List of films based on actual events (2000–present)

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.

2000s

2000

• All-American Girl: The Mary Kay Letourneau Story (2000) – television 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
• The Audrey Hepburn Story (2000) – biographical drama television film based on the life of British actress and humanitarian Audrey Hepburn
• Bawandar (2000) – Indian film based on the true story of Bhanwari Devi, a rape victim from Rajasthan, India
• Beat (2000) – biographical drama film focusing primarily on the last several 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/German/Spanish film about the struggle of poorly paid janitorial workers in Los Angeles and their fight for better working conditions and the right to unionize, based on the "Justice for Janitors" campaign of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
• Britannic (2000) – spy TV film, 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 based on Ricardo Piglia's 1997 novel of the same name, which was inspired by the true story of a notorious 1965 bank robbery in Buenos Aires
• Cheaters (2000) – drama film chronicling the story of the 1994–1995 Steinmetz High School team that cheated in the United States Academic Decathlon (USAD), based on a true story
• Chopper (2000) – based on the biography of Australian criminal Chopper Read
• The Color of Friendship (2000) – 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) – television history film about Henriette DeLille
• Dirty Pictures (2000) – drama film that focuses 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 feature film in English language tells 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
• Erin Brockovich (2000) – biographical film about American legal clerk and environmental activist Erin Brockovich
• Essex Boys (2000) – British crime film loosely based around events in December 1995 that culminated in the Rettendon murders of three drug dealers in Rettendon, Essex, UK
• The Farewell (German: Abschied – Brechts letzter Sommer) (2000) – German drama film about Bertolt Brecht
• For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story (2000) – television biographical drama film about Cuban jazz musician Aurturo Sandoval.
• 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) – television biographical 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) – television 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) – biographical television 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) – American television biographical 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) – British television medical drama film based on the Bristol heart scandal of the 1980s and 90s
• The Iron Ladies (Thai: Satree lek) (2000) – Thai comedy film based on a men's volleyball team composed of gay and transgender athletes
• Isn't She Great (2000) – biographical comedy-drama film that presents a fictionalised biography of author Jacqueline Susann
• 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) – American animated biblical musical drama film. The film is an adaption of the story of Joseph from the Book of Genesis in the Bible
• Le roi danse (English: 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 film based on a book about an infamous real scandal in the Dutch crime scene
• Lumumba (2000) – biographical film centered on Patrice Lumumba in the months before and after Congo-Léopoldville achieved independence from Belgium in June 1960
• Men of Honor (2000) – based on Master Chief Petty Officer Carl Brashear the first African-American Master Diver of the U.S. Navy
• Mermaid (2000) – television movie based on the real-life story of Desiree Leanne Gill as she learns to accept her father's death
• Miracle in Lane 2 (2000) – 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
• 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) – family drama film based on the autobiographical novel of the same name, the film tells the story of a 9-year-old Willie Morris as he is given a Jack Russell Terrier for his birthday
• Noriega: God's Favorite (2000) – biographical television 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 film about the life of Peppino Impastato, a political activist who opposed the mafia in Sicily
• The Perfect Storm (2000) – adapted from the book The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger about the 1991 Perfect Storm, also known as the Halloween Nor'easter of 1991
• 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
• Remember the Titans (2000) – 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 co-production 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, the story of the making of Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens
• 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 television crime drama miniseries, a dramatization of the real-life investigation into the notorious Yorkshire Ripper murders of the late 1970s
• 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
• Vatel (2000) – French/British historical drama film based on the life of 17th-century French chef François Vatel
• When Andrew Came Home (2000) – 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 TV movie about the Atlanta murders of 1979-1981

2001

• Ali (2001) – biographical film of sports legend, Muhammad Ali, from his early years to his days in the ring
• A Beautiful Mind (2001) – adapted from Sylvia Nasar's A Beautiful Mind, an unauthorized biography of American mathematician John Forbes Nash, Jr.
• A Glimpse of Hell (2001) – Canadian made-for-television drama film based on the 1999 book A Glimpse of Hell: The Explosion on the USS Iowa and Its Cover-Up by Charles C. Thompson II about the 1989 turret explosion incident on USS Iowa and its aftermath
• 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
• An American Rhapsody (2001) – Hungarian/American biographical drama film that tells the story of a 15-year-old girl from a Hungarian-American family, based on the true story of the director, Éva Gárdos, who also wrote the script
• 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 television crime drama 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) – two-part 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) – loosely based on the Mrkonjić Grad incident
• The Believer (2001) – 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
• Black Hawk Down (2001) – adapted from Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern Warfare by Mark Bowden about the Battle of Mogadishu
• Blow (2001) – based on the American cocaine smuggler George Jung
• Bully (2001) – based on the murder of Bobby Kent, by seven teens in what is now Weston, Florida
• Bus 44 (Chinese: Che si shi si) (2001) – Chinese short film that takes place on the outskirts of a small town and tells the story of a bus driver (Gong) and her passengers' encounter with highway robbers
• The Cat's Meow (2001) – inspired by the mysterious death of film mogul Thomas H. Ince
• Conspiracy (2001) – German made-for-television war film that dramatizes the 1942 Wannsee Conference
• Das Experiment (English: 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
• Dhyaas Parva (2001) – Marathi language Indian dramatic biographical film about social reformer Raghunath Dhondo Karve
• Enemy at the Gates (2001) – based on Vasily Zaytsev during the Battle of Stalingrad
• From Hell (2001) – horror film based on the murders of Jack the Ripper
• The Grey Zone (2001) – war film, and Holocaust drama based on the book Auschwitz: A Doctor's Eyewitness Account written by Dr. Miklós Nyiszli, about the story of a Jewish Sonderkommando XII in the Auschwitz death camp in October 1944
• Herman U.S.A. (2001) – romantic comedy 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 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
• Invincible (2001) – drama film fictionalization of the story of a Jewish strongman in Germany, based on the real-life figure Zishe Breitbart
• Iris (2001) – biographical account of the life of Irish novelist Iris Murdoch and her mental decline from Alzheimer's disease
• James Dean (2001) – based on the life and career of Hollywood actor James Dean, as well as his relationship with his estranged father
• Jewel (2001) – 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
• Kandahar (Iranian: Safar e Ghandehar) (2001) – Iranian film about Afghan refugee Nelofer Pazira's return to Afghanistan
• Let's Get Skase (2001) – Australian comedy based on the life of failed Australian businessman Christopher Skase, who after the collapse of his Qintex business, fled to Majorca, Spain
• 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
• 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 tula, songkram prachachon) (2001) – Thai film based on the autobiography of Seksan Prasertkul
• My Sassy Girl (Korean: Yeopgijeogin Geunyeo) (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 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
• Pearl Harbor (2001) – based on the events of the Pearl Harbor attack and the Doolittle Raid
• 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: Zuotian) (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) – 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) – tells 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
• There is a Secret in my Soup (Cantonese: Ren tou dou fu tang) (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 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
• Vera Brühne (2001) – two-part German TV film about Vera Brühne who was convicted of murder
• What Makes a Family (2001) – television film involving a lesbian couple living in Florida who choose to have a child
• When Billie Beat Bobby (2001) – comedy drama detailing the historic 1973 "The Battle of the Sexes" tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs and what led up to it
• Zubeidaa (2001) – Indian film based on the life of the ill-fated actress Zubeida Begum

2002

• 23rd March 1931: Shaheed (2002) – Indian Hindi 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 film about Manchester's popular music community from 1976 to 1992, and specifically about Factory Records
• A Is for Acid (2002) – British 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
• Almost a Woman (2002) – made-for-television film based on the autobiographical book of the same name by Puerto Rican writer Esmeralda Santiago, about a young woman named Esmeralda and her family who move to New York from a rural area of Puerto Rico
• 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
• 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 film based on the story of Max Stuart (Ngoombujarra), 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
• Catch Me If You Can (2002) – the story of con artist Frank Abagnale
• Chicago (2002) – adapted from the stage musical by Bob Fosse and Fred Ebb, exploring the themes of celebrity, scandal, and corruption in Jazz Age Chicago
• 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)
• Crossed Over (2002) – Canadian television film based on Lowry's memoir Crossed Over: A Murder, A Memoir
• Dahmer (2002) – the story of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer
• Door to Door (2002) – television 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
• 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
• 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
• Frida (2002) – 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
• 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)
• Harold Shipman: Doctor Death (2002) – British television drama about the life and crimes of serial killer Harold Shipman
• 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
• 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 Lapu-Lapu, 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
• 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) – 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
• 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
• 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 television film based on the true story of Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old gay youth who was murdered in 1998
• 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) – 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
• The Pennsylvania Miners' Story (2002) – television film based on the real events occurred at the Quecreek Mine
• 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) – 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
• 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
• 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
• 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

2003

• 44 Minutes: The North Hollywood Shoot-Out (2003) – 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
• Baadasssss! (2003) – biographical film based on the struggles of Mario 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
• Blind Flight (2003) – British 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
• 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
• 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) – 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 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) – 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) – television film based on the Beltway sniper attacks of 2002
• Deacons for Defense (2003) – television drama film loosely based on the activities of the Deacons for Defense and Justice in 1965 in Bogalusa, Louisiana
• Eila (2003) – Finnish drama film about a cleaning woman who decides to sue the state for illegal discharge
• Elephant (2003) – 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
• 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
• Gacy (2003) – 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
• 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
• 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
• 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) – 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
• 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
• LOC Kargil (2003) – Indian war film based on the 1999 Kargil War
• 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
• 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
• Open Water (2003) – based on the story of Tom and Eileen Lonergan, who were left behind on their scuba diving trip in the South Pacific
• 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 (English: Five) (2003) – Indian crime thriller film loosely based on the 1976–77 Joshi-Abhyankar serial murders in Pune
• 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
• 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"
• Rosenstrasse (2003) – German/Dutch film that deals with the Rosenstrasse protest of 1943
• Saints and Soldiers (2003) – war drama film loosely based on events that took place after the Malmedy massacre during the Battle of the Bulge
• Saving Jessica Lynch (2003) – 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
• 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) – 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
• 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

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
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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"
• 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
• 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
• 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 (English: 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

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"
• 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
• 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
• 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 (English: 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

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
• 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 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
• 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
• 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
• 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 cantante (2006) – biographical film based on the life of the late salsa singer Héctor Lavoe
• 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
• 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)
• 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
• 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, directed by Kevin Macdonald
• 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) – Anglo-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
• 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
• 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 Compte enrere. La història de Salvador Puig Antich, 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
• Woh Lamhe... (English: 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

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 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
• 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
• Buscando a Miguel (2007) – Colombian drama film based on a true story, a stark comedy-drama about identity and the different facets of Colombian society
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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 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 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
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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

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
• 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 (English: 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
• Changeling (2008) – loosely based on the real-life Wineville Chicken Coop murders, involving Christine Collins and the disappearance of her son
• 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
• 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
• 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 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
• 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
• 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) – Chinese/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
• 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
• 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 a 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 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
• 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
• 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
• The Poker House (2008) – based on director Lori Petty's own early life during the mid-1970s
• 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"
• 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
• 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
• 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

2009

• Accident on Hill Road (2009) – based on Chante Mallard, a Fort Worth, Texas, woman convicted and sentenced to 50 years' imprisonment for her role in the death of a 37-year-old homeless man
• April Showers (2009) – American independent film inspired by the 1999 Columbine High School shooting and the days that followed
• 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
• 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
• 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
• Coco avant Chanel (2009) – about fashion designer Coco Chanel before she was famous
• The Damned United (2009) – British sports film based on Brian Clough's tenure as Leeds United's manager
• Everyman's War (2009) – based on the Battle of the Bulge during World War II
• Formosa Betrayed (2009) – American 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 (陳文成) of Carnegie Mellon University in 1981, and the other the 1984 assassination of (American-citizen) journalist Henry Liu in California
• Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story (2009) – based on the life of Ben Carson, who grew up to become a world-famous neurosurgeon at Johns Hopkins and first surgeon to separate conjoined twins
• 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.
• I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell (2009) – An 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) – American black comedy drama film based on the 1980s and 1990s real-life story con artist, imposter and multiple prison escapee Steven Jay Russell.
• 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) – American film 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
• 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
• 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
• Julie & Julia (2009) – American 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
• The Killing Room (2009) – psychological thriller based on the Project MKUltra programme by the CIA, with fictionalized characters
• Lula, o filho do Brasil (2009) – 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
• Middle Men (2009) – American drama film directed by George Gallo and written by Gallo and Andy Weiss. The movie is based on the experiences of Christopher Mallick, who was previously associated with the Internet billing companies Paycom and ePassporte. Christopher Mallick has been accused of stealing millions of dollars from his customers at ePassporte to fund the creation of the film.
• Moonshot (2009) – British television film about the events leading up to the Apollo 11 spaceflight
• Notorious (2009) – depiction of the life and career of rapper Biggie Smalls/The Notorious B.I.G.
• Pazhassi Raja (2009) – Malayalam historical drama film based on the life of Pazhassi Raja, a Hindu king who fought against the British in the 18th century
• The Perfect Game (2009) – American drama film directed by William Dear. The film is 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, who defeated the heavily favoured U.S. team. Mexican pitcher Ángel Macías threw the first, and so far only, perfect game in championship game history.
• 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
• Public Enemies (2009) – American 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
• The Soloist (2009) – based on the life of Nathaniel Ayers, a musician who developed schizophrenia and became homeless
• The Stoneman murders (2009) – Hindi film based on the real life Stoneman serial killings, which made headlines in the early 1980s in Mumbai
• 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) – American comedy based on the Woodstock Festival of 1969, directed by Ang Lee
• The Young Victoria (2009) – dramatization of the turbulent first years of Queen Victoria's rule, and her enduring romance with Prince Albert

2010s

2010

• 22 Bullets (2010) – French gangster-action film directed by Richard Berry. It tells a part of the life story of Jacky Imbert.
• 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.
• Angel of Evil (2010) – Italian crime film about Italian bank robber and mobster Renato Vallanzasca.
• Animal Kingdom (2010) – Australian crime drama film written and directed by David Michôd. Inspired by events which involved the Pettingill criminal family of Melbourne. In 1991, two brothers Trevor Pettingill and Victor Peirce (along with two other men: Anthony Leigh Farrell and Peter David McEvoy) were acquitted in the 1998 shooting murder of two Victorian police officers.
• Antardwand (2010) – Indian film based on the cases of groom kidnapping reported in Bihar in India.
• The Assault (2010) – French action thriller film directed by Julien Leclercq, 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 directed by Jeremy Sims. 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. The screenplay is based on an account of the ordeal written by Captain Oliver Woodard.
• Black Venus (2010) – French drama film directed by Abdellatif Kechiche. It is 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".
• Bonded by Blood (2010) – based on the Essex boys, a group involved in organised crime in Essex, England, and their suspicious murders, which are still debated today (see also Rise of the Footsoldier).
• 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.
• 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.
• Casino Jack (2010) – comedy-drama thriller film directed by George Hickenlooper and starring Kevin Spacey. The film focuses 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, Rep. Bob Ney, and nine other lobbyists and congressional staffers. Abramoff was convicted of fraud, conspiracy and tax evasion in 2006, and of trading expensive gifts, meals and sports trips in exchange for political favours. Abramoff served three and a half years of a six-year sentence in federal prison, and was assigned to a halfway house. He was released on 3 December 2010.
• Caterpillar (2010) – Japanese drama film. The film is 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.
• The Conspirator (2010) – American mystery Historical drama film directed by Robert Redford. The film tells 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.
• 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.
• D.C. Sniper (2010) – American 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.
• Extraordinary Measures (2010) – medical drama based on the story of John Crowley and Aileen Crowley, whose children have Pompe disease.
• Eat Pray Love (2010) – American 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 (2010) – German-Italian biographical drama film directed by Jo Baier. It is based on the posthumous autobiographical best-seller with the same name written by Tiziano Terzani.
• Fair Game (2010) – based on the outing of former CIA agent Valerie Plame by members of the US government (See: Plame Affair).
• The Fighter (2010) – based on the life of boxer Micky Ward and his half-brother, Dicky Eklund.
• Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life (2010) – French drama film written and directed by Joann Sfar. It is 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.
• Hidalgo: La historia jamás contada (2010) – Mexican film directed by Antonio Serrano. It is about Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla and his part in the Mexican War of Independence.
• Holly Rollers (2010) – American independent crime drama film directed by Kevin Asch and written by Antonio Macia. The film is inspired by a true story of a young Hasidic man who was lured into the world of international drug trafficking in the late 90s.
• Hurricane Season (2010) – American sports drama film directed by Tim Story. The film is based on the true story John Ehret High School's 2005–06 State championship team. After Hurricane Katrina, Al Collins (Forrest Whitaker), a John Ehret high school basketball coach in Jefferson Parish, across the river from New Orleans in Marrero, Louisiana, assembles a team of players who had previously attended five different schools before the disaster and leads them on the path to winning the state championship.
• Ip Man 2 (2010) – based on the life of Ip Man, a grandmaster of the martial art Wing Chun, and the story of him in Hong Kong.
• Jew Suss: Rise and Fall (2010) – German Historical drama film about Austrian actor Ferdinand Marian.
• 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 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.
• 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.
• Malik Ek (2010) – Hindi spiritual film on Sai Baba of Shirdi.
• Meek's Cutoff (2010) – American western film directed by Kelly Reichardt. The story is 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.
• Nadunissi Naaygal (2010) – Indian Tamil psychological thriller film based on a true story about murderer Veera (Samar).
• Nanga Parbat (2010) – German motion picture mountaineering movie about Reinhold and Günther Messner, who climbed Nanga Parbat.
• 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 directed by Jim Loach at his directional debut. Based on the book Empty Cradles by Margaret Humphreys.
• Rakta Charitra (2010) – Indian trilingual (Telugu, Hindi, and Tamil) biographical crime film based on the life of political leader and factionist Paritala Ravindra, directed by Ram Gopal Varma.
• Rasputin (2010) – Italian film about Grigori Rasputin.
• Revolución: El cruce de los Andes (2010) – Argentine historical epic film. The film follows the life of José de San Martín, with special forces focus on the Crossing on the Andes.
• The Robber (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 Runaways (2010) – American 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.
• 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 directed by Gustavo Hernández, 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) – biopic directed by Mick Jackson and starring Claire Danes as Temple Grandin, a woman with autism who revolutionized practices for the humane handling of livestock on cattle ranches and slaughterhouses.
• Unstoppable (2010) – American 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• The Zero Hour (2010) – based on the events during the 1996 Venezuelan medical strike.

2011

• 17 Miracles (2011) – 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 (2011) – Chinese historical drama based on the 1911 Revolution and Xinhai Revolution, starring Jackie Chan
• 50/50 (2011) – comedy-drama film loosely based on the life of screenwriter Will Reiser
• A Dangerous Method (2011) – 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
• 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) – TV-movie based on the murder of Meredith Kercher and the trial of the accused of Amanda Knox
• Anonymous (2011) – period drama film directed by Roland Emmerich and written by John Orloff. The film is 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
• 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
• Confessions of a Brazilian Call Girl (2011) – Brazilian drama film about Bruna Surfistinha.
• The Conquest (2011) – French biographical film on Nicolas Sarkozy directed by Xavier Durringer.
• The Craigslist Killer (2011) – the film is 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) – allegedly biographical film based on Latif Yahia, body double for Uday Hussein, the playboy son of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein
• The Dirty Picture (2011) – Bollywood biopic movie based on the life of Silk Smitha, a South Indian actress known for her erotic roles
• Dolphin Tale (2011) – 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 after she loses her natural tail after becoming entangled in a rope attached to a crab trap
• The Eagle (2011) – epic historical drama film based on the Ninth Spanish Legion's supposed disappearance in Britain.
• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011) – based on the September 11 attacks on the Twin Towers
• The Fields (2011) – based on the life of screenwriter Harrison Smith.
• Free Man (2011) – French war 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).
• The Help (2011) – American drama about a young white woman and her relationship with two black maids during the civil rights era
• The Intouchables (2011) – French comedy drama 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 (1925–2013), 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) – biopic based on the life of J. Edgar Hoover, directed by Clint Eastwood
• Janie Jones (2011) – American 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 y Eva (2011) – Argentinian movie based on the first meeting of Argentine president Juan Perón and Eva Perón during the 1944 San Juan earthquake
• Kill the Irishman (2011) – biopic based on the life of Irish American mobster Danny Greene
• The Lady (2011) – French-British biographical film directed by Luc Besson, starring Michelle Yeoh as Aung San Suu Kyi and David Thewlis as her late husband Micheal Aris.
• The Lost Bladesman (2011) – Hong Kong-Chinese historical war and biographical action film loosely based on the story of Guan Yu crossing five passes and slaying six generals in the 14th-century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
• Machine Gun Preacher (2011) – biopic based on the life of former gang biker turned preacher and defender of Africa orphans Sam Childers, starring Gerard Butler
• Margin Call (2011) – American independent film loosely modeled on Lehman Brothers and the financial crisis of 2007–2008
• Moneyball (2011) – American biographical sports drama film based on Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, an account of the Oakland Athletics baseball team's 2002 season by Michael Lewis
• Monica (2011) – Indian Hindi film based on a true story inspired by the murder case of Shivani Bhatnagar, a journalist working for the Indian Express newspaper
• My Week with Marilyn (2011) – British-American drama film directed by Simon Curtis. It depicts the making of the 1957 film The Prince and the Showgirl, which starred Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams) and Laurence Oliver (Kenneth Branagh). The film focuses on the week during the shooting of the 1957 film when Monroe was escorted around London by Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne), after her husband Arthur Miller (Dougray Scott) had returned to the United States.
• No One Killed Jessica (2011) – 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) – Bollywood movie based on the 2008 Neeraj Grover murder case
• Puncture (2011) – based on a true story about Mike Weiss (played by Chris Evans), a young Houston lawyer and a drug addict
• Ragini MMS (2011) – Bollywood horror thriller based on a true story of a girl from Delhi named Deepika
• Raspoutine (2011) – Franco-Russian historical 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 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 (2011), Chinese action/adventure film, inspired by an actual event of Nanking Massacre that occurred in China during WWII; starring Peng Zhang Li
• The Rite (2011) – based on the book The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist by Rome-based Matt Baglio, published in 2009, and based on the early life of Father Gary Thomas
• Sanctum (2011) – 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, produced by James Cameron
• The Silence of Joan (2011) – French historical film about Joan of Arc's capture and execution in 1431.
• Silenced (2011) – South Korean drama film based on the novel The Crucible by Gong Ji-young. It is 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) – American independent horror film based on a young woman who is terrorized in her family vacation home while cleaning the property with her father and uncle
• Snowtown (2011) – based on the Snowtown murders
• Soul Surfer (2011) – American drama 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
• Texas Killing Fields (2011) – 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 film based on a true story, set in Kaliyikkavila, a town on the state border
• Traffic (2011) – Malayalam thriller film based on actual events that happened in Chennai
• United (2011) – British television 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 (2011) – Chilean biographical film film about singer and folklorist Violeta Parra.
• We Bought a Zoo (2011) – comedy-drama family 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 (2011) – Chinese historical film directed by Daniel Lee. The film is 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.
• Yugapurushan (2011) – Malayalam film based on the life of the saint Sree Narayana Guru
• Yuriko, Dasvidaniya (2011) – Japanese biographical film directed by Sachi Hamano. Set in 1924, the film follows the relationship between author Yuriko Miyamoto and openly lesbian Russian literature translator Yoshiko Yuasa.

2012

• Act of Valor (2012) – American film based on real US Navy SEALs missions around the world.
• Aravaan (2012) – Tamil period film which based on a Tamil novel depicting the history of Madurai from 1310 to 1910.
• Argo (2012) – 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 (2012) – Korean film based on the true story of the first ever united South and North Korea table tennis in World Table tennis Championship in Japan.
• Big Miracle (2012) – true story based on Operation Breakthrough in 1988.
• Blue Eyed Butcher (2012) – based on Susan Wright stabbing her husband numerous times in 2003.
• Buddha in a Traffic Jam (2012) – Bollywood movie loosely based on the life of Indian author and political activist Arundhati Roy.
• Chasing Mavericks (2012) – based on the life of surfer Jay Moriarity.
• Compliance (2012) – based on the strip search prank call scam.
• Dandupalya (2012) – Kannada crime film based on the real life incidents of a notorious gang named Dandupalya.
• Emperor (2012) – American-Japanese film based on the investigation of the role of Emperor Hirohito in World War II.
• For Greater Glory (a.k.a. Cristiada) (2012) – historical war drama based on the Mexican Catholic counter-revolution of the 1920s.
• Game Change (2012) – HBO political movie based on John McCain's 2008 presidential election campaign.
• Gangs of Wasseypur (2012) – Indian crime movie based on a true story about events in Wasseypur, India, directed by Anurag Kashyap.
• Hitchcock (2012) – 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) – based on a true story, chronicling the outrageous 1980s murder spree of serial killer Leonard Lake and Charles Ng, who targeted, kidnapped, robbed and killed people.
• Hyde Park on Hudson (2012) – British biographical historical comedy-drama film based on the diaries of Margaret Suckley, a close friend of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
• The Iceman (2012) – American crime thriller based on the life of notorious Mafia hitman Richard Kuklinski.
• The Impossible (2012) – based on a Spanish family who survives a tsunami tragedy on 26 December 2004, in Thailand, directed by J.A. Bayona and starring Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor.
• Ivan Megharoopan (2012) – Malayalam film based on the life of Malayalam poet P. Kunhiraman Nair.
• Kazhugu (2012) – Indian Tamil movie revolving around four people, referred to as "Kazhugu," who recover the bodies of suicide victims who jump off a cliff.
• Kon-Tiki (2012) – The film is the dramatized story of Thor Heyerdahl and his Kon-Tiki expedition of 1947.
• Last Flight to Abuja (2012) – Nigerian thriller disaster film based on a 2006 Nigerian aviation tragedy.
• Lincoln (2012) – American epic historical drama film 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.
• Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom (2012) – the film was said to be based on a real-life incident that happened in the life of cinematographer C. Prem Kumar, described as a humorous tale about a young man who forgets a few days of his life even as he is about to get married.
• No (2012) – Chilean drama based on the unpublished play El Plebiscito, focusing on how advertising tactics came to be widely used in political campaigns.
• Paan Singh Tomar (2012) – based on the life of Paan Singh Tomar, Indian steeplechase champion and national record holder turned dacoit.
• People Like Us (2012) – based on the true story of a sister and brother who never knew that they were siblings.
• Shadow Dancer (2012) – based on the novel of the same name by Tom Bradby on an IRA member turned MI5 Informant.
• Vinmeengal (2012) – Indian Tamil movie based on a real life incident.
• The Vow (2012) – romantic movie based on Kim and Krickitt Carpenter's story.
• Won't Back Down (2012) – 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 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.

2013

• 12 Years a Slave (2013) – 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) – based on Jackie Robinson's breaking of the "color barrier" of Major League Baseball in the 1940s.
• 3096 (2013) – based on the story of Natascha Kampusch who was kidnapped at age 10 and held in captivity for 8 years.
• American Hustle (2013) – a con man, Irving Rosenfeld, along with his seductive British partner, Sydney Prosser, is forced to work for a wild FBI agent, Richie DiMaso, who pushes them into a world of Jersey power brokers and mafia.
• An Adventure in Space and Time (2013) – British television film about the production of the first three seasons of Doctor Who, starring David Bradley as William Hartnell.
• The Attacks of 26/11 (2013) – based on the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
• Attahasa (2013) – Kannada biopic film based on the notorious forest brigand Veerappan.
• Belle (2013) – The film is inspired by the 1779 painting of Dido Elizabeth Belle beside her cousin Lady Elizabeth Murray, at Kenwood House, which was commissioned by their great-uncle, William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, then Lord Chief Justice of England.
• Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2013) – Hindi film based on life of Indian athlete Milkha Singh.
• The Bling Ring (2013) – American satirical black comedy 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.
• Bozo (2013) – Japanese film based on the Akihabara massacre.
• The Butler (2013) – a Lee Daniels film based on the life of Cecil Gaines, who went from working on a cotton plantation to an African American White House butler.
• Captain Phillips (2013) – biopic of merchant mariner Captain Richard Phillips, who was taken hostage by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean during the Maersk Alabama hijacking in 2009 led by Abduwali Muse.
• Celluloid (2013) – Malayalam movie based on the life story of J. C. Daniel, the father of Malayalam cinema.
• CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story (2013) – biopic which follows Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins, Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas, and Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, formed as the group TLC, and their rises and falls in their music careers while being "the best selling girl group of all time".
• Dallas Buyers Club (2013) – in 1985 Dallas, electrician and hustler Ron Woodroof works around the system to help AIDS patients get the medication they need after he is himself diagnosed with the disease.
• Devil's Knot (2013) – biographical crime-drama thriller based on a true story as told in Mara Leveritt's 2002 book of the same name, concerning three teenagers known as the West Memphis Three, who were convicted for killing three young boys and subsequently sentenced to life in prison.
• The Devil's Violinist (2013) – film based on the life of Niccolò Paganini.
• Diana (2013) – British film based on the last two years in the life of Diana, Princess of Wales.
• Empire State (2013) – American film based on two childhood friends who plan to rob an armored car depository
• The Fifth Estate (2013) – thriller film directed by Bill Condon, about the news-leaking website WikiLeaks.
• The Frozen Ground (2013) – American thriller film based on the real-life 1980s Alaskan hunt for serial killer Robert Hansen, written and directed by Scott Walker.
• Fruitvale Station (2013) – based on the true story of a 22-year-old African-American man, Oscar Grant, and his last day in Oakland, CA before being shot by transit police in 2009.
• Gagarin: First in Space (2013) – Russian docudrama biographical film about the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, and the mission of Vostok 1.
• Gibraltar (2013) – French movie about the story of Marc Fievet, an informant who served French customs in October 1987, in which he finds himself in the center of massive drug traffic in Gibraltar, Spain.
• Gimme Shelter (2013) – the story of a young girl Vanessa Hudgens who feels unwanted and runs away to find her father, but finds out she's pregnant.
• Hope (2013) – South Korean film based on the infamous Nayoung Case in 2008, in which an 8-year-old girl, named "Na-young" in the Korean press, was raped and beaten by a drunk 57-year-old man in a public toilet.
• Jobs (2013) – American biographical drama film based on the life of Steve Jobs.
• Kill Your Darlings (2013) – a 1944 murder is linked to a group of young poets hoping to change literature.
• Lone Survivor (2013) – true account of military courage and survival, based on Operation Red Wings.
• The Look of Love (2013) – British film based on the life of Paul Raymond.
• Louis Cyr (2013) – biopic of Louis Cyr, the 19th-century strong man still considered to be one of the strongest men to have ever lived.
• Lovelace (2013) – the story of Linda Lovelace, who is used and abused by the porn industry at the behest of her coercive husband, before taking control of her life.
• Madras Cafe (2013) – based on events during the Sri Lankan civil war.
• Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2013) – South African film based on the 1994 autobiography by Nelson Mandela.
• One Chance (2013) – British-American biographical comedy-drama film about opera singer and Britain's Got Talent winner Paul Potts.
• Orissa (2013) – Malayalam film based on the love story between a police constable and an Odisha girl.
• Pain & Gain (2013) – American crime-comedy film based on the kidnapping, extortion, torture, and murder of several people by an organized group of criminals that included a number of bodybuilders affiliated with Sun Gym in Florida.
• Philomena (2013) – a world-weary political journalist picks up the story of a woman's search for her son, who was taken away from her decades ago after she became pregnant and was forced to live in a convent.
• Rush (2013) – based on the true story of the Formula One season in 1976 with the unforgettable battle for the championship between James Hunt and Niki Lauda, and Lauda's remarkable recovery from a near fatal accident at the 1976 German Grand Prix.
• Saving Mr. Banks (2013) – based on the untold true story of the Walt Disney adaptation of the book Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers.
• Shootout at Wadala (2013) – Hindi film based on infamous Indian urban dacoit and most feared gangster in the Mumbai underworld Manya Surve.
• Snitch (2013) – based on the true story of a drug dealer.
• Special 26 (2013) – Bollywood movie inspired by the 1987 Opera House heist where a group posing as Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officers executed an income tax raid on the jeweler in Mumbai.
• Tracks (2013) – in 1977, Robyn Davidson travels from Alice Springs across 2,700 kilometres (1,700 miles) of Australian deserts to the Indian Ocean with her dog and four camels; National Geographic photographer Rick Smolan documents her journey.
• U Want Me 2 Kill Him? (2013) (stylised as Uwantme2killhim?) – loosely based on the true story of two teenage schoolboys who are drawn into a complicated world of online chatrooms, alter egos and deception, eventually leading to one stabbing the other.
• Wolf Creek 2 (2013) – inspired by the Backpacker murders by Ivan Milat and the murder of Peter Falconio by Bradley John Murdoch.
• The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) – based on the true story of Jordan Belfort starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill.

2014

• 50 to 1 (2014) – American 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.
• The Admiral: Roaring Currents (2014) – South Korean war drama based on Yi Sun-Shin in Joseon's final stand at the epic Battle of Myeongnyang in 1597
• American Sniper (2014) – American biographical war drama film based on the life of Chris Kyle, the most lethal sniper in U.S. military history.
• An Honest Liar (2014) – 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.
• A Murder Beside Yanhe River (2014) – Chinese historical film based on the murder case of Huang Kegong, who was a general of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army.
• Bad Country – film based on a true story starring Matt Dillon, Willem Dafoe, Amy Smart and Tom Berenger. When Baton Rouge police detective Bud Carter busts contract killer Jesse Weiland, he convinces Jesse to become an informant and rat out the South's most powerful crime ring. So when the syndicate orders Carter's death and Weiland's ID'd as a snitch, the two team up to take down the mob and the crime boss who ordered the hit.
• Chaar Sahibzaade (2014) – Punjabi language Indian 3D computer-animated historical film based on the sacrifices of the sons of 10th Sikh guru Guru Gobind Singh-Sahibzada Ajit Singh, Jujhar Singh, Zorawar Singh and Fateh Singh.
• Diplomacy (2014) – As the Allied Forces move toward Paris, Adolf Hitler commands General Dietrich von Choltitz to destroy the city. Choltitz sends a team to demolish the city's famous landmarks and to overflow the Seine. A Swedish diplomat named Raoul Nordling sneaks into the general's office in the Hotel Meurice by means of a secret passageway.
• The Face of an Angel (2014) – British psychological thriller inspired by the book Angel Face, drawn from crime coverage by Newsweek / Daily Beast writer Barbie Latza Nadeau, based on the real-life story of Amanda Knox, who was accused of the murder of Meredith Kercher in 2007.
• Foxcatcher (2014) – American biographical true crime drama loosely based on the events surrounding multimillionaire E.I. du Pont family heir and wrestling enthusiast John E. du Pont's 1986 recruitment of 1984 U.S. Olympic gold medalist wrestlers Mark Schultz and his older brother Dave to help coach U.S. wrestlers for participation in national, world, and Olympic competition.
• Get on Up (2014) – American biographical musical drama film about the life of singer James Brown.
• Heaven Is for Real (2014) – based on the book of the same name; four-year-old Colton reports seeing visions of Heaven during emergency surgery.
• Houdini (2014) – a two-part, four-hour, look at the life of famed illusionist and escape artist Harry Houdini.
• The Imitation Game (2014) – a British historical thriller loosely based on the biography Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges about the British cryptanalyst Alan Turing, who helped solve the Enigma code during the Second World War and was later prosecuted for homosexuality.
• Jersey Boys (2014) – American musical drama film based on the Tony Award-winning jukebox musical of the Same Name. The film tells the story of the musical group The Four Seasons.
• Kajaki (2014) – based on the true story of Mark Wright and a small unit of British soldiers stationed near the Kajaki dam, in Afghanistan.
• Kill the Messenger (2014) – American crime thriller film directed by Michael Cuesta and written by Peter Landesman. Based on the book of the same name by Nick Schou and the book Dark Alliance by Gary Webb which focuses on CIA involvement in Contra cocaine trafficking.
• Love & Mercy (2014) – American biographical film about musician and songwriter Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys.
• Marie's Story (2014) – French biographical film based on the true story of Marie Heurtin (1885–1921), a girl who was born deaf and blind in late 19th century France.
• Marvellous (2014) – British drama television film about the life of Neil Baldwin
• Mary Kom (2014) – Indian biographical sports drama about five-times female World Boxing Champion and Olympic bronze medalist Mary Kom, the only woman boxer to have won a medal in each one of the six world championships.
• Million Dollar Arm (2014) – 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 non-fiction book The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History, by Robert M. Edsel with Bret Witter; the film follows an Allied group from the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program, tasked with finding and saving pieces of art and other culturally important items before their destruction or theft by the Nazis during World War II.
• Mr. Turner (2014) – a biographical drama film based around the last twenty-five years of the life and career of painter J. M. W. Turner (1775–1851).
• Noble (2014) – film written and directed by Stephen Bradley 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) – American biographical film portraying Cold War-era championship chess match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky.
• Pride (2014) – British LGBT-related historical comedy-drama film written by Stephen Beresford and directed by Matthew Warchus; depicts a group of lesbian and gay activists who raised money to help families affected by the British miners' strike in 1984.
• Rosewater – in 2009, London-based Iranian-Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari is detained in Iran after he reports on violence against protesters of the country's presidential election.
• Selma (2014) – American historical drama based on the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches.
• The Theory of Everything (2014) – British biographical coming of age romantic drama adapted from the memoir Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen by Jane Wilde Hawking, which deals with her relationship with her ex-husband, English theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking.
• Timbuktu (2014) – film about the brief occupation of Timbuktu, Mali by Ansar Dine. Parts of the film were influenced by a 2012 public stoning of an unmarried couple in Aguelhok. The film was shot in Oualata, a town in south-east Mauritania.
• Unbroken (2014) – film biography about USA Olympian and athlete Louis "Louie" Zamperini, played by Jack O'Connell. Zamperini survived in a raft for 47 days after his bomber crash landed in the ocean during World War II, then was sent to a series of prisoner of war camps.
• United Passions (2014) – English-language French drama film about the origins of FIFA, starring Tim Roth as Sepp Blatter.
• Wild (2014) – American biography and road movie about Cheryl Strayed who went on a survival quest.

2015

• The 33 (2015) – English-language Chilean film based on the real events of the 2010 mining disaster, in which a group of thirty-three miners were trapped inside the San José Mine in Chile for over two months.
• A Dark Reflection (2015) – British independent investigative thriller based on actual events surrounding the issue of Aerotoxic Syndrome.
• The Big Short (2015) – four denizens of the world of high-finance predict the credit and housing bubble collapse of the mid-2000s, and decide to take on the big banks for their greed and lack of foresight.
• Black Mass (2015) – American action organized crime-drama based on the 2001 book Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob, written by Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill, about Irish-American mobster Whitey Bulger.
• Born to Be Blue (2015) – film about American jazz musician Chet Baker, portrayed by Ethan Hawke.
• Bridge of Spies (2015) – American historical spy thriller based on the 1960 U-2 incident, in which lawyer James B. Donovan is thrust into the center of the Cold War when he is given a mission to negotiate the release of Francis Gary Powers, a pilot whose plane was shot down in the Soviet Union.
• Captive (2015) – American crime-drama thriller based on the non-fiction book An Unlikely Angel by Ashley Smith about Brian Nichols, who escaped from the Fulton County courthouse in Atlanta on 11 March 2005 and held Smith as a hostage.
• Child 44 (2015) – loosely based on the case of Andrei Chikatilo.
• Colonia (2015) – film set against the backdrop of 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) – American sports drama, based on the 2009 GQ article "Game Brain" by Jeanne Marie Laskas, focused on a forensic pathologist and neuropathologist, Dr. Bennet Omalu (played by Will Smith), who discovers CTE in the brains of two NFL players.
• Danny Collins (2015) – American comedy-drama inspired by the true story of folk singer Steve Tilston.
• The Danish Girl (2015) – love story inspired by the lives of artists Lili Elbe and Gerda Wegener, whose marriage and work evolve as they navigate Lili's groundbreaking journey as a transgender pioneer.
• Eddie the Eagle (2015) – based on the life of Michael Edwards, a British skier who in 1988 became the first competitor to represent Great Britain in Olympic ski jumping since 1928.
• Everest (2015) – American historical biography action adventure disaster thriller based on the real events of the 1996 Mount Everest disaster and the non-fiction book Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer.
• I Killed My BFF (2015) – a Lifetime television film starring Katrina Bowden, Chris Zylka and Olivia Crocicchia, written by Blake Berris and Danny Abel, and directed by Seth Jarrett. Inspired by a true story, the murder of Anne Marie Camp by Jamie Dennis and her husband, Michael Gianakos, in Minnesota in 1997.
• In the Heart of the Sea (2015) – American biographical thriller based on Nathaniel Philbrick's 2000 non-fiction book of the same name, about the sinking of the whaleship Essex.
• Ip Man 3 (2015) – third in the Ip Man film series based on the life of the Wing Chun grandmaster Ip Man and features Donnie Yen reprising the title role. The film also stars Mike Tyson, and Yip Man's pupil Bruce Lee is portrayed by Danny Chan.
• I Am Michael (2015) – American biographical drama film written and directed by Justin Kelly. The film stars James Franco as Micheal Glatze, a gay activist who renounces homosexuality and becomes a Christian pastor.
• I Saw The Light (2015) – American biographical drama film about Country music legend Hank Williams.
• Joy (2015) – American biographical comedy-drama about a struggling single mom of three children, Joy Mangano, who invented the Miracle Mop and is the President of Ingenious Designs, LLC.
• The Lady in the Van (2015) – British comedy-drama film directed by Nicholas Hytner, written by Alan Bennett, and starring Maggie Smith and Alex Jennings. It tells the true story of Mary Shepherd, an elderly woman who lived in a dilapidated van on Bennett's driveway in London for 15 years.
• Last Cab To Darwin (2015) – Based on terminally ill taxi driver, Max Bell who drove to Darwin in the 1990s.
• Legend (2015) – British crime thriller based on real-life London gangsters, the Kray twins; adapted from the book The Profession of Violence: The Rise and Fall of the Kray Twins by John Pearson.
• 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) – biopic based on the life of Dashrath Manjhi, popularly known as the "Mountain Man", who lived in Gehlaur village, near Gaya, in Bihar; directed by Ketan Mehta; starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Radhika Apte.
• Manto (2015) – Pakistani biographical drama film based on the life of Pakistani short-story writer Sadat Hassan Manto, starring Sarmad Sultan Khoosat.
• McFarland, USA (2015) – American sports drama based on the true story of a 1987 cross country team from a predominantly Mexican-American high school, McFarland High School, in McFarland, California.
• The Program (2015) – biographical drama film about Lance Armstrong.
• Queen of the Desert (2015) – American epic biographical drama film written and directed by Werner Herzog and is based on the life of British traveller, writer, archaeologist, explorer, cartographer and political officer Gertrude Bell.
• The Revenant (2015) – American western thriller adapted from Michael Punke's 2003 novel of the same name, partially based in the life of frontiersman Hugh Glass.
• Rudramadevi (2015) – Indian Telugu 3D historical film based on the life of Rudrama Devi, one of the prominent rulers of the Kakatiya dynasty in the Deccan Plateau, and one of the few ruling queens in Indian history.
• Spare Parts (2015) – American drama based on the true story of a group of high school students who compete in a 2004 underwater robotics competition.
• Spotlight (2015) – American crime drama film based on the true story of John Geoghan, an unfrocked priest accused of molesting boys; an investigative team of journalists from The Boston Globe investigates the allegations.
• The Stanford Prison Experiment (2015) – based on the Stanford prison experiment in which students played the role of a prisoner or a prison guard, conducted at Stanford University under supervision of psychology professor Philip Zimbardo in 1971.
• Steve Jobs (2015) – American biographical drama based on the life of Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs, based on a screenplay adapted from Walter Isaacson's biography Steve Jobs.
• Straight Outta Compton (2015) – American biographical drama which revolves around the rise and fall of the Compton, California rap group N.W.A.
• Suffragette (2015) – historical drama based on the early feminist movement.
• True Story (2015) – American drama film based on the memoir of journalist Michael Finkel about his encounter with wanted murderer Christian Longo, who hid under Finkel's identity.
• Trumbo (2015) – biographical drama film following the life of Hollywood screenwriter Dalton Trumbo and his exile due to his political beliefs.
• Visaranai (2015) – Indian Tamil-language docudrama-crime thriller film written and directed by Vetrimaaran. It is based on the novel Lock Up by M. Chandrakumar which tells the true story of police brutality, corruption, and loss of innocence in the face of injustice.
• The Walk (2015) – American biographical film based on the story of French high-wire artist Philippe Petit's walk between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center on 7 August 1974.
• Woman in Gold (2015) – British-American drama based on the true story of Maria Altmann, an elderly Holocaust survivor who, together with her young lawyer, E. Randol Schoenberg, fought the government of Austria to reclaim Gustav Klimt's painting of her aunt, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, which culminated in the 2004 case before the Supreme Court of the United States, Republic of Austria v. Altmann.
• Woodlawn (2015) – American 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.

2016

• 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016) – American war film based on Mitchell Zuckoff's 2014 book 13 Hours; recounts the true life events of six members of a security team who fought to defend the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, after waves of terrorist attacks on 11 September 2012.
• Airlift (2016) – Bollywood movie based on evacuation of Indian people from Kuwait during the Invasion of Kuwait.
• Aligarh (2016) – biographical bollywood drama film based on professor Ramchandra Siras who was shacked from Aligarh University for his homosexuality.
• All the Way (2016) – American HBO biographical TV drama film based on events of the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson.
• Amateur Night (2016) – American biographical comedy film based on the early experiences of film writers Joe Syracuse and Lisa Addario in Hollywood.
• Anthropoid (2016) – historical thriller that tells the story of Operation Anthropoid, the World War II assassination of Reinhard Heydrich by Exile Czechoslovak soldiers on 27 May 1942.
• Azhar (2016) – based on life of former captain of Indian cricket team Mohammad Azharuddin.
• Barry (2016) – American drama film directed by Vikram Gandhi about Barack Obama's life at Columbia University in 1981.
• The Birth of a Nation (2016) – American-Canadian period drama film based on the story of Nat Turner, the enslaved man who led a slave rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia, in 1831.
• Brain on Fire (2016) – biographical drama film directed and written by Irish filmmaker Gerard Barrett. The film is based on Susannah Cahalan's memoir Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness.
• Christine (2016) – biographical drama film based on news reporter Christine Chubbuck, known for being the first person to commit suicide on a live television broadcast.
• Confirmation – about Clarence Thomas' Supreme Court nomination hearings, and the controversy that unfolded when Anita Hill alleged she was sexually harassed by Thomas.
• Dangal (2016) – The film is loosely based on the Phogat family, telling the story of Mahavir Singh Phogat, an amateur wrestler, who trains his daughters Geeta Phogat and Babita Kumari to become India's first world-class female wrestlers.
• Deepwater Horizon (2016) – American biopic disaster film directed by Peter Berg, written by Matthew Sand and Matthew Michael Carnahan, and starring an ensemble cast including Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, John Malkovich, Gina Rodriguez, Dylan O'Brien and Kate Hudson. Based on the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
• Denial (2016) – based on the true story of Holocaust denier David Irving's libel case against author Deborah Lipstadt in the Irving v Penguin Books Ltd case.
• Ek Thi Marium (2016) – 2016 Pakistani biographical television 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) – American comedy-drama film directed by Liza Johnson and written by Joey Sagal, Hanala Sagal, and Cary Elwes. The film stars Micheal Shannon as singer Elvis Presley and Kevin Spacey as President Richard Nixon, and focuses on 21 December 1970 meeting between the two men at the White House.
• Fanny's Journey (2016) – French-Belgian children's war drama film co-written and directed by Lola Doillon. The film is inspired by an autobiographical book by Fanny Ben Ami. A girl escaping the Holocaust.
• The Finest Hours (2016) – American disaster drama based on the 2009 book of same name, by Casey Sherman and Michael J. Tougias, about the true story of the Pendleton rescue mission attempt by U.S. Coast Guard ships.
• Florence Foster Jenkins (2016) – Film starring Meryl Streep as Florence Foster Jenkins, a New York heiress who became an opera singer known for her painful lack of singing skill.
• The Founder (2016) – based on a true story about Ray Kroc and the start of the McDonald's franchise, starring Michael Keaton.
• Free State of Jones (2016) – American war film inspired by the life of Newton Knight and his armed rebellion against the Confederacy in Jones County, Mississippi, during the American Civil War. Written and directed by Gary Ross, the film stars Matthew McConaughey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mahershala Ali and Keri Russell.
• Genius (2016) – British-American biographical drama film directed by Micheal Grandage and written by John Logan, based on the 1978 National Book Award-winner Max Perkins: Editor of Genius by A. Scott Berg.
• Gold (2016) – loosely 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.
• Hacksaw Ridge (2016) – biographical war drama film about the World War II experiences of Desmond Doss, an American pacificist combat medic who was a Seventh-day Adventist Christian, refusing to carry or use a firearm or weapons of any kind. The film was directed by Mel Gibson and stars Andrew Garfield.
• Hands of Stone (2016) – American biographical sports film about the career of Panamanian former professional boxer Roberto Durán.
• Hidden Figures (2016) – American film about African American female mathematicians who worked at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA during the Space Race. The film stars Taraji P. Henson as Katherine Johnson, Octavia Spencer as Dorothy Vaughan and Janelle Monáe as Mary Jackson.
• I'm Not Ashamed (2016) – based on Rachel Scott, the first victim of the Columbine High School massacre.
• The Infiltrator (2016) – American crime drama film directed by Brad Furman and written by Ellen Brown Furman. The film is based on the autobiography of the same name 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. The film stars Bryan Cranston, Diane Kruger, Benjamin Bratt, John Leguizamo, and Amy Ryan.
• LBJ (2016) – American political drama film about the beginning of the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson following the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy.
• The Legend of Ben Hall (2016) – Australian bushranger film, it is based on the exploits of bushranger Ben Hall.
• Lion (2016) – based on the true story of Saroo Brierly who got lost at a train station in India and his remarkable journey to find home by using Google maps.
• The Lost City of Z (2016) – American biographical adventure drama film which portrays real events surrounding the British explorer Percy Fawcett, who was sent to Brazil and made several attempts to find a supposed ancient lost city in the Amazon.
• Loving (2016) – based on the true story of Richard and Mildred Loving, an interracial couple who were plaintiffs in the 1967 U.S Supreme Court decision Loving v. Virginia, which deemed anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional.
• Masterminds (2016) – American comedy film based on the 1997 Loomis Fargo Robbery in North Carolina. Directed by Jared Hess and written by Chris Bowman, Hubbel Palmer and Emily Spivey, the film stars Zach Galifianakis, Owen Wilson, Kristen Wiig and Jason Sudeikis.
• Miracles from Heaven (2016) – based on a 10-year-old girl Annabel Beam who was diagnosed with a digestive disorder with no known cure. After a severe fall she suffers only a concussion, then unexpectedly recovers from her illness. Afterwards she says her soul left her body during the fall and God promised that she would be cured.
• M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story (2016) – Indian film based on the journey of Mahendra Singh Dhoni becoming a master cricketer and captain of Team India.
• Neerja (2016) – Bollywood biographical thriller movie based on hijacking of Pan Am Flight 73 and life sacrifice of flight attendant Neerja Bhanot during the event.
• Patriots Day (2016) – based on the true story of the Boston Marathon bombing and the subsequent terrorist manhunt.
• Pelé: Birth of a Legend (2016) – film centered on the relationship between Pelé and his father.
• The Promise (2016) – historical drama telling a story of a love triangle in the final years of the Ottoman Empire.
• Queen of Katwe (2016) – American biographical drama feature film directed by Mira Nair and written by William Wheeler. Starring David Oyelowo, Lupita Nyong'o, and Madina Nalwanga, the film depicts the life of Phiona Mutesi, a girl living in Katwe, a slum of Kampala, the capitol of Uganda. She 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
• Rustom (2016) – Bollywood movie loosely based on the real life incident of Naval Officer K.M. Nanavati and businessman Prem Ahuja.
• Sarbjit (2016) – Bollywood biopic of Sarabjit Singh, was an Indian national convicted of terrorism and spying by a Pakistani court. Sarabjit claimed he was a farmer who strayed into Pakistan from his village located on the border, three months after the bombings.
• Snowden (2016) – American biographical political thriller based on the books The Snowden Files by Luke Harding and Time of the Octopus by Anatoly Kucherena.
• Southside with You (2016) – American biographical romantic drama film depicting the first date of Barack Obama and Michelle Obama.
• Sully (2016) – Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger (Tom Hanks) tries to make an emergency landing in New York's Hudson River after US Airways Flight 1549 strikes a flock of geese.
• Veerappan (2016) – South Indian movie 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) – American biographical black comedy war film about two arms dealers, Efraim Diveroli and David Packouz, who receive a US Army contract to supply munitions for the Afghan National Army and are eventually charged with fraud for repackaging Chinese ammunition.

2017

• 9/11 (2017) – drama depicting five elevator passengers trapped during the September 11 attacks.
• Aftermath (2017) – American 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 the Money in the World (2017) – crime thriller film directed by Ridley Scott and written by David Scarpa. The film depicts 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 organized crime Mafia group ‘Ndrangheta.
• American Made (2017) – biographical crime film about Barry Seal, a drug-smuggling pilot who became a government informant.
• 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) – American 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) – a romantic-action drama film based in Soviet Ukraine in the early 1930s.
• 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.
• The Case for Christ (2017) – American Christian drama film directed by Jon Gunn and written by Brian Bird, based on the true story that inspired the 1998 book of the same name by Lee Strobel.
• Chappaquiddick (2017) – American drama film directed by John Curran, and written by Taylor Allen and Andrew Logan. The film stars Jason Clarke as Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy and Kate Mara as Mary Jo Kopechne, with Ed Helms, Bruce Dern, Jim Gaffigan, Clancy Brown, and Olivia Thirlby in supporting roles. The plot details 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.
• The Current War (2017) – American 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.
• 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) – American period crime drama film of the Algiers Motel incident during the 1967 Detroit riot.
• The Disaster Artist (2017) – A comedy-drama film based on Tommy Wiseau's 2003 The Room.
• Dunkirk (2017) – about the Dunkirk evacuation in France during World War II.
• 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.
• The Glass Castle (2017) – American biographical drama film directed by Destin Daniel Cretton. It is 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.
• 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, the film is inspired by the story of P. T. Barnum's creation of Barnum's American Museum and the lives of its star attractions.
• I, Tonya (2017) – American 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 Institute (2017) – American thriller film about a young girl's stay at The Rosewood Institute.
• Jungle (2017) – This (circa 1981) true story of Yossi Ghinsberg surviving being lost in the Bolivian Jungle.
• The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017) – biographical drama film directed by Bharat Nalluri and written by Susan Coyne based on the book of the same name by Les Standiford. It stars Dan Stevens, Christopher Plummer, and Jonathan Pryce. The plot follows 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 directed by Cédric Jimenez and written David Farr, Audrey Diwan, and Jimenez. It is 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) – American biographical political thriller film directed and written by Peter Landesman. The film depicts on 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) – American 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) – American biographical drama film based on the true events about a young female marine named Megan Leavey and a combat dog named Rex.
• The Mercy (2017) – British biographical drama film, directed by James Marsh and written by Scott Z. Burns. It is 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.
• Molly's Game (2017) – American 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.
• Only the Brave (2017) – The story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots and the 2013 Yarnell Hill Fire.
• Papillon (2017) – biographical drama film directed by Micheal Noer. It tells the story of French convict Henri Charriere (Charlie Hunnam), 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 (Rami Malek).
• The Pirates of Somalia (2017) – drama about Jay Bahadur and his reporting on piracy in Somalia.
• The Polka King (2017) – American biographical comedy film directed by Maya Forbes and written by Forbes and Wallace Wolodarsky. The film is 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) – An Indian Hindi language biographical adventure film directed by Rahul Bose. The film stars himself with Aditi Inamdar as Malavath Poorna, the youngest girl to climb the Mount Everest.[1]
• The Post (2017) – American historical political thriller film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg, and written by Liz Hannah and Josh Singer. It stars 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.
• Roxanne Roxanne (2017) – American drama film written and directed by Micheal Larnell. The film revolves 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) – The film centers on Matt Ocre, a young soldier in the United States Army, who is tasked with restoring water to a village in Iraq. It is 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) – American biographical war drama film written and directed by Jason Hall, 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. The film is about posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depicting U.S. soldiers who try to adjust to civilian life.
• Three Christs (2017) – American drama film directed, co-produced, and co-written by Jon Avnet. The film is 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) – American comedy-drama film directed by Neil Burger and written by Jon Hartmere. It is a remake of the French 2011 film The Intouchables, which was itself inspired by the life of Philippe Pozzo di Borgo.
• Viceroy's House (2017) – British-Indian historical drama film directed by Gurinder Chadha and written by Paul Mayeda Berges, Moira Buffini, and Chadha. The film tells 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 directed by Stephen Frears and written by Lee Hall. The film is 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) – American biographical drama film directed by Susanna White and written by Steven Knight. The film is the story of Caroline Weldon (Jessica Chastain), a portrait painter who travels form New York to Dakota to paint a portrait of Sitting Bull (Micheal Greyeyes) in 1890.
• The Zookeeper's Wife (2017) – war drama film directed by Niki Caro. The film tells 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.

2018

• 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) – American action war drama film based Doug Stanton's non-fiction book Horse Soldiers, which tell the story U.S. 5th Special Forces Group who were sent to Afghanistan immediately after the September 11 attacks.
• The 15:17 to Paris (2018) – A Clint Eastwood film on how Spencer Stone, Alek Skarlatos and Anthony Sadler became friends since elementary school before Spencer and Alek join the Military and the three friends travel on their 2015 European Summer Tour before engaging a potential ISIS gunman on a train bound from Amsterdam to Paris and become heroes to the public when rising to public prominence.
• 22 July (2018) – A film about Norway's worst terrorist attack in which over seventy people were killed.[2] Directed by Paul Greengrass.
• Adrift (2018) – based on the true story of a couple who get stranded in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and must navigate to Hawaii with no communication or navigation tools.
• At Eternity's Gate (2018) – biographical drama film about the final years of painter Vincent van Gogh's life.
• A Futile and Stupid Gesture (2018) – American biographical Comedy-drama film about comedy writer Douglas Kenny, during the rise and fall of National Lampoon.
• A Private War (2018) – American biographical drama film directed by Matthew Heineman, and starring Rosamund Pike as journalist Marie Colvin.
• The Angel (2018) – Israeli-American spy thriller film. It tells the true story of Ashraf Marwan, a high-ranking Egyptian official who became a spy for Israel and helped achieve peace between the two countries.
• Beautiful Boy (2018) – biographical drama film based on the memoirs Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction by David Sheff
• Billionaire Boys Club (2018) – American biographical crime drama film directed by James Cox and co-written by Cox and Captain Mauzner. The film is 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) – American 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) – American biographical drama film directed by Ethan Hawke based on the life of country musician Blaze Foley.
• Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) – Biopic about the British rock band Queen. It follows singer Freddie Mercury's life leading to Queen's Live Aid performance at Wembley Stadium in 1985.
• Boy Erased (2018) – American biographical drama film based on Garrard Conley's 2016 memoir of the same name. The film stars Lucas Hedges, Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe, and Joel Edgerton, and follows the son of a Baptist parents who is forced to take part in a gay conversion therapy program.
• Burden (2018) – American drama film based on the story of Micheal Burden, a member of the Ku Klux Klan who had a falling out with his mentor, John Howard, and at the urging of his girlfriend left the organization. Destitute, the couple turned to the Rev. David Kennedy, the African-American pastor of New Beginning Missionary Baptist Church, for help.
• Brian Banks (2018) – American biographical drama film directed by Tom Shadyac, written by Doug Atchison, and starring Aldis Hodge as 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) – American biographical film directed by Marielle Heller and with a screenplay by Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty, based on the confessional memoir of the same name by Lee Israel.
• Charlie Says (2018) – American biographical drama film directed by Mary Harron and starring Matt Smith as infamous serial killer Charles Manson.
• Colette (2018) – biographical drama film directed by Wash Westmoreland, based upon the life of French novelist Colette.
• Come Sunday (2018) – American drama film based on Carlton Pearson's excommunication directed by Joshua Marston.
• The Favourite (2018) – period black comedy film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, and written by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara. Set in early 18th-century England, the film's plot examines the relationship between two cousins, Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough (Racheal Weisz) and Abigail Masham (Emma Stone), who are vying to be Court favourites of Queen Anne (Olivia Colman).
• First Man (2018)- Film directed by Damien Chazelle and starring Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong, exploring the events leading up to the mission that made Armstrong the first man to walk on the moon.
• The Front Runner (2018) – American political drama film. It chronicles the rise of American Senator Gary Hart, a Democratic presidential candidate in 1988, and his subsequent fall from grace when media reports surfaced of his extramarital affair.
• Gold (2018) – Indian historical sports-drama film based upon the national hockey team's title at the 1948 Summer Olympics.
• Green Book (2018) – American biographical comedy-drama film. Set in 1962, the film is inspired by the true of a tour of the Deep South by African-American classical and jazz pianist Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali) and Italian-American bouncer Frank "Tony Lip" Vallelonga (Viggo Mortensen) who served as Shirley's driver and bodyguard.
• Gosnell: The Trial of America's Biggest Serial Killer (2018) – American 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. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
• Gotti (2018) – American biographical crime film about New York City mobster John Gotti.
• The Happy Prince (2018) – biographical drama film about Oscar Wilde.
• Hotel Mumbai (2018) – action thriller film directed by Anthony Maras and co-written by Maras and John Collee. An Australian-American-Indian co-production, it is inspired by the 2009 documentary Surviving Mumbai about the 2008 Mumbai attacks at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in India.
• Indivisible (2018) – American Christian drama film directed by David G. Evans. The film is 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.
• Lizzie (2018) – American biographical thriller film directed by Craig William Macneil. It is 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.
• Mary Queen of Scots (2018) – historical drama film stars Saoirse Ronan as Mary, Queen of Scots and Margot Robbie as her cousin Queen Elizabeth I, and chronicles the 1569 conflict between their two countries.
• The Miracle Season (2018) – American drama film directed by Sean McNamara. The film is 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) – American crime drama film produced and directed by Clint Eastwood, which recounts the story of Leo Sharp, a World War II veteran who became a drug courier for the Sinaloa Cartel in his 80s.
• The Old Man & the Gun (2018) – American film written and directed by David Lowery, about Forrest Tucker, a career criminal and escape artist.
• On My Skin (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) – American biographical legal drama film based on the life and early cases of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
• Operation Finale (2018) – American historical drama film directed by Chris Weitz, from a screenplay by Matthew Orton. The film stars Oscar Issac (who also produced), Ben Kingsley, Lior Raz, Mèlanie Laurent, Nick Kroll, and Haley Lu Richardson, and follows the efforts of Israeli Mossad officers to capture former SS officer Adolf Eichmann in 1960.
• Outlaw King (2018) – 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) -The movie is based on India's second secret nuclear test series in Pokhran, Rajasthan in 1998.
• Raazi (2018) – Raazi is a 2018 period-thriller film directed by Meghna Gulzar, starring Alia Bhatt and Vicky Kaushal in lead roles. The story revolves around an Indian spy married to a Pakistani man during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
• Sanju (2018) – Coming from a family of cinematic legends, East Indian actor Sanjay Dutt reaches dizzying heights of success – but also battles numerous addictions, other personal demons, and the 1993 Bombay Bombings.
• Skin (2018) – American biographical drama film written and directed by Israeli-born filmmaker Guy Nattiv. It follows the life of Byron Widner, a former member of a Neo-Nazism-influenced skinhead group.
• Soorma (2018) – Soorma is a 2018 Indian biographical sports drama film based on the life of and return of hockey player Sandeep Singh.
• Stan and Ollie (2018) – biographical comedy-drama directed by Jon S. Baird and written by Jeff Pope. Based on the later years of the lives of the comedy double act Laurel and Hardy.
• Tag (2018) – American comedy film directed by Jeff Tomsic (in his feature directional debut) and written by Rob McKittrick and Mark Steilen. The film is 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.
• Unbroken: Path to Redemption (2018) – American Christian drama film directed by Harold Cronk, and 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) – American biographical comedy-drama film written and directed by Adam McKay. The film stars Christian Bale as former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, with Amy Adams, Steve Carell, Sam Rockwell, Justin Kirk, Tyler Perry, Allison Pill, Lily Rabe, and Jesse Plemons in supporting roles. The film follows Cheney on his path to become the most powerful Vice President in American history.
• Vita and Virginia (2018) – British biographical romance drama film based on the love affair between Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf.
• Welcome to Marwen (2018) – American drama film directed by Robert Zemeckis, who co-wrote the script with Caroline Thompson. It is 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) – American biographical crime drama film directed by Yann Demange and written by Andy Weiss, and Logan and Noah Miller. 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 film written by David Hare and directed by Ralph Fiennes. It chronicles the life and dance career of ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev.
• Winchester (2018) – American supernatural horror film. The film stars Helen Mirren as heiress Sarah Winchester, with Jason Clarke and Sarah Snook, and follows Winchester as she is haunted by spirits inside her San Jose mansion in 1906.

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 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) – British war film directed, co-written and produced by Sam Mendes. It is 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
• The Accidental Prime Minister (2019) – Indian biographical drama film. Stars Anupam Kher as Manmohan Singh, the economist and politician who served as the 13th Prime Minister of India from 2004 to 2014 under the United Progressive Alliance
• 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 film that details the life of Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen
• A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019) – An award-winning cynical journalist, Lloyd Vogel (based on Tom Junod), grudgingly accepts an assignment to write an Esquire profile of the beloved television icon Fred Rogers
• A Hidden Life (2019) – epic historical drama film written and directed by Terrence Malick, starring August Diehl, Valerie Pachner, and Matthias Schoenaerts with both Micheal Nyqvist and Bruno Ganz in their final performances. The film depicts the life of Franz Jägerstätter, an Austrian farmer and devout Catholic who refused to fight for the Nazis in World War II
• The Best of Enemies (2019) – American 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 directed by Gurinder Chadha, inspired by the life of journalist Sarfraz Manzoor and his love of the works of Bruce Springsteen
• Bombshell (2019) – American biographical drama film directed by Jay Roach and written by Charles Randolph. The film stars Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, and Margot Robbie and is 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 written, directed by and starring Chiwetel Ejiofor in his feature directional debut. The film is based on the memoir The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer.
• Breakthrough (2019) – American Christian drama film directed by Roxann Dawson 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
• Brotherhood (2019) – Canadian drama film, written and directed by Richard Bell. Set in the 1920s, the film recounts 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) – American biographical natural horror-survival film, based on the 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
• Carmilla (2019) – British romantic horror film written and directed by Emily Harris. Set in the 18th century, the screenplay is inspired by Sheridan Le Fanu's 1871 novel Carmilla
• Chernobyl (2019) – historical drama miniseries produced by HBO and Sky UK. The series revolves around the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of April 1986 and the cleanup efforts that followed
• Close (2019) – action thriller film directed by Vicky Jewson and starring Noomi Rapace. Rapace's character is based on that of 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
• Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan (2019) – Australian war film about the Battle of Long Tan during the Vietnam War
• Dark Waters (2019) – American legal thriller film directed by Todd Haynes and written by Mario Correa and Matthew Micheal Carnahan. It is 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
• The Devil Has a Name (2019) – American dark comedy inspired by actual events involving a Kern County farmer taking on Oil Industry Pollution. 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) – American biographical comedy film directed by Craig Brewer and written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski. It stars Eddie Murphy as 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
• Elisa & Marcela (2019) – Elisa Sánchez Loriga illegally disguised herself as a man in 1901 to marry Marcela Gracia Ibeas in Spain, over a century before same-sex marriage became legal
• Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019) – American biographical crime thriller film about the life of serial killer Ted Bundy
• Fighting with My Family (2019) – biographical sports comedy-drama film written and directed by Stephen Merchant. Based on the WWE career of English professional wrestler Paige
• Fisherman's Friend's (2019) – biographical comedy-drama film directed by Chris Foggin from a screenplay by Nick Moorcroft, Meg Leonard and Piers Ashworth. The film is 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) – Automotive designer Carroll Shelby and race car driver Ken Miles lead a team of American engineers and designers from Ford to build a race car that can beat legendary Ferrari
• The Golden Glove (2019) – internationally co-produced horror drama film. The film is an adaption of Heinz Strunk's eponymous novel and tells 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 mystery film directed by Srijit Mukherji, which deals with Netaji's Death Mystery, based on the Mukherjee Commission Hearings. In contradiction to previous claims, a journalist comes up with a theory revolving around the mysterious existence and death of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose as Gumnaami Baba
• Harriet (2019) – 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) – American horror thriller film written and directed by Daniel Farrands, and starring Hilary Duff. The film is based on the 1969 Tate murders mixed with fictional elements
• The Highwaymen (2019) – Former Texas Ranger Frank Hamer and Maney Gault join forces to try and capture notorious outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow
• The Irishman (2019) – Mob hitman Frank Sheeran reflects on the events that defined his career as a hitman, particularly the role he played in the disappearance of labor leader Jimmy Hoffa, his longtime friend, and his involvement with the Bufalino crime family
• I Am Woman (2019) – Australian biographical film about Australian feminist icon Helen Reddy
• Ip Man 4: The Finale (2019) – Chinese martial arts film directed by Wilson Yip and produced by Raymond Wong It is the fourth and final film in the Ip Man film series based on the life of the Wing Chun grandmaster of the same name and features Donnie Yen reprising the role
• Judy (2019) – biographical drama film about American singer and actress Judy Garland
• Kesari (2019) – Indian Hindi-language action-war film. It follows 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) – American semi-biographical western action film directed by Vincent D'Onofrio, it centres 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) – American war film written and directed by Dan Krauss; a fictionalised adaption of the events explored by an earlier documentary of the same name
• The King (2019) – based on King Henry V of England
• Kingdom (2019) – Japanese action adventure film. The film 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
• Lancaster Skies (2019) – British war film focusing on the British bomber campaign in World War II
• The Laundromat (2019) – American 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 (Jeremy Irvine), 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. During a rescue mission on 11 April 1966, he was offered the chance to escape on the last helicopter out of a combat zone heavily under fire, but he stayed behind to save and defend the lives of soldiers of the U.S. Army's 1st Infantry Division, before making the ultimate sacrifice in one of the bloodiest battles of the war
• The Lighthouse (2019) – 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).
• Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi (2019) – Indian Hindi-language period drama film based on the life of Rani Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi
• Midway (2019) – American 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 directed by Peter Cattaneo. The film is inspired by the true story of the Military Wives Choir
• Moffie (2019) – South African-British biographical war romantic drama film written and directed by Oliver Hermanus. The plot revolves around two gay characters Nicholas van der Swart and Dylan Stassen who attempt to come to terms with their homosexuality. The film is based on an autobiographical novel by André Carl van der Merwe
• 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) – American film based on the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson. The film presents 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.
• The Personal History of David Copperfield (2019) – comedy-drama film written and directed by Armando Iannucci, based on the Victorian era novel David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
• Official Secrets (2019) – British-American docudrama directed by Gavin Hood, 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 London (2019) – British crime film directed by Simon Rumley and written by Will Gilbey, Rumley and Terry Stone. The film is about the notorious gangsters Billy Hill and Jack Comer
• Panipat (2019) – Indian Hindi-language epic war film depicts the events that took place during the Third Battle of Panipat
• The Professor and the Madman (2019) – biographical drama film, directed by Farhad Safinia. The film is 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 directed by Marjane Satrapi and starring Rosamund Pike as 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) – American drama film written and directed by Scott Z. Burns and starring Adam Driver, Annette Bening, Ted Levine, Micheal C. Hall, Tim Blake Nelson, Corey Stoll, Maura Tierney and Jon Hamm. The plot follows staffer Daniel Jones and the Senate Intelligence Committee as they investigate the CIA's use of torture following the September 11 attacks. It covers more than a decade's worth of real-life political intrigue, exploring and compacting Jones's 6,700-page report
• Richard Jewell (2019) – American biographical drama film directed and produced by Clint Eastwood, and written by Billy Ray. The film depicts 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 directed by Rachel Griffiths and starring Teresa Palmer and Sam Neill. It is based on the true story Michelle Payne, the first female jockey to win the Melbourne Cup in 2015
• Robert the Bruce (2019) – American historical fiction war film directed by Richard Gray 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.
• Shooting Clerks (2019) – British-American biographical comedy-drama film directed Christopher Downie and starring Brian O'Halloran, Mark Frost, Jason Mewes, Scott Schiaffo, Matthew Postlethwaite and Kevin Smith. The film details 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
• Super 30 (2019) – Indian Hindi-language biographical drama film narrating the life of mathematician Anand Kumar and his educational program of the same name
• Tashkent Files (2019) – Indian Hindi-language conspiracy thriller film about the death of former Indian prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri
• Thackeray (2019) – Indian biographical film follows the life of Balasaheb Thackeray, the founder of the Indian political party Shiv Sena
• Togo (2019) – American 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. The serum was delivered by Norwegian sled dog breeder, trainer and musher Leonhard "Sepp" Seppala
• Tolkien (2019) – American biographical drama film directed by Dome Karukoski and written by David Gleeson and Stephen Beresford. It is 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 co-written and directed by Marco Bellocchio, about the life of Tommaso Buscetta, the first Sicilian Mafia boss who was treated by some as pentito
• True History of the Kelly Gang (2019) – British-Australian biographical western film directed by Justin Kruzel and is 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 directed by Fernando Meirelles. Predominantly set in the Vatican City in the aftermath of the Vatican leaks scandal, the film follows Pope Benedict XVI, played by Anthony Hopkins, as he attempts to convince Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, played by Jonathan Pryce, to reconsider his decision to resign as an archbishop as he confides his own intentions to abdicate the papacy
• Union of Salvation (2019) – Russian war epic period adventure film. The story about the first war, participants took part in the French invasion of Russia of 1812, which dreams to change the Russian Empire. Tsarist Russian in 1816, several officers of the Russian Imperial Guard founded a society known as the Union of Salvation. The revolt occurred in December 1825, when about 3,000 officers and soldiers refused to swear allegiance to the new tsar, this group of conspirators has become known as the Decembrist revolt lay in the Napoleonic Wars, in the 19th century in Saint Petersburg took place a revolt organised by the nobles confederate. Their objective was to transform Russia into a constitutional state and to abolish the serfdom.
• Unplanned (2019) – American anti-abortion drama film written and directed by Cary Solomon and Chuck Konzelman. It is based on the disputed memoir Unplanned by Abby Johnson
• Uri: The Surgical Strike (2019)- Indian Hindi-language military action film. It is directed and written by debutante Aditya Dhar. Major Vihaan Singh Shergill of the Indian Army leads a covert operation against a group of militants who attacked a base in Uri, Kashmir, in 2016 and killed many soldiers
• Virus (2019) – Indian Malayalam-language medical thriller film co-produced and directed Asahiq Abu set in backdrop of the 2018 Nipah virus outbreak in Kerala
• Walk. Ride. Rodeo. (2019) – American biographical film film directed Conor Allyn from a screenplay by Sean Dwyer and Greg Cope White 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

2020s

2020

• 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) – American drama film directed, co-written and produced by George Nolfi. The film stars Anthony Mackie, Nicholas Hoult, Nia Long, Jessie T. Usher and Samuel L. Jackson. The story follows Joe Morris (Jackson) and Bernard Garrett (Mackie), 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.This occurred in the 1950s, when Jim Crow laws made such ambitions nearly impossible in the Deep South
• Capone (2020) – American biographical film written, directed, edited by Josh Trank, with Tom Hardy starring as the notorious gangster Al Capone
• Chhapaak (2020) – Indian Hindi-language drama film based on the life of Laxmi Agarwal
• Dream Horse (2020) – drama film about thoroughbred racehorse Dream Alliance who won the 2009 Welsh Grand National Race
• Escape from Pretoria (2020) – biographical thriller film co-written and directed by Francis Annan, based on the real-life prison escape by three young political prisoners from jail in South Africa in 1979
• The Glorias (2020) – American biographical film directed by Julie Taymor. It stars Julianne Moore as American activist and journalist Gloria Steinem
• The Great (2020) – American comedy miniseries loosely based on the rise of Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia
• I Still Believe (2020) – Christian biographical drama film directed by the Erwin Brothers and starring KJ Apa, Britt Robertson, Shania Twain, Melissa Roxburgh, and Gary Sinise. It is 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
• Ironbark (2020) – American-British film directed by Dominic Cooke and starring Benedict Cumberbatch as British spy Greville Wynne
• Lost Girls (2020) – American drama mystery film, directed by Liz Garbus 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.
• The Man Standing Next (2020) – South Korean political drama film. It tells 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) – American 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
• Resistance (2020) – biographical drama film written and directed by Jonathan Jakubowicz, based on the life of Marcel Marceau
• Sergio (2020) – American biographical drama film about United Nations diplomat Sérgio Vieira de Mallo
• Street Survivors: The True Story of the Lynyrd Skynyrd Plane Crash (2020) – American musical survival drama film directed by Jared Cohn and written by Cohn Brian Perera. A biopic about the rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, whose plane crashed on 20 October 1977, killing three band members Ronnie Van Zant (lead vocals), Steve Gaines (Guitar), and Cassie Gaines (backup vocals), Dean Kilpatrick (assistant road manager) and the two pilots, while the tour plane ran out of fuel over Mississippi
• Tanhaji (2020) – Indian Hindi-language biographical period action film starring Ajay Devgn, Saif Ali Khan and Kajol. It is directed by Om Raut and produced by Ajay Devgn, Bhushan Kumar and Kishan Kumar. Set in the 17th century, the story revolves 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
• The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020) – American crime drama film written and directed by Aaron Sorkin. The film is 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
• Tesla (2020) – American biographical film about Serbian-American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer and futurist Nikola Tesla

2021

• 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
• Louis Wain (2021) – British biographical film depicting the life of British painter Louis Wain
• The Mauritanian (2021) – British/American legal thriller film following Mauritanian Mohamedou Ould Salahi (Rahim), who was captured by the U.S. government and detained in Guantanamo Bay detention camp without charge or trial
• The Pembrokeshire Murders (2021) – British three-part television drama miniseries, based on the Pembrokeshire murders by Welsh serial killer John Cooper
• Respect (2021) – biographical drama film based on the life of American singer Aretha Franklin

References

1. "I climbed Mount Everest to prove that women can do anything' – Rediff.com Movies". Rediff. Archived from the original on 22 October 2018. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
2. 22 July, archived from the original on 5 November 2018, retrieved 3 November 2018

External links

• History at the Movies: Historical and Period Films
• Internet Movie Database list
• Films based on historical events and people