41 articles
A Dangerous Method
A Dangerous Method (2011) is David Cronenberg's historical drama, from Christopher Hampton's play The Talking Cure, about Jung (Fassbender), Freud (Mortensen), and Sabina Spielrein (Knightley), 78% on Rotten Tomatoes.
A Futile and Stupid Gesture (film)
A Futile and Stupid Gesture is a 2018 Netflix biographical comedy directed by David Wain, written by John Aboud and Michael Colton from Josh Karp's 2006 book, starring Will Forte as National Lampoon co-founder Doug Kenney with Martin Mull as narrating Modern Doug.
A Moment of Innocence (نون و گلدون)
A Moment of Innocence (نون و گلدون, Nun va Goldoon) is Mohsen Makhmalbaf's 1996 Iranian-French film in which he and the policeman he stabbed in 1974 reenact the incident with young actors; Locarno Special Jury Prize winner.
Before Night Falls (film)
Before Night Falls (Antes que anochezca) is Julian Schnabel's 2000 biographical drama about Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas, starring Javier Bardem, who won the Venice Volpi Cup and an Oscar nomination; shot in Mexico, released by Fine Line Features in 2001.
Benediction (film)
Benediction (2021) is Terence Davies's final feature, a biographical drama about war poet Siegfried Sassoon, played by Jack Lowden and Peter Capaldi; premiered at TIFF 2021, Metascore 81, 137 minutes.
Capote (film)
Capote (2005) is a Bennett Miller biographical drama, written by Dan Futterman from Gerald Clarke's biography, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman as Truman Capote researching In Cold Blood; it won Hoffman the Best Actor Oscar from five nominations.
Ed Wood (film)
Ed Wood (1994) is Tim Burton's black-and-white biographical comedy-drama about the "worst director of all time" Edward D. Wood, Jr., starring Johnny Depp and Oscar-winning Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi, a Touchstone Pictures release.
Fatherland (2026 film)
Fatherland (Ojczyzna) is Paweł Pawlikowski's 2026 black-and-white drama about Thomas Mann's 1949 return from US exile to divided Germany with daughter Erika; Cannes Best Director winner, Poland's Oscar submission.
Franz (2025 film)
Franz (2025) is Agnieszka Holland's kaleidoscopic biographical drama of Franz Kafka, starring Idan Weiss, 127 minutes, a Czech-German-Polish co-production, Poland's 98th Academy Awards International Feature submission.
Fuori
Fuori is Mario Martone's 2025 Italy-France drama, in Competition at Cannes, starring Valeria Golino as writer Goliarda Sapienza, based on L'Università di Rebibbia, about her 1980 prison stay and friendship with former inmates.
H Is for Hawk (film)
H Is for Hawk (2025) is Philippa Lowthorpe's drama adapting Helen Macdonald's memoir, starring Claire Foy and Brendan Gleeson; premiered at Telluride 2025, released 23 January 2026, BAFTA-nominated.
Hemingway & Gellhorn
Hemingway & Gellhorn is a 2012 HBO biographical drama directed by Philip Kaufman, starring Clive Owen as Ernest Hemingway and Nicole Kidman as Martha Gellhorn, covering their 1936 meeting through their 1945 divorce; shot entirely in San Francisco.
Hitchcock (film)
Hitchcock (2012) is a biographical drama directed by Sacha Gervasi, starring Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren, dramatizing Alfred Hitchcock's making of Psycho (1960) and his marriage to Alma Reville; Fox Searchlight release, 98 minutes, Metascore 55.
I Shot Andy Warhol
I Shot Andy Warhol (1996) is Mary Harron's directorial debut biopic of Valerie Solanas, the SCUM Manifesto author who shot Andy Warhol in 1968, starring Lili Taylor and Jared Harris, with a 2026 Janus 4K restoration and Criterion release.
Isn't She Great
Isn't She Great (2000) is a Universal biographical comedy directed by Andrew Bergman, written by Paul Rudnick, starring Bette Midler as novelist Jacqueline Susann and Nathan Lane as Irving Mansfield; a critical and commercial flop.
Kill Your Darlings (2013 film)
Kill Your Darlings is a 2013 American biographical drama, the feature directorial debut of John Krokidas, co-written with Austin Bunn. Starring Daniel Radcliffe as Allen Ginsberg and Dane DeHaan as Lucien Carr, it dramatizes the 1944 Kammerer murder that drew together the Beat writers at Columbia University.
Mank
Mank (2020) is David Fincher's black-and-white Netflix drama, written by his late father Jack Fincher, starring Gary Oldman as Citizen Kane co-writer Herman J. Mankiewicz; it earned 10 Oscar nominations and revived the disputed authorship debate.
Manto (2018 film)
Manto (मंटो) is a 2018 Hindi biographical drama by Nandita Das starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Urdu writer Saadat Hasan Manto; premiered at Cannes 2018, released 21 September 2018, banned in Pakistan, seven Filmfare nominations.
Neruda
Neruda (2016 film), also known as Neruda de Pablo Larraín, is a Chilean-Argentine-Spanish-French anti-biopic drama about poet Pablo Neruda's 1948 flight, starring Luis Gnecco and Gael García Bernal, premiered at Cannes Directors' Fortnight.
Origin (film)
Origin (2023) is Ava DuVernay's drama, also called a Caste adaptation, dramatizing Isabel Wilkerson writing her book while grieving; premiered at Venice 2023, released by Neon, starring Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor.
Padatik (পদাতিক) (2024 film)
Padatik (পদাতিক) is a 2024 Bengali biographical drama directed by Srijit Mukherji about filmmaker Mrinal Sen, starring Chanchal Chowdhury; released 15 August 2024, it won festival honors and topped 2024 Bengali drama critic rankings.
Queen of the Desert (film)
Queen of the Desert (Königin der Wüste) is Werner Herzog's 2015 biographical drama starring Nicole Kidman as Gertrude Bell, with James Franco and Robert Pattinson; a Berlin premiere, 2017 US release, and 17% Rotten Tomatoes score.
Rebel in the Rye
Rebel in the Rye (2017) is Danny Strong's debut biographical drama of J.D. Salinger, based on Slawenski's biography, starring Nicholas Hoult and Kevin Spacey; released by IFC Films, it earned 28% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Set Fire to the Stars
Set Fire to the Stars (2014) is a British black-and-white drama, Andy Goddard's debut feature, starring Elijah Wood as John Malcolm Brinnin and co-writer Celyn Jones as Dylan Thomas on his 1950 New York reading tour, based on Brinnin's memoir Dylan Thomas in America.
Srinatha Kavi Sarvabhoumudu (శ్రీనాథుడు)
Srinatha Kavi Sarvabhoumudu is a 1993 Telugu biographical drama about the medieval Telugu poet Srinatha, directed by Bapu and starring N. T. Rama Rao, whose final film it was.
Taxi (تاکسی) (2015 film)
Taxi (تاکسی, Taxi Tehran) is Jafar Panahi's 2015 Iranian film, shot clandestinely inside a Tehran taxi with Panahi as driver while banned from filmmaking. It won the 2015 Berlin Golden Bear and FIPRESCI Prize.
The Arbor
The Arbor (2010) is Clio Barnard's debut docu-fiction film about Bradford playwright Andrea Dunbar and her daughter Lorraine, with actors lip-synching to real interview recordings and scenes from Dunbar's 1980 play performed on the Buttershaw Estate.
The Basketball Diaries (film)
The Basketball Diaries is a 1995 American drama film directed by Scott Kalvert, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as writer Jim Carroll and adapted from his 1978 autobiographical book.
The End of the Tour
The End of the Tour (2015), James Ponsoldt's A24 drama with Jason Segel and Jesse Eisenberg, adapts David Lipsky's memoir of his five-day 1996 Rolling Stone interview with David Foster Wallace after Infinite Jest.
The Fabelmans
The Fabelmans (2022) is Steven Spielberg's semi-autobiographical coming-of-age drama, co-written with Tony Kushner, starring Gabriel LaBelle, Michelle Williams, and Paul Dano; Golden Globe winner for Best Drama and Best Director.