Hidden Figures (2016)

Talent can't be held back forever, no matter how many barriers stand in its way. Theodore Melfi's "Hidden Figures," based on Margot Lee Shetterly's book, tells the true story of three brilliant Black women working as mathematicians at NASA's Langley Research Center in segregated Virginia during the early 1960s. As the United States races the Soviet Union to put a man in orbit, the space agency relies on these "human computers" to check its calculations. Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson) is assigned to the Space Task Group, where she calculates the trajectories that will send astronaut John Glenn (Glen Powell) into orbit. The only Black woman in the group, she must run half a mile across the campus to use the "colored" restroom. Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) teaches herself to program the agency's new IBM computer, and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe) fights for the right to become NASA's first Black female engineer, petitioning a judge to attend classes at an all-white school. Kirsten Dunst and Jim Parsons play skeptical colleagues, and Mahershala Ali is Katherine's love interest. With Kevin Costner as Katherine's demanding boss, you'll be inspired by their persistence. The film earned three Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, and won the Screen Actors Guild Award for its ensemble cast.