Watch Best Picture Films 2011-2021: See Last 10 Oscar-Winning Movies

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We’re less than two weeks away from Hollywood’s biggest night. That’s right, the Academy Awards (aka the Oscars) are just around the corner. The Oscars are such an historic, culturally significant touchstone in Hollywood, with a storied history regarding the winners who walk away with that golden statuette. In the last 10 years, we’ve seen quite the array of Best Picture winners. From a history-making international win to stirring true stories, these films vary in size, scope, and story — and we think now’s a great time to revisit them with a look back at the movies that won from 2011 to 2021.

The past 10 Best Picture winners are as unique as the years in which they were crowned. Some films, like we said, highlight true stories — like Spotlight, Green Book, Argo, and 12 Years A Slave. Safe to say, the Oscars love a biopic or movie based on a true story.

Then there are films that challenge our notions of societal structures — see Parasite for a deep reading on capitalism, wealth disparity, and greed, or Moonlight’s beautiful meditation on one Black man’s journey to understand his identity and sexuality while growing up in Miami. Each of these films is so unique and brings a totally different meaning to what some might consider an “Oscar” movie. Perhaps one of your favorites is included in this list.

Before 2022’s Best Picture is finally unveiled during the March 27 live telecast on ABC, check out the last 10 Best Picture-winning movies and where you can stream them.

‘The Artist’ (2011)

Image Credit: ©The Weinstein Company/courtesy Everett Collection.

2011’s The Artist stars Oscar-winner Jean Dujardin and Oscar-nominated actress Bérénice Bejo in the first (mostly) silent film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture since 1927’s Wings. It’s also the first completely black-and-white film to receive the honor since The Apartment (1960). The film follows a silent film actor in the late 1920s, whose career begins to spiral following the advent of sound in film. As his star diminishes, the career of a young woman rises in Hollywood. The film won five Oscars at the 2012 Academy Awards.

Watch on Netflix.
‘Argo’ (2012)

Image Credit: ©Warner Bros. Pictures/courtesy Everett Collection.

2012’s Argo chronicles the true story of the 1979 Iran hostage crisis. The film, directed by Ben Affleck, follows a CIA agent who develops a plot to rescue the American hostages under the guise of a Hollywood film crew scouting for locations in the middle eastern country. The film won three Oscars at the 2013 Academy Awards.

Watch on HBO Max.
’12 Years A Slave’ (2013)

Image Credit: ©Fox Searchlight Pictures. All rights reserved/courtesy Everett Collection.

The 2013 film 12 Years A Slave tells the harrowing true story of Solomon Northup, a free Black man who was abducted and sold into slavery in the South. The film won three Oscars at the 2014 Academy Awards.

Watch on HBO Max.
‘Birdman’ Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)’ (2014)

Image Credit: ©Fox Searchlight Pictures. All rights reserved./Courtesy Everett Collection.

Birdman Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) stars Michael Keaton as a fading superhero movie star who tries to give his career a third act by writing, directing, and starring in his own Broadway production of Raymond Carver’s short story What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. The film won four Oscars at the 2015 Academy Awards.

Watch on Amazon Prime Video.
‘Spotlight’ (2015)

Image Credit: ©Open Road Films/Courtesy Everett Collection.

Spotlight stars an ensemble of actors including Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo, and more in the 2015 Best Picture-winning film that chronicles the true story of the Boston Globe’s investigation into the Catholic Archdiocese, who covered up years of child molestation. The film won two Oscars at the 2016 Academy Awards.

Watch on Amazon Prime Video.
‘Moonlight’ (2016)

Image Credit: ©A24/courtesy Everett Collection.

Told in three stunning, stirring acts, Moonlight follows one young man’s youth growing up in Miami and coming to terms with his identity and sexuality. The film’s Best Picture win is arguably overshadowed due to the envelope mishap that occurred, in which La La Land was preemptively announced as the year’s Best Picture winner. Once on stage, the team behind La La Land shared that Moonlight had in fact won Best Picture. The movie took home three Oscars.

Watch on Amazon Prime Video.
‘The Shape of Water’ (2017)

Image Credit: © Fox Searchlight Pictures. All Rights reserved. /Courtesy Everett Collection.

Part love letter to monster, creature, and classic movies, part love story, The Shape of Water won the Best Picture Oscar at the 2018 Academy Awards. Taking place in the 1960s, lonely cleaner Elisa (Sally Hawkins) forms a bond with an amphibious creature being held at an experimental lab. The movie chronicles Elisa’s plan to break the creature out of captivity and finally set him free. The film won four Oscars.

Watch on Hulu.
‘Green Book’ (2018)

Image Credit: ©Universal /Courtesy Everett Collection.

Another film based on a true story, Green Book follows Tony Lip (Viggo Mortensen) as the driver hired to transport Dr. Donald Shirley (Mahershala Ali) to performances as the accomplished classical pianist plays throughout the American South during the 1960s. The film won three Oscars at the 2019 Academy Awards.

Watch on Amazon Prime Video.
‘Parasite’ (2019)

Image Credit: © Neon / Courtesy Everett Collection.

Parasite made history at the 2020 Academy Awards by becoming the first non-English film to win Best Picture. The film follows the impoverished Kim family, who slowly but surely latch onto the wealthy Park family by acquiring jobs in the Park household. It’s a deep reading on the cracks in capitalism, greed, wealth disparity and more. The movie won four Oscars at the 2020 Academy Awards.

Watch on Hulu.
‘Nomadland’ (2020)

Image Credit: © Searchlight Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection.

Following the Great Recession, Fern (Frances McDormand) transitions out of need to a nomadic lifestyle, traveling throughout the American West in her van and encountering people in a similar quandary along the way in Nomadland. The film won three Oscars at the 2021 Academy Awards.

Watch on Hulu.