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A period of history · Age

Films & Shows Set during the Post-Cold War Era

Runs from1991present35 years so far

Shelfmark Liber LXXIII

Contemporary Era

15
titles
14 films · 1 series (1 ep) · 1 through its sub-periods
3.9/5
average rating
across 15 rated titles
88%
of the span is tagged
14 of 16 titles set inside it

See the Post-Cold War Era on the timelineEvery year from 1991 to the present the archive holds, and what is set in them

Compare the titles of the Post-Cold War Era in the CanonsWhat every title on it shares, what two or three share, and what is proper to one

The Chronicle

The events and themes the archive follows through the Post-Cold War Era, in the order they happened, each with the titles that depict it. Press a name to read about it in the threads below.

  1. 1979
    Iranian RevolutionPolitical
  2. 1993
    Battle of MogadishuMilitary

    The American raid in Somalia in October 1993 and the resulting rescue operation involved following a grave turn of fortune during a UN Intervention into the Somali Civil War.

  3. 1994–1995
    Murder Trial of O. J. SimpsonCrime and Terror
  4. 1994
    Rwandan GenocideAtrocity and Persecution
  5. 1995
    Srebrenica MassacreAtrocity and Persecution
  6. 2001
    9/11Crime and Terror

    A set of hijacking-based suicide attacks carried out by the Islamic terrorist group Al-Qaeda against various targets in the United States on September 11, 2001.

  7. 2001–present
    Catholic Church Sexual Abuse CasesCrime and Terror
  8. 2003–present
    Rise of Social MediaSocial

    The founding of the early social media platforms like Myspace (2003) and Facebook (2004) that would eventually come to dominate the digital social landscape by the early 2010s.

  9. 2008
    2008 Financial CrisisEconomic

Sub-Periods

The periods the archive counts as part of the Post-Cold War Era. Their titles are gathered on this page where they are set inside its boundaries. The number represents how many titles in these sub-periods are also directly attached to this period and how many are just inherited rather being directly tagged with the Post-Cold War Era.

Cinematic Introduction

Every title set during the Post-Cold War Era, by the decade it came out. A series is placed on the chart by its first season and counts as one title entity.

First on screen
Black Hawk Down2001
Most recent
I'm Still Here2024

Every one of these was made during the Post-Cold War Era, which is still under way: I'm Still Here (2024), Spotlight (2015), Persepolis (2007), Invictus (2009), Black Hawk Down (2001), American Crime Story (2016), Hotel Rwanda (2004), Quo Vadis, Aida? (2021), Blood Diamond (2006), United 93 (2006), The Social Network (2010), The Big Short (2015), Margin Call (2011), Uncut Gems (2019), Thirteen Lives (2022).

FilmsSeriesAt the archive’s paceeach bar is the titles released that decade

The median title about the Post-Cold War Era came out in 2011; the median across the rest of the archive, in 2003, so this period’s titles run 8 years later. Most over-told: the 2000s, with 6 titles where about 3.0 would be expected.

The gold dashes are how many of this period’s 15 titles each decade would hold if they had been released at the same pace as the other 276 dated titles in the archive. That measures the archive’s own collecting, not the world’s film output, and at these sizes one title moves a bar by a whole step.

Historical Threads

A thread follows one event or historical theme across the archive, wherever and whenever it appears. Pick a tab to read one; they are in the order they are filed on the timeline. Pulling a thread opens up a narrowed timeline view filtered to every year that thread touches.

9/11pull it on the timeline

Event

A set of hijacking-based suicide attacks carried out by the Islamic terrorist group Al-Qaeda against various targets in the United States on September 11, 2001. Al-Qaeda operatives took control of several commercial airliners, ramming two into the Twin Towers in New York City and a third into the Pentagon in Washington D.C. The fourth aircraft crashed in an isolated area following an attempted seizure of control from the passengers.

2 titles set here · filed under 2001

Also runs throughWar on Terror

Places Connected to this Period

Every place the archive’s titles set in this period name, with each one nested under the larger place it sits inside where that place is here too. The number is how many titles set here name it.

Saltiness Across the Period

No title set here has been given a saltiness score yet. That is unrated, which is not the same as accurate.

Archive Density

88%14 of the 16 titles the archive sets between 1991 and the present carry the Post-Cold War Era tag.

94%With its sub-periods: 15 of the same 16 titles carry Post-Cold War Era or one of Bosnian War and Sierra Leone Civil War.

This measure can help illustrate cinematic hotspots within a time period by comparing which years of the overarching, actual historical time period are backed up by a cinematic release.

  1. 19911 of 1
  2. 1992nothing set here
  3. 19931 of 1
  4. 19944 of 4
  5. 19951 of 2 · 2 with sub-periods
  6. 19961 of 1
  7. 1997nothing set here
  8. 19991 of 1
  9. 20012 of 2
  10. 20021 of 1
  11. 20031 of 1
  12. 20041 of 2
  13. 20051 of 1
  14. 20071 of 1
  15. 20082 of 2
  16. 20121 of 1
  17. 20181 of 1
  18. 2021nothing set here
  19. 2026nothing set here

19 years on the timeline fall inside the boundaries, 4 of them with nothing set there yet. The dark part of each bar is the share carrying this period; the lighter part beside it, the share carrying one of its sub-periods instead.

Share of the 35 genre taggings across 15 titles set in this period. A title filed under three genres is in three of these slices, so this is a share of taggings rather than of titles.

Also on the Timeline

Part of and part of it are declared by the archive: one period counted as belonging to another, whatever their dates. Periods overlap freely so concurrent means the two spans share years, and the shared stretch is named. Bounded means it lies wholly inside this one, beginning and ending more than 10 years within its boundaries. Before and after are the nearest periods lying outside this one, with the gap in years shown instead. A shared thread is what the two have in common besides the calendar, and a period lying wholly outside this one can still share one.

RelationPeriodRunsShared yearsShared threadsTitles
Part of itSierra Leone Civil War1991–20021991–2002none shared1
Part of itBosnian War1992–19951992–1995none shared1
BeforeCold War1946–19911991Iranian Revolution32
ConcurrentApartheid1948–19941991–1994none shared1
ConcurrentColombian Drug War1970–19931991–1993none shared1
ConcurrentInformation Age1947–present1991–2026Rise of Social Media1
ConcurrentWar on Terror2001–20212001–20219/112
BoundedIraq War2003–20112003–2011none shared1