105 articles
1492: Conquest of Paradise
1492: Conquest of Paradise is Ridley Scott's 1992 historical drama starring Gerard Depardieu as Christopher Columbus and Sigourney Weaver as Queen Isabella, with a Vangelis score; a $47 million epic that grossed about $7 million in the US.
1521 (film)
1521, full title 1521: The Quest for Love and Freedom, is a 2023 Filipino-American historical drama about the Battle of Mactan, starring Danny Trejo as Magellan, Bea Alonzo, and Michael Copon as Lapu-Lapu, shot in Palawan and released in the US October 2, 2023.
1900 (film)
1900 (Novecento) is Bernardo Bertolucci's 1976 Italian-French-West German epic about landowner Alfredo (De Niro) and peasant Olmo (Depardieu) in Emilia-Romagna, 1901-1945; over five hours, Storaro, Morricone, Cannes 1976.
1911 (辛亥革命)
1911 (辛亥革命, The 1911 Revolution) is a 2011 Chinese historical epic directed by Jackie Chan and Zhang Li about the Xinhai Revolution, starring Chan as Huang Xing and Winston Chao as Sun Yat-sen; it cost over 100 million RMB and received poor reviews.
A City of Sadness (悲情城市)
A City of Sadness (悲情城市) is a 1989 Taiwanese historical drama directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien and the first Taiwanese film to win the Golden Lion at Venice.
A Great Awakening
A Great Awakening is a 2026 American faith-based historical drama directed by Joshua Enck, dramatizing the friendship between preacher George Whitefield and Benjamin Franklin during the first Great Awakening.
Against the Ice
Against the Ice (2022) is a Netflix survival drama directed by Peter Flinth, starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as explorer Ejnar Mikkelsen and Joe Cole as Iver Iversen, based on Mikkelsen's Two Against the Ice about the 1909 Greenland expedition.
Agony (Агония) (1981 film)
Agony (Агония), also released as Agony: The Life and Death of Rasputin, is Elem Klimov's 1981 Mosfilm two-part historical drama on Rasputin and Nicholas II in 1916, completed in 1975, shelved by censors, and released in the USSR only in 1985.
Agora (film)
Agora (Ágora) is a 2009 Spanish historical drama directed by Alejandro Amenábar, starring Rachel Weisz as Hypatia of Alexandria amid 4th-century Christian-pagan conflict; 7 Goya wins, 55% Tomatometer, $617.8K US gross.
Aguirre, the Wrath of God
Aguirre, the Wrath of God (Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes) is Werner Herzog's 1972 New German Cinema feature starring Klaus Kinski as the mutinous conquistador Lope de Aguirre, a doomed 1560 El Dorado expedition filmed in the Peruvian Amazon.
Alexander Nevsky (Александр Невский) (1938 film)
Alexander Nevsky (Александр Невский), 1938 Mosfilm historical epic by Sergei Eisenstein and Dmitri Vasilyev, his first sound film, with Prokofiev's score; premiered 1 December 1938, withdrawn after the 1939 pact, revived in 1941.
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930 film)
All Quiet on the Western Front (西线无战事) is Lewis Milestone's 1930 Universal anti-war film adapted from Remarque's 1929 novel, starring Lew Ayres; it won the Oscars for Outstanding Production and Directing and was later banned in Nazi Germany.
Alone in Berlin (film)
Alone in Berlin (Seul dans Berlin) is a 2016 French-German-British war drama by Vincent Pérez, adapted from Hans Fallada's 1947 novel Every Man Dies Alone, starring Brendan Gleeson, Emma Thompson, and Daniel Brühl as wartime anti-Nazi postcard resisters; it competed at the 2016 Berlinale.
Amistad (film)
Amistad (1997) is Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks debut drama about the 1839 Amistad slave-ship revolt and Supreme Court case, starring Djimon Hounsou, Matthew McConaughey, Morgan Freeman, and Anthony Hopkins; four Oscar nominations, John Williams score.
Amrum (film)
Amrum is a 2025 German historical drama directed by Fatih Akin and co-written with Hark Bohm, based on Bohm's childhood in spring 1945 on the North Sea island of Amrum; it premiered at Cannes and stars Jasper Billerbeck, Laura Tonke, and Diane Kruger.
Anne of the Thousand Days
Anne of the Thousand Days is a 1969 Hal B. Wallis historical drama directed by Charles Jarrott, adapted from Maxwell Anderson's 1948 Broadway play, starring Richard Burton as Henry VIII and Geneviève Bujold as Anne Boleyn; it received ten Oscar nominations and won Best Costume Design.
Ararat (film)
Ararat (2002) is Atom Egoyan's Canadian drama, a film-within-a-film about making a movie on the 1915 Armenian genocide, starring Charles Aznavour, David Alpay, and Arsinée Khanjian; screened out of competition at Cannes 2002 and winner of five Genie Awards.
Argentina, 1985
Argentina, 1985 is a 2022 Argentine courtroom drama by Santiago Mitre, starring Ricardo Darín and Peter Lanzani as prosecutors Strassera and Moreno Ocampo in the Trial of the Juntas; Golden Globe winner and Oscar nominee for Best International Feature.
Army of Shadows
Army of Shadows (L'Armée des ombres) is Jean-Pierre Melville's 1969 French Resistance drama adapted from Joseph Kessel's 1943 novel, starring Lino Ventura and Simone Signoret; panned in France in 1969, acclaimed in the US from 2006.
Beasts of No Nation (film)
Beasts of No Nation (2015) is Cary Joji Fukunaga's war drama, Netflix's first original feature film ($12 million), adapted from Uzodinma Iweala's 2005 novel, starring Abraham Attah as child soldier Agu and Idris Elba as the Commandant.
Beginning of the Great Revival
Beginning of the Great Revival (建党伟业, 2011), a Han Sanping and Huang Jianxin tribute drama for the CCP's 90th anniversary, covering 1911–1921 with an all-star cast and over 200 million yuan early box office.
Blackboards (تخته سیاه)
Blackboards (تخته سیاه, Takhte Siah) is Samira Makhmalbaf's 2000 Iranian-Italian fiction film about Kurdish itinerant teachers carrying blackboards along the Iran-Iraq border; it won the 2000 Cannes Jury Prize.
Blitz (2024 film)
Blitz (2024) is a British WWII drama written and directed by Steve McQueen for Apple TV+, starring Saoirse Ronan and Elliott Heffernan as a mother and son separated during the London Blitz; 81% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Bloody Sunday (2002 film)
Bloody Sunday (2002 film), also known as Paul Greengrass's Bloody Sunday, is a British-Irish docudrama for ITV about the 30 January 1972 Derry shootings, starring James Nesbitt as Ivan Cooper, sharing the 2002 Golden Bear with Spirited Away.
Burnt by the Sun (Утомлённые солнцем)
Burnt by the Sun (Утомлённые солнцем) is Nikita Mikhalkov's 1994 Russian-French drama about KomDiv Kotov's arrest during the 1936 purges; it won the 1995 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film and the 1994 Cannes Grand Jury Prize.
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (film)
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (film): 2007 HBO television drama directed by Yves Simoneau, written by Daniel Giat, adapted from Dee Brown's 1970 book; stars Aidan Quinn, Adam Beach, August Schellenberg, Anna Paquin; won 6 of 17 Emmy nominations.
Canvas of Blood (몽유도원도)
Canvas of Blood (몽유도원도) is Jang Hoon's upcoming 2026 Joseon-era historical film starring Kim Nam-gil, Park Bo-gum, and Lee Hyun-wook about royal brothers Suyang and Anpyeong, whose brotherhood fractures after An Gyeon paints the 1447 landscape Dream Journey to the Peach Blossom Land; released by Plus M Entertainment.
Ceddo
Ceddo (1977) is Ousmane Sembène's fifth feature, a Wolof-language Senegalese historical drama about common people resisting forced conversion to Islam and the slave trade; banned in Senegal over a title-spelling dispute with President Senghor.
Chushingura
Chushingura (忠臣蔵, A Treasury of Loyal Retainers) is the 1748 puppet play Kanadehon Chūshingura and the wider body of kabuki, film, and art based on the 1701–1703 Akō incident, in which ronin avenged their lord Asano by killing Kira Yoshinaka.
Cleopatra (1963 film)
Cleopatra is a 1963 American epic historical drama directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz for 20th Century-Fox, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and Rex Harrison, and winning four Oscars.