man film series based on the life of the Wing Chun grandmaster of the same name
- The Irishman (2019) – epic crime drama film about Frank Sheeran, a truck driver who becomes a hitman involved with mobster Russell Bufalino and his crime family, including his time working for the powerful Teamster Jimmy Hoffa
- John the Apostle, the Most Beloved (Spanish: Juan Apóstol, el más amado) (2019) – Mexican made-for-television film based on the life of John the Apostle
- Judy (2019) – biographical drama film about American singer and actress Judy Garland
- Just Mercy (2019) – biographical legal drama film based on Bryan Stevenson's 2014 eponymous memoir, in which he explored his journey to making his life's work the defense of African American prisoners
- Kesari (2019) – Indian Hindi-language action-war film following the events leading to the Battle of Saragarhi, a battle between 21 soldiers of the 36th Sikhs of the British Indian Army and 10,000 Afridi and Orakzai Pashtun tribesmen in 1897
- The Kid (2019) – semi-biographical western action film centering around Rio Cutler who forms and unlikely alliance with local sheriff Pat Garret and infamous outlaw Billy the Kid in a mission to rescue his sister Sara from Grant Cutler, the boy's thuggish uncle and gang leader
- The Kill Team (2019) – war film, a fictionalised adaption of the events explored by an earlier documentary of the same name
- The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain (2019) – biographical drama film based on the police shooting of Chamberlain in 2011
- The King (2019) – epic war film based on King Henry V of England
- Kingdom (Japanese: キングダム) (2019) – Japanese action adventure film that portrays the life of Li Xin, a general of Qin, from his childhood as an orphan through his military career during the Warring States period of ancient China
- Lakshmi's NTR (2019) – Indian Telugu-language biographical drama film based on the life of former film actor and chief minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh, N. T. Rama Rao
- Lancaster Skies (2019) – British war film focusing on the British bomber campaign in World War II
- The Laundromat (2019) – biographical comedy-drama film based on the Panama Papers scandal
- The Last Full Measure (2019) – war drama film that tells the true story of Vietnam War hero William H. Pitsenbarger, a U.S. Air Force Pararescuemen (also known as a PJ) who personally saved over sixty men and flew on almost 300 rescue missions during the war to aide downed soldiers and pilots
- The Lighthouse (2019) – American-Canadian horror psychological thriller survival film about two lighthouse keepers start to lose their sanity when a storm strands them on the remote island on which they are stationed (based, in part, on the Smalls Lighthouse incident, which occurred in 1801)
- The Loudest Voice (2019) – drama biographical miniseries depicting Roger Ailes as he creates and guides the rise of Fox News
- Love You to Death (2019) – made-for-television crime drama film depicting the events of the Murder of Dee Dee Blanchard
- Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi (2019) – Indian Hindi-language period drama film based on the life of Rani Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi
- Midway (2019) – war film based on the Attack on Pearl Harbour and the subsequent Battle of Midway during World War II
- Military Wives (2019) – British comedy-drama film inspired by the true story of the Military Wives Choir
- Moffie (2019) – South African-British biographical war romantic drama film revolving around two gay characters Nicholas van der Swart and Dylan Stassen who attempt to come to terms with their homosexuality
- Mr Jones (2019) – biographical thriller film that tells the story of Welsh journalist Gareth Jones, who in 1933 travels to the Soviet Union and Ukraine and uncovers the Soviet famine of 1932–33
- Mrs Lowry & Son (2019) – biographical drama film set in Pendlebury Greater Manchester, chronicling the life of the renowned artist L. S. Lowry
- The Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson (2019) – crime horror film based on the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson, presenting an alternative theory of who her killer could have been, serial killer Glen Edward Rogers, as opposed to the main suspect, her ex-husband, O. J. Simpson
- NTR: Kathanayakudu (Template:Translation NTR: The Hero) (2019) – Indian Telugu-language biographical film, based on the real life and acting career of N. T. Rama Rao
- NTR: Mahanayakudu (Template:Translation NTR: The Great Leader) (2019) – Indian Telugu-language biographical film, based on the real life and political career of N. T. Rama Rao
- Official Secrets (2019) – British-American docudrama based on the life of whistleblower Katherine Gun who leaked a memo detailing that the United States had eavesdropped on diplomats from countries tasked with passing a second United Nations resolution on the invasion of Iraq
- Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019) – comedy-drama film featuring multiple storylines in a modern fairy tale tribute to the final moments of Hollywood's golden age, highlighting Sharon Tate
- Once Upon a Time in London (2019) – British crime film about the notorious gangsters Billy Hill and Jack Comer
- Our Friend (2019) – biographical drama film based on Matthew Teague's 2015 Esquire article "The Friend: Love Is Not a Big Enough Word"
- Panipat (2019) – Indian Hindi-language epic war film depicting the events that took place during the Third Battle of Panipat
- Patsy & Loretta (2019) – made-for-television biographical film based on the friendship between country singers Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn
- The Professor and the Madman (2019) – biographical drama film about the professor, James Murray, who in 1879 began compiling the Oxford English Dictionary and led the overseeing committee, and W. C. Minor, a doctor who submitted over 10,000 entries while he was undergoing treatment at Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum
- Radioactive (2019) – British biographical film based on the life of Marie Curie
- The Red Sea Diving Resort (2019) – spy thriller film which is loosely based on the events of Operation Moses and Operation Joshua in 1984–1985, in which the Mossad covertly evacuated Jewish Ethiopian refugees to Israel
- The Report (2019) – drama film following staffer Daniel Jones and the Senate Intelligence Committee as they investigate the CIA's use of torture following the September 11 attacks
- Richard Jewell (2019) – biographical drama film depicting the Centennial Olympic Park bombing and its aftermath during the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, in which security guard Richard Jewell found a bomb and alerted authorities to evacuate, only to later be wrongly accused of having placed the device himself
- Ride Like a Girl (2019) – Australian biographical sports drama film based on the true story of Michelle Payne, the first female jockey to win the Melbourne Cup in 2015
- Robert the Bruce (2019) – historical drama war film concerning the renowned king of the same name
- Rocketman (2019) – biographical musical drama film based on the life of musician Elton John
- Run This Town (2019) – drama film based on the final year of Rob Ford's tenure as the mayor of Toronto
- Seberg (2019) – political thriller film about Jean Seberg, who in the late 1960s was targeted by the FBI because of her support of the civil rights movement and romantic involvement with Hakim Jamal, among others
- The Sholay Girl (2019) – Indian Hindi-language biographical period drama film based on India's first stuntwoman, Reshma Pathan
- Shooting Clerks (2019) – British-American biographical comedy-drama film detailing how Kevin Smith bankrolled his $27,000 first film with maxed-out credit cards and garnered career-making critical attention at the Sundance Film Festival when Clerks debuted there in 1994
- Sister Aimee (2019) – biographical film dramatizing the of disappearance of Aimee Semple McPherson
- Super 30 (2019) – Indian Hindi-language biographical drama film narrating the life of mathematician Anand Kumar and his educational program of the same name
- Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy (2019) – Indian Telugu-language historical action film inspired by the life of Indian independence activist Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy from the Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh
- Tashkent Files (2019) – Indian Hindi-language conpiracy thriller film about the death of former Indian prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri
- Thackeray (2019) – Indian biographical film following the life of Balasaheb Thackeray, the founder of the Indian political party Shiv Sena
- Togo (2019) – drama film about "two key figures in the 1925 serum run to Nome, also known as the Great Race of Mercy, in which dog-sled teams relayed to transport diphtheria antitoxin serum through harsh conditions over nearly 700 miles to save the Alaskan town of Nome from an epidemic sickness
- Tolkien (2019) – biographical drama film about the early life of English professor J. J. R. Tolkien, author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, as well as notable academic works
- The Traitor (2019) – Italian biographical crime drama film about the life of Tommaso Buscetta, the first Sicilian Mafia boss who was treated by some as pentito
- Trapped: The Alex Cooper Story (2019) – biographical drama film about Alex Cooper's experience in being sent to a conversion therapy home and the brutalities she endured while there
- True History of the Kelly Gang (2019) – British-Australian biographical western film based on the story of Australian bushranger Ned Kelly and his gang as they flee from authorities during the 1870s
- The Two Popes (2019) – biographical drama film predominantly set in the Vatican City in the aftermath of the Vatican leaks scandal, the film follows Pope Benedict XVI as he attempts to convince Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio to reconsider his decision to resign as an archbishop as he confides his own intentions to abdicate the papacy
- Union of Salvation (Russian: Союз спасения) (2019) – Russian war epic period adventure film about veterans of the French invasion of Russia of 1812, who conspired to install Konstantin Pavlovich as the new tsar of the Russian Empire, transform Russia into a constitutional state and abolish serfdom
- Unplanned (2019) – anti-abortion drama film based on the disputed memoir Unplanned by Abby Johnson
- Uri: The Surgical Strike (2019) – Indian Hindi-language war action film based on the true events of the retaliation to the 2016 Uri attack
- Virus (2019) – Indian Malayalam-language medical thriller film set in backdrop of the 2018 Nipah virus outbreak in Kerala
- Walk. Ride. Rodeo. (2019) – biographical film about the life of Amberley Snyder, a nationally ranked rodeo barrel racer who defies the odds to return to the sport after barely surviving a car crash that leaves her paralysed from the waist down
- The Warrior Queen of Jhansi (2019) – British period drama film on the 1857 Indian Rebellion against the British East India Company
- When They See Us (2019) – crime drama based on events of the 1989 Central Park jogger case and explores the lives and families of the five Black and Latino male suspects who were falsely accused then prosecuted on charges related to the rape and assault of a white woman in Central Park, New York City
- Yatra (Template:Translation Journey) (2019) – Indian Telugu-language biographical film based on padayatra of Reddy who served as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh from May 2004 to June 2009 representing Indian National Congress
[edit]
2020s
[edit]
2020
- AK-47 (Russian: Kalashnikov) (2020) – Russian biographical film about the experiences of Mikhail Kalashnikov, inventor of the AK-47 assault rifle
- Alex Wheatle (2020) – made-for-television historical drama film about Alex Wheatle, a Black British novelist who was sentenced to a term of imprisonment after the 1981 Brixton uprising
- Ammonite (2020) – British/Australian romantic drama film written and directed by Francis Lee. It is based on the life of English fossil collector, dealer, and palaeontologist Mary Anning
- The Banker (2020) – drama film following Joe Morris and Bernard Garrett, two of the first African-American bankers in the United States who bought banks in Texas to give lending opportunities to blacks who aspired to own homes and start business, while Jim Crow laws made such ambitions nearly impossible in the Deep South in the 1950s
- Beans (2020) – Canadian drama film directed by Mohawk filmmaker Tracey Deer, telling the story of the Oka Crisis, which Deer experienced herself as a child, through the story of Tekehentahkhwa (nicknamed "Beans"), a young Mohawk girl whose perspective on life is radically changed by the events of the crisis
- Betrayer (2020) – Czech made-for-television historical drama film about Emanuel Moravec
- Beyond That Mountain (Korean:Jeo San Neo-meo) (2020) – South Korean biographical film about the childhood of Stephen Kim Sou-hwan, former Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and Archbishop of Seoul
- Capone (2020) – biographical film starring Tom Hardy as the notorious gangster Al Capone
- Caught in Time (Chinese: Chúbào) (2020) – Chinese crime film based on the robber and serial killer Zhang Jun
- Chhapaak (2020) – Indian Hindi-language drama film based on the life of Laxmi Agarwal
- The Clark Sisters: First Ladies of Gospel (2020) – biographical film about Gospel group The Clark Sisters
- Clouds (2020) – biographical romantic musical drama teen film based upon the memoir Fly a Little Higher: How God Answered a Mom's Small Prayer in a Big Way by Laura Sobiech about the life of Zach Sobiech, a teenager from Minnesota who had osteosarcoma and decided to follow his dream of becoming a musician, after finding out he is dying
- The Courier (2020) – historical spy film starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Greville Wynne, a British businessman who was recruited by the Secret Intelligence Service to deliver messages to secret agent Oleg Penkovsky during the Cuban Missile Crisis in the 1960s
- Critical Thinking (2020) – biographical drama film based on the true story of the 1998 Miami Jackson High School chess team
- Dream Horse (2020) – drama film about thoroughbred racehorse Dream Alliance who won the 2009 Welsh Grand National Race
- The Duke (2020) – British drama film based on the real-life theft of the Portrait of the Duke of Wellington
- Education (2020) – drama film based on real-life events of the 1970s, when some London councils followed an unofficial policy of transferring disproportionate numbers of black children from mainstream education to schools for the so-called "educationally subnormal"
- Emperor (2020) – historical drama film based on the true story of Shields Green, an African American slave nicknamed "Emperor", who escaped to freedom and participated in abolitionist John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry
- Escape from Pretoria (2020) – biographical thriller film based on the real-life prison escape by three young political prisoners from jail in South Africa in 1979
- Fukushima 50 (2020) – Japanese drama film based on the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster which was caused by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami
- The Glorias (2020) – biographical film starring Julianne Moore as American activist and journalist Gloria Steinem
- The Great (2020) – comedy miniseries loosely based on the rise of Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia
- Greyhound (2020) – war film based on the 1955 novel The Good Shepherd by C. S. Forester
- Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl (2020) – Indian biographical drama film starring Janhvi Kapoor as Indian Air Force pilot Gunjan Saxena, one of the first Indian female air-force pilots in combat
- Hamilton – historical fiction musical drama film inspired by the 2004 biography Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
- I Still Believe (2020) – Christian biographical drama film based on the life of singer-songwriter Jeremy Camp and his first wife, Melissa Lynn Henning-Camp, who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer shortly before they married
- I Was Lorena Bobbitt (2020) – biographical drama film about John and Lorena Bobbitt, a Virginia couple whose troubled marriage became international news in 1993 when Lorena cut off her husband's penis with a knife
- Joe Bell (2020) – biographical drama road film following the true story of a father and his gay son who set out to bond while walking across the country
- Lost Girls (2020) – drama mystery film based on the life of American activist and murder victim advocate Mari Gilbert, a woman tirelessly looking for her missing daughter Shannan, during her search, police found 10 other bodies across Long Island during the Long Island killings
- Leap (2020) – Chinese biographical sports film based on the China women's national volleyball team's stories spread over more than 40 years
- Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020) – biographical drama film based on the 1982 play of the same name by August Wilson, focusing on Ma Rainey, an influential blues singer, and dramatises a turbulent recording session in 1920s Chicago
- The Man Standing Next (2020) – South Korean political drama film telling the story of the high-ranking officials of the Korean government and the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) during the presidency of Park Chung-hee 40 days before his assassination in 1979
- Mank (2020) – biographical drama film about screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, and his battles with director Orson Welles over screenplay credit for Citizen Kane (1941)
- Misbehaviour (2020) – British comedy drama about Jennifer Hosten, the first black competitor in the 1970 Miss World competition
- Minamata (2020) – biographical drama film starring Johnny Depp as W. Eugene Smith, an American photojournalist who documented the effects of mercury poisoning on the citizens of Minamata, Kumamoto, Japan
- Mrs. America (2020) – historical drama depicting the unsuccessful political movement to pass the Equal Rights Amendment and the unexpected backlash led by conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly in the 1970s
- One Night in Miami... (2020) – drama film depicting a fictionalized account of a real February 1964 meeting of Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, and Sam Cooke in a room at the Hampton House, celebrating Ali's surprise title win over Sonny Liston
- The Outpost (2020) – war film based on the 2012 non-fiction book The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor by Jake Tapper
- Penguin Bloom (2020) – Australian/American drama film based on the book of the same name about the struggling Bloom family in the aftermath of an accident which left Sam Bloom with partial paralysis
- Percy (2020) – Canadian-American-Indian biographical drama film about 70-year-old small-town Saskatchewan farmer Percy Schmeiser, who takes on a giant corporation after their GMOs interfere with his crops
- Resistance (2020) – biographical drama film based on the life of French actor and mime artist Marcel Marceau
- Roald & Beatrix: The Tail of the Curious Mouse (2020) – made-for-television drama film inspired by the true story of a six-year-old Roald Dahl meeting his idol Beatrix Potter
- Roe V. Wade (2020) – political legal drama film that serves as a dramatization of the 1973 landmark decision of the same name, rendered by the U.S. Supreme Court on the issue of the constitutionality of laws that criminalized or restricted access to abortions
- Selena: The Series (2020) – biographical drama streaming television series tells the story of Tejano singer Selena's rise to fame and the sacrifices she and her family must make along the way
- Self Made (2020) – biographical drama based on the biography On Her Own Ground by A'Lelia Bundles
- Sergio (2020) – biographical drama film about United Nations diplomat Sérgio Vieira de Mallo
- Shakuntala Devi (2020) – Indian Hindi-language biographical drama film tracing the life of mathematician Shakuntala Devi, who was also known as the "human computer"
- Shirley (2020) – biographical drama film about novelist Shirley Jackson's life during the time period she was writing her 1951 novel Hangsaman
- Sitting in Limbo (2020) – made-for-television drama film about the Windrush scandal focusing on the real-life experiences of a Jamaican-born British man, Anthony Bryan, one of the victims of the UK Home Office hostile environment policy on immigration
- Son of the South (2020) – biographical historical drama film, based on Bob Zellner's autobiography, The Wrong Side of Murder Creek: A White Southerner in the Freedom Movement
- Stardust (2020) – British-Canadian biographical film about English singer-songwriter David Bowie and his alter-ego Ziggy Stardust
- Street Survivors: The True Story of the Lynyrd Skynyrd Plane Crash (2020) – musical survival drama film about the rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, whose plane crashed on 20 October 1977, killing three band members and the two pilots, while the tour plane ran out of fuel over Mississippi
- Tanhaji (2020) – Indian Hindi-language biographical period action film set in the 17th century, and revolving around the life of Tanhaji Malusare, depicting his attempts to recapture the Kondhana fortress once it passes on to Mughal emperor Aurangzeb who transfers its control to his trusted guard Udaybhan Singh Rathore
- Tesla (2020) – biographical film about Serbian-American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer and futurist Nikola Tesla
- The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020) – crime drama film based on the story of the Chicago Seven, a group of seven defendants charged by the federal government with conspiracy, inciting to riot, and other charges related to anti-Vietnam War and countercultural protests that took place in Chicago, Illinois, on the occasion of the 1968 Democratic National Convention
- Tove (2020) – Finnish biographical film of Swedo-Finnish author and illustrator Tove Jansson
- The Windermere Children (2020) – biographical drama film based on the experience of child survivors of the Holocaust, it follows the children and staff of a camp set up on the Calgarth Estate in Troutbeck Bridge, near Lake Windermere, England, where the survivors were helped to rehabilitate, rebuild their lives, and integrate into the British society
- Worth (2020) – biographical film depicting depicts Kenneth Feinberg's handing of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund
[edit]
2021
- 12 Mighty Orphans (2021) – sports film based upon the non fiction book Twelve Mighty Orphans: The Inspiring True Story of the Mighty Mites Who Ruled Texas Football by Jim Dent
- 83 (2021) – Indian Hindi-language sports drama film based on the India national cricket team led by Kapil Dev, which won the 1983 Cricket World Cup
- A Journal for Jordan (2021) – drama film based on the memoir A Journal for Jordan: A Story of Love and Honor by Dana Canedy
- Aik Hai Nigaar (2021) – Pakistani made-for-television biographical drama film based on three-star general of Pakistan Army, Nigar Johar and centers on her life and career from 1975 (when Johar was young) to present time
- Aileen Wuornos: American Boogeywoman (2021) – horror thriller film based on the facts of the biography of serial killer Aileen Wuornos and supplemented with elements of fiction
- American Underdog (2021) – biographical sports film about National Football League (NFL) quarterback Kurt Warner's journey as an undrafted player who ascended to winning Super Bowl XXXIV
- Baggio: The Divine Ponytail (Italian: Il Divin Codino) (2021) – Italian biographical sports film based on real life events of Italian footballer Roberto Baggio
- Being the Ricardos (2021) – biographical drama film about the relationship between I Love Lucy stars Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz
- Benedetta (2021) – biographical drama film based on Benedetta Carlini, a novice nun in the 17th century who joins an Italian convent and has a lesbian love affair with another nun
- Benediction (2021) – historical drama biographical film about Siegfried Sassoon
- Bhuj: The Pride of India (2021) – Indian Hindi-language biographical film depicts the true story of Indian Air Force Squadron Leader Vijay Karnik — then in-charge of the Bhuj Air Force Base who, with the help of 300 local women, reconstructed the damaged landing strip in 72 hours
- Break Every Chain (2021) – Christian biographical drama film based on the autobiographical novel of the same name by Jonathan Hickory
- Creation Stories (2021) – biographical film about Alan McGee and Creation Records
- Death Saved My Life (2021) – made-for-television thriller film inspired on the story of Noela Rukundo
- The Dig (2021) – British drama film based on the 2007 novel of the same name by John Preston, which reimagines the events of the 1939 excavation of Sutton Hoo
- Edge of the World (2021) – adventure drama film based on the British soldier and adventurer James Brooke
- Louis Wain (2021) – British biographical film depicting the life of British painter Louis Wain
- Escape from Mogadishu (Korean: Mogadisyu) (2021) – South Korean action drama film set during the Somali Civil War and the two Koreas' efforts to be admitted to the United Nations in the late 1980s and early 1990s and depicts details of perilous escape attempt made by North and South Korean embassy workers stranded during the conflict
- The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021) – biographical drama film based on the 2000 documentary of the same name by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, the film depicts the history of controversial televangelists Tammy Faye Bakker and Jim Bakker
- Firebird (2021) – romantic drama film based on the memoir The Story of Roman by Sergey Fetisov, which is set during the Cold War
- Hive (Albanian: Zgjoi) (2021) – Kosovan drama film about a woman, Fahrije, with a missing husband, who becomes an entrepreneur and starts selling her own ajvar and honey, recruiting other women in the process
- House of Gucci (2021) – biographical crime drama film based on the 2001 book The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed by Sara Gay Forden
- Judas and the Black Messiah (2021) – biographical drama film about the betrayal of Fred Hampton, chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party in late-1960s Chicago, at the hands of William O'Neal, an FBI informant
- King Richard (2021) – biographical drama film that follows the life of Richard Williams, the father and coach of famed tennis players Venus and Serena Williams
- Kurup (2021) – Indian biopic of Sukumara Kurup, a wanted notorious criminal from the Indian state of Kerala
- The Lady of Heaven (2021) – British epic historical drama film on the life of the historical figure, Fatimah, during and after the era of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. In addition to the Islamic story of 7th century, the film also deals with Islamic State in the 21st century and the origins of Islamic terrorism
- Lansky (2021) – biographical crime drama about the famous gangster Meyer Lansky
- The Last Duel (2021) – historical drama film based on the 2004 book of the same name by Eric Jager, set in medieval France, the film follows Jean de Carrouges, a knight who challenges his friend and squire Jacques Le Gris to a duel after Carrouges's wife, Marguerite, accuses Le Gris of raping her
- Madame Claude (2021) – French biographical film about the infamous French brothel-keeper Madame Claude
- Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea (Malayalam: Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham) (2021) – Indian epic war film set in the 16th century Calicut, the film is based on the fourth Kunjali Marakkar named Muhammad Ali, the admiral of the fleet of the Zamorin
- The Mauritanian (2021) – British/American legal thriller film following Mauritanian Mohamedou Ould Salahi, who was captured by the U.S. government and detained in Guantanamo Bay detention camp without charge or trial
- Munich – The Edge of War (2021) – German/British drama film based upon the 2017 novel Munich by Robert Harris
- No Man of God (2021) – crime mystery film based on real life transcripts selected from conversations between serial killer Ted Bundy and FBI Special Agent Bill Hagmaier that happened between 1984 and 1989
- Nyaay: The Justice (2021) – Indian Hindi-language biographical drama film based on Sushant Singh Rajput and Rhea Chakraborty
- Nitram (2021) – Australian biographical psychological drama film based on Martin Bryant, and the events leading to his involvement in the 1996 Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania, Australia
- Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle (French: Onoda, 10 000 nuits dans la jungle) (2021) – French highly fictionalized biographical drama film about Hiroo Onoda, a Japanese soldier who refused to believe that World War II had ended and continued to fight on a remote Philippine island until 1974
- Oslo (2021) – made-for-television drama film about the secret negotiation of the Oslo Accords
- The Pembrokeshire Murders (2021) – British three-part television drama miniseries, based on the Pembrokeshire murders by Welsh serial killer John Cooper
- The Phantom of the Open (2021) – British biographical comedy-drama film based on the life and career of Maurice Flitcroft
- Respect (2021) – biographical drama film based on the life of American singer Aretha Franklin
- Saina (2021) – Indian biographical sports film based on the life of badminton player Saina Nehwal
- Sardar Udham (2021) – Indian Hindi-language biographical historical drama film based on the life of Udham Singh Kamboj , a freedom fighter from Punjab who assassinated Michael O'Dwyer in London to avenge the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar
- The Serpent (2021) – British crime drama eight-part mini-series based on the crimes of serial killer Charles Sobhraj, who murdered young tourists between 1975 and 1976
- Shershaah (2021) – Indian Hindi-language biographical war film following the life of Param Vir Chakra-awardee Captain Vikram Batra, from his first posting in the army to his death in the Kargil War
- Spencer (2021) – biographical psychological drama film about Diana, Princess of Wales (née Spencer), and follows Diana's decision to end her marriage to Prince Charles and leave the British royal family
- The Survivor (2021) – biographical drama film depictuing the story of Harry Haft, a real-life survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp, where he boxed fellow inmates to survive
- Ted Bundy: American Boogeyman (2021) – historical Crime film based on the life of serial killer Ted Bundy
- Ted K (2021) – historical crime drama film depicting the true story of Ted Kaczynski, otherwise known as the Unabomber, and the events leading to his arrest
- Thalaivii (2021) – Indian biographical drama film based on the life of Indian actress-politician J. Jayalalithaa
- Tick, Tick... Boom! (2021) – biographical musical drama film based on the stage musical of the same name by Jonathan Larson, a semi-autobiographical story about Larson's writing a musical to enter the industry
- To Olivia (2021) – drama film depicting the true story of Roald Dahl and Patricia Neal as they grapple with the loss of their daughter, Olivia
- Under the Stadium Lights (2021) – sports drama film based on the nonfiction book Brother's Keeper by Al Pickett and Chad Mitchell, about the players, coach, and team chaplain of a high school football team in Abilene, Texas in 2009
- The United States vs. Billie Holiday (2021) – biographical film about singer Billie Holiday, based on the book Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs by Johann Hari
- The Unknown Man (2021) – Australian crime thriller film about two strangers who meet and strike up a friendship, while one of them is a veteran undercover police officer working to secure a conviction for an unsolved murder committed years earlier
- The War Below (2021) – British war film about a group of British miners (known as "Claykickers" or "Manchester Moles") recruited during World War I to tunnel underneath no man's land and set bombs below the German front at the Battle of Messines in 1917
- Wendy Williams: The Movie (2021) – made-for-television biographical film based on the life of entertainer Wendy Williams
- Zero to Hero (Chinese: 媽媽的神奇小子) (2021) – Hong Kong biographical drama film about So Wa Wai, Hong Kong's first athlete to win gold at the Paralympic Games
[edit]
2022
- 892 (2022) – thriller drama film about the final day of the life of war veteran Lance Corporal Brian Brown-Easley
- Against the Ice (2022) – historical survival film based on the true story recounted in Two Against the Ice by Ejnar Mikkelsen
- Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood (2022) – animated coming-of-age film loosely based on the childhood of writer, director, and producer Richard Linklater
- Blonde (2022) – biographical drama film about actress, model and singer Marilyn Monroe
- Elvis (2022) – biographical musical drama film about singer and actor Elvis Presley
- Father Stu (2022) – biographical drama film following the true-life story of Father Stuart Long
- Gangubai Kathiawadi (2022) – Indian Hindi-language biographical crime drama film based on the true story of Gangubai Kothewali
- The Girl from Plainville (2022) – drama miniseries based on the events leading to the death of Conrad Roy and his girlfriend Michelle Carter's conviction for involuntary manslaughter.
- Girl in the Shed: The Kidnapping of Abby Hernandez (2022) – made-for-television film depicting the kidnapping of 14-year-old Abby Hernandez
- Home Team (2022) – sports comedy film about New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton who coached his 12-year-old son's football team during his one-year suspension from the NFL
- I Wanna Dance With Somebody (2022) – biographical musical drama film about singer and actress Whitney Houston
- Infinite Storm (2022) – drama adventure film based on a true story of Pam Bales, a mountain guide who set out on a solitary trek up Mount Washington in October 2010 and the rescue of an incoherent man she encounters
- Jhund (2022) – Indian Hindi-language biographical film based on the life of Vijay Barse, the founder of NGO Slum Soccer
- Maidaan (2022) – Indian Hindi-language biographical sports film based on the golden era of Indian football (1952–1962)
- Major (2022) – Indian biographical action drama film following the life of Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, an army officer who was killed in the 2008 Mumbai attacks
- Medieval (2022) – Czech historical action drama film about the life of Jan Žižka, a Bohemian military commander who never lost a battle
- Norbourg (2022) – Canadian drama film based on the real-life Norbourg scandal of 2005
- Operation Mincemeat (2022) – British war drama film based upon Ben Macintyre's book on the British Operation Mincemeat during the Second World War
- Pam & Tommy (2022) – biographical drama miniseries chronicling the marriage between actress Pamela Anderson and Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee
- Ponniyin Selvan: I (2022) – Indian Tamil-language epic period drama film revolving around the early life of Chola Prince Arulmozhi Varman who was later known as the great Chola emperor Raja Raja Chola
- Reagan (2022) – biographical drama film about 40th president of the United States Ronald Reagan
- Rescued by Ruby (2022) – biographical drama film following a state trooper named Dan, who dreams of joining the K-9 search and rescue team of the state police, however has been unsuccessful in doing so until he befriends a shelter dog named Ruby
- Rise (2022) – biographical sports-drama film based on the true story of three young Nigerian-Greek brothers, Giannis, Thanasis and Kostas Antetokounmpo, who emigrate to the United States and rise to fame and success within the National Basketball Association
- Rocketry: The Nambi Effect (2022) – Indian biographical drama film based on the life of Nambi Narayanan, a former scientist and aerospace engineer of the Indian Space Research Organisation who was falsely accused of espionage
- RRR (2022) – Indian Telugu-language epic period action drama film about two Indian revolutionaries, Alluri Sitarama Raju and Komaram Bheem, and their fight against the British Raj
- Samrat Prithviraj (2022) – Indian Hindi-language historical action drama film based on the life of Prithviraj Chauhan, a Rajput king from the Chahamana dynasty
- Save the Cinema (2022) – British comedy-drama film based on the true story of Liz Evans on her quest to save her local theater
- She Said (2022) – drama film depicting the work done by journalists Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey to break the story of Harvey Weinstein's sexual misconduct allegations
- Silverton Siege (2022) – South African film based on the real life siege that took place in Silverton, Pretoria in 1980
- Studio 666 (2022) – comedy horror film based on a story from Dave Grohl inspired by the Foo Fighters experiences recording their tenth album
- The Thing About Pam (2022) – crime drama miniseries detailing the involvement of Pam Hupp in the 2011 murder of Betsy Faria
- Thirteen Lives (2022) – biographical survival drama film about the events of the 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue that saw a junior football team and their coach trapped in a cave for a period of 18 days
- Till (2022) – biographical drama film based on the real-life story of Mamie Till-Mobley (Deadwyler), an American educator and activist who pursues justice after the 1955 lynching of her 14-year-old son Emmett Till
- The Wannsee Conference (German: Die Wannseekonferenz) (2022) – German made-for-television docudrama about a conference held in Berlin-Wannsee in 1942 to organise the extermination of the Jews
- Women of the Movement (2022) – historical drama miniseries based on Mamie Till-Mobley who devoted her life to seeking justice for her murdered son Emmett
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