Movies Like Shem the Penman Sings Again

If you liked Shem the Penman Sings Again (2015), a history movie directed by Pádraig Trehy, here are 20 movies with a similar feel, based on TMDB's recommendations. Each one links to its cast, trailer and where it's streaming.

1
Mr. Turner (2014)
★ 6.6/10Also history
Eccentric British painter J.M.W. Turner lives his last 25 years with gusto and secretly becomes involved with a seaside landlady, while his faithful housekeeper bears an unrequited love for him.
2
Dalíland (2022)
★ 5.9/10Also history
In 1973, a young gallery assistant goes on a wild adventure behind the scenes as he helps aging genius Salvador Dali prepare for a big show in New York.
3
Prizefighter: The Life of Jem Belcher (2022)
★ 6.2/10Also history
At the turn of the 19th century, Pugilism was the sport of kings and a gifted young boxer fought his way to becoming champion of England.
4
Emperor (2020)
★ 7.6/10Also history
An escaped slave travels north and has chance encounters with Frederick Douglass and John Brown. Based on the life story of Shields Green.
5
The Hill (2023)
★ 7.7/10Also history
The story of Rickey Hill, who overcomes his physical disability and repairs his relationship with his father in a quest to become a major league baseball (MLB) player.
6
The Invisible Woman (2013)
★ 5.9/10Also history
In 1857, at the height of his fame and fortune, novelist and social critic Charles Dickens meets and falls in love with teenage stage actress Nelly Ternan. As she becomes the focus of his heart and mind, as well as his…
7
A Month in the Country (1987)
★ 6.5/10Also history
A destitute WWI veteran is hired to help carry out restoration work on a medieval mural in a rural Yorkshire church. While living in the quiet village, he forms a close friendship with an archaeologist and begins to…
8
Julia (1977)
★ 6.5/10Also history
At the behest of an old and dear friend, playwright Lillian Hellman undertakes a dangerous mission to smuggle funds into Nazi Germany.
9
The Current War (2018)
★ 6.7/10Also history
Electricity titans Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse compete to create a sustainable system and market it to the American people.
10
Goltzius & the Pelican Company (2012)
★ 6.1/10Also history
Hendrik Goltzius, a late-16th-century Dutch printer and engraver of erotic prints, seduces the Margrave of Alsace into paying for a printing press to make and publish illustrated books.
11
All Eyez on Me (2017)
★ 6.7/10Also history
All Eyez on Me chronicles the life and legacy of Tupac Shakur, including his rise to superstardom as a hip-hop artist, actor, poet and activist, as well as his imprisonment and prolific, controversial time at Death Row…
12
Blaze (2018)
★ 6.3/10Also history
Inspired by the life of Blaze Foley, the unsung songwriting legend of the Texas outlaw country movement that spawned the likes of Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson. The film weaves together three periods in Blaze's life…
13
The Edge of Love (2008)
★ 6.2/10Also history
When the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas and his flirtatious wife Caitlin sweep into war-torn London, the last thing they expect is to bump into Dylan's childhood sweetheart Vera. Despite her joy at seeing Dylan after so many…
14
In Love and War (1996)
★ 5.9/10Also history
After teenage ambulance driver Ernest Hemingway takes shrapnel in the leg during World War I, he falls in love with Agnes von Kurowsky, a beautiful older nurse at the hospital where he's sent to recover. Their affair…
15
Köln 75 (2025)
★ 7.2/10Also history
The true story of Vera Brandes, teenage patron saint of the 1970s Cologne music scene, who risked everything to organize the greatest solo concert in music history: Keith Jarrett’s legendary Köln Concert.
16
Back to Black (2024)
★ 6.7/10Also history
The extraordinary story of Amy Winehouse’s early rise to fame from her early days in Camden through the making of her groundbreaking album, Back to Black that catapulted Winehouse to global fame. Told through Amy’s…
17
Panther (1995)
★ 6.3/10Also history
In this sprawling, fictionalized history of the Black Panthers, 1960s Oakland becomes a war zone as the Panthers battle for the right to exist.
18
Jimmy's Hall (2014)
★ 6.7/10Also history
In Depression-era Ireland, Jimmy Gralton returns home after a decade's exile in America. Witnessing the levels of poverty and oppression, his inner activist reawakens and he seeks to reopen the dance hall that led to…
19
Firebird (2021)
★ 7.4/10Also history
At the height of the Cold War, a troubled soldier forms a forbidden love triangle with a daring fighter pilot and his female comrade amid the dangerous surroundings of a Soviet Air Force Base.
20
Mary (2024)
★ 6.3/10Also history
A miraculous conception. A merciless king. A murderous pursuit. Mary's journey to give birth to Jesus unfolds in this biblical coming-of-age epic.