We have compiled a list of the most inspiring movies about gifted people.
What made all these geniuses special, what amazing things they created, what challenges they faced, what teachers and friends did they met on the way of life – you will find all the in each film.
Perhaps after watching it and evaluating your children with a more careful eye, you will also discover hidden little geniuses, or maybe you will create ideas on how to make education more interesting, more inclusive, more responsive to the needs of special children in your classes.
We have no doubt that any film from the list will give you a cheerful evening and make you think about what wonderful, special people live among us!
Gifted
Release Year: 2017
IMDb Rating: 7.6/10
Description: Frank, a single man raising his child prodigy niece Mary, is drawn into a custody battle with his mother.
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Hidden Figures
Release Year: 2016
IMDb Rating: 7.8/10
Description: The story of a team of female African-American mathematicians who served a vital role in NASA during the early years of the U.S. space program.
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Akeelah and the Bee
Release Year: 2006
IMDb Rating: 7.4/10
Description: Akeelah, a young gifted girl, comes from a dysfunctional family and is on the verge of quitting school.
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Finding Forrester
Release Year: 2000
IMDb Rating: 7.3/10
Description: A young writing prodigy finds a mentor in a reclusive author.
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The Man Who Knew Infinity
Release Year: 2016
IMDb Rating: 7.2/10
Description: The story of the life and academic career of the pioneer Indian mathematician, Srinivasa Ramanujan, and his friendship with his mentor, Professor G.H. Hardy.
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Searching for Bobby Fischer
Release Year: 1993
IMDb Rating: 7.4/10
Description: A prepubescent chess prodigy is encouraged to harden himself in order to become a champion like the famous but unlikable Bobby Fischer.
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Queen of Katwe
Release Year: 2016
IMDb Rating: 7.4/10
Description: A Ugandan girl sees her world rapidly change after being introduced to the game of chess.
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Good Will Hunting
Release Year: 1997
IMDb Rating: 8.3/10
Description: Will Hunting, a janitor at M.I.T., has a gift for mathematics, but needs help from a psychologist to find direction in his life.
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Mona Lisa Smile
Release Year: 2003
IMDb Rating: 6.5/10
Description: A free-thinking art professor teaches conservative 1950s Wellesley girls to question their traditional social roles.
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The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
Release Year: 2019
IMDb Rating: 7.6/10
Description: Against all the odds, a thirteen-year-old boy in Malawi invents an unconventional way to save his family and village from famine.
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Malcolm in the Middle
Release Year: 2000 – 2006
IMDb Rating: 8.2/10
Description: A gifted young teen tries to survive life with his dimwitted, dysfunctional family.
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Hichki
Release Year: 2018
IMDb Rating: 7.5/10
Description: Suffering from Tourette Syndrome, Naina gets assigned a class of defiant students and must ensure that her students realise their potential.
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Rain Man
Release Year: 1988
IMDb Rating: 8.0/10
Description: After a selfish L.A. yuppie learns his estranged father left a fortune to an autistic-savant brother in Ohio that he didn’t know existed, he absconds with his brother and sets out across the country, hoping to gain a larger inheritance.
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Little Man Tate
Release Year: 1991
IMDb Rating: 6.6/10
Description: A single mother raises a child prodigy on her own, struggling to give him every opportunity he needs to express his gift.
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Together
Release Year: 2002
IMDb Rating: 7.4/10
Description: A violin prodigy and his father travel to Beijing, where the father seeks the means to his son’s success while the son struggles to accept the path laid before him.
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Billy Elliot
Release Year: 2000
IMDb Rating: 7.7/10
Description: A talented young boy becomes torn between his unexpected love of dance and the disintegration of his family.
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Vitus
Release Year: 2006
IMDb Rating: 7.6/10
Description: A twelve-year-old piano prodigy who suffocates from his parent’s big dreams for him decides to make his escape–and with the aid of his grandfather–chase his own dreams instead.
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October Sky
Release Year: 1999
IMDb Rating: 7.8/10
Description: The true story of Homer Hickam, a coal miner’s son who was inspired by the first Sputnik launch to take up rocketry against his father’s wishes.
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Like Stars on Earth
Release Year: 2007
IMDb Rating: 8.3/10
Description: An eight-year-old boy is thought to be a lazy trouble-maker, until the new art teacher has the patience and compassion to discover the real problem behind his struggles in school.
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Bonjour Monsieur Shlomi
Release Year: 2003
IMDb Rating: 7.5/10
Description: The new math teacher and new school principal discover the 16-year-old underachiever failing classes is really a genius, and the kid’s own family’s too busy relying on him to mend family fences to notice his brilliance either.
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Matilda
Release Year: 1996
IMDb Rating: 7.0/10
Description: A girl gifted with a keen intellect and psychic powers uses both to get even with her callous family and free her kindly schoolteacher from the tyrannical grip of a sadistic headmistress.
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Pelé – Birth of a Legend
Release Year: 2016
IMDb Rating: 7.1/10
Description: Pele’s meteoric rise from the slums of Sao Paulo to leading Brazil to its first World Cup victory at the age of 17 is chronicled in this biographical drama.
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Summerhill
Release Year: 2008
IMDb Rating: 7.6/10
Description: Summerhill, whose headmistress is Zoe Redhead, is a seventy year old progressive school, run on cooperative lines with pupils having an equal say in its constitution. However officious OFSTED inspector Wharton regards it as a waste of money and a means of teaching children disrespect – though his assistant Myrtle is charmed by its ambience. In a court hearing to decide the school’s future barrister Geoffrey Robertson points to the many alumni from the school but also, thanks to a tip-off from a pupil, is able to reveal that Wharton had told Myrtle that the school was virtually due for closure and the inspection was purely a formality. Consequently Summerhill is saved, Myrtle gets to teach there and the children launch a pirate ship with the banner ‘Freedom’ to celebrate the victory. Two children whose future at the school looked uncertain are also given cause to celebrate.
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Maria Montessori (N-13)
Release Year: 2023
IMDb Rating: 7.0/10
Description: A Parisian courtesan flees to Rome to protect her reputation when her daughter’s learning disability could become exposed. There she meets Maria Montessori, who is pioneering a teaching method that may help the child.
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