01of 08
Judas and the Black Messiah
Warner Bros. Pictures
Judas and the Black Messiah —which stars Daniel Kaluuya and Lakeith Stanfield,both nominated for Best Supporting Actor— is based on a true story. Kaluuya stars as Fred Hampton, chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party.
02of 08
The Trial of the Chicago 7
Netflix
The Oscar-nominated film (up for Best Picture) is about, well,the 1969 trial of the Chicago Seven. That year, the federal government charged seven anti-Vietnam war activists — Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, John Froines, and Lee Weiner — with conspiring to start a riot after protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
03of 08
Nomadland
Francis McDormand inNomadland.Courtesy Searchlight Pictures
Chloé Zhao’sNomadland, which is up for Best Picture,is partly true. It tells the story of a woman who travels across the United States after her husband dies, looking to make ends meet.
Zhao focused on three people from Bruder’s book: Charlene Swankie, Linda May and Bob Wells. “I put a camera on them — my phone sometimes — and then just started chatting with them to see how they are with it,” Zhaotold PEOPLE. “And when that made sense, it was just about listening to their stories and then writing the characters for them.”
04of 08
‘Minari’
Josh Ethan Johnson
Nominated for Best Picture, Lee Isaac Chung’sMinari, which follows the story of a Korean family moving from California to Arkansas in pursuit of a better life, is based at least partly in truth.
The director wrote of his experience penning the film, “As an exercise, I devoted an afternoon to writing my memories of childhood. I remembered our family’s arrival at a single-wide trailer on an Ozark meadow and my mother’s shock at learning that this would be our new home. I recalled the smell of freshly plowed soil and the way the color of it pleased my father. I remembered the creek where I threw rocks at snakes while my grandmother planted a Korean vegetable that grew without effort.”
He added, “With each memory, I saw my life anew, as though the clouds had shifted over a field I had seen every day. After writing 80 memories, I sketched a narrative arc with themes about family, failure and rebirth.”
05of 08
The United States v. Billie Holiday'
Andra Day as Billie Holiday.Paramount Pictures
When Holiday, whose new song “Strange Fruit” described the racist act of lynching, would not back down from performing the song, Anslinger assigned Black agent Jimmy Fletcher (Trevante Rhodes) to bust her for using drugs.
When Holiday was eventually caught with drugs, she was put on trial, asking to be sent to a hospital to be treated for her addiction. She instead was sentenced to a year in prison. It would just be the start of the harassment she would endure at the hands of the FBI.
Day is nominated for Best Actress for her portrayal of the legendary singer.
06of 08One Night in MiamiOne Night in Miami.PATTI PERRET/Amazon StudiosOne Night in Miami, which scored nominations for Best Original Song, Best Supporting Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay, is a fictionalized account of a meeting between Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, Jim Brown and Sam Cooke in 1964.After boxer Cassius Clay (Eli Goree) won a match against Sonny Liston in February 1964, he and football player Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge), civil rights leader Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir) and Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.) headed to Hampton House Motel in Miami.The events in the film are dramatized, as there isn’t an account of the conversations that occurred that night, but the next day, Clay announced that he had converted to Islam and would be adopting the name he would become well known for: Muhammad Ali.
06of 08
One Night in Miami
One Night in Miami.PATTI PERRET/Amazon Studios
One Night in Miami, which scored nominations for Best Original Song, Best Supporting Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay, is a fictionalized account of a meeting between Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, Jim Brown and Sam Cooke in 1964.
After boxer Cassius Clay (Eli Goree) won a match against Sonny Liston in February 1964, he and football player Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge), civil rights leader Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir) and Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.) headed to Hampton House Motel in Miami.
The events in the film are dramatized, as there isn’t an account of the conversations that occurred that night, but the next day, Clay announced that he had converted to Islam and would be adopting the name he would become well known for: Muhammad Ali.
07of 08
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.David Lee/Netflix
That is pretty much where the truth meets fiction, though, as the plot of the film, its character names and its compelling conflict is fictional. It’s up for five Oscars, including Best Actress and Best Actor for Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman, respectively.
08of 08
Mank
source: people.com
