The documentary *A Brief History of Time* about Stephen Hawking was released in 1991.
Directed by Errol Morris, the film is not a straightforward screen version of Hawking’s 1988 bestseller. Instead, it combines interviews, archival material, family memories, visual effects, and explanations of cosmology to portray both Hawking’s scientific ideas and his personal life.
The title is a common source of confusion because Hawking’s book came first, appearing in 1988 and becoming an international bestseller. The documentary followed three years later, making 1988 the book’s publication year, not the film’s release year. The movie also differs from later dramatizations such as *The Theory of Everything*, which was released in 2014 and focuses more heavily on Hawking’s relationship with Jane Wilde.
*A Brief History of Time* was later restored and issued by The Criterion Collection in 2014. Its subject remained one of the best-known theoretical physicists of the modern era, whose work explored black holes, cosmology, and the nature of time.