Movies like Our Cinema (1940)
The best movies like Our Cinema (1940) are Embrace the Panda: Making Turning Red (2022), The Pixar Story (2007) and Obi-Wan Kenobi: A Jedi's Return (2022). If Our Cinema hooked you with its documentary, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedJodorowsky's Dune (2013)7.8/10 from 789 votes
- NewestJaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story (2025)Released 2025
Embrace the Panda: Making Turning Red (2022)
A feature length documentary about the all-women team at the helm of Pixar's original feature, Turning Red. With unprecedented behind-the-scenes access to Director Domee Shi and her core leadership crew, this story shines a light on the powerful professional and personal journeys that brought this incredibly comical, utterly relatable, and deeply heartfelt story to the screen.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Pixar Story (2007)
A look at the first years of Pixar Animation Studios - from the success of "Toy Story" and Pixar's promotion of talented people, to the building of its East Bay campus, the company's relationship with Disney, and its remarkable initial string of eight hits. The contributions of John Lasseter, Ed Catmull and Steve Jobs are profiled. The decline of two-dimensional animation is chronicled as three-dimensional animation rises. Hard work and creativity seem to share the screen in equal proportions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisObi-Wan Kenobi: A Jedi's Return (2022)
This special explores the return of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker to the screen, as well as Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen to their classic roles. Director Deborah Chow leads the cast and crew as they create new heroes and villains that live alongside new incarnations of beloved Star Wars characters, and an epic story that dramatically bridges the saga films.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWaking Sleeping Beauty (2010)
By the mid-1980s, the fabled animation studios of Walt Disney had fallen on hard times. The artists were polarized between newcomers hungry to innovate and old timers not yet ready to relinquish control. These conditions produced a series of box-office flops and pessimistic forecasts: maybe the best days of animation were over. Maybe the public didn't care. Only a miracle or a magic spell could produce a happy ending. Waking Sleeping Beauty is no fairy tale. It's the true story of how Disney regained its magic with a staggering output of hits - "Little Mermaid," "Beauty and the Beast ," "Aladdin," "The Lion King," and more - over a 10-year period.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSpielberg (2017)
A documentary on the life and career of one of the most influential film directors of all time, Steven Spielberg.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story (2025)
The authorized documentary celebrating the film that redefined Hollywood, 50 years after its premiere. Featuring rare archival footage and interviews with acclaimed Hollywood directors alongside Steven Spielberg, top shark scientists, and conservationists, the film uncovers the behind-the-scenes chaos and how the film launched the summer blockbuster, inspired a new wave of filmmakers, and paved the way for shark conservation that continues today.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMaking Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound (2019)
The history of cinematic sound, told by legendary sound designers and visionary filmmakers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChernobyl: The Lost Tapes (2022)
Thirty-six years after the Chernobyl nuclear reactor exploded in Soviet Ukraine, newly uncovered archival footage and recorded interviews with those who were present paint an emotional and gripping portrait of the extent and gravity of the disaster and the lengths to which the Soviet government went to cover up the incident, including the soldiers sent in to “liquidate” the damage. Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes is the full, unvarnished true story of what happened in one of the least understood tragedies of the twentieth century.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisExtremis (2016)
A purely observational non-fiction film that takes viewers into the ethically murky world of end-of-life decision making in a public hospital.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGuillermo del Toro's Pinocchio: Handcarved Cinema (2022)
With mesmerizing footage and time lapses of animators at work, this behind-the-scenes special captures the artistry of a unique tale years in the making.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSeduced and Abandoned (2013)
SEDUCED AND ABANDONED combines acting legend Alec Baldwin with director James Toback as they lead us on a troublesome and often hilarious journey of raising financing for their next feature film. Moving from director to financier to star actor, the two players provide us with a unique look behind the curtain at the world's biggest and most glamourous film festival, shining a light on the bitter-sweet relationship filmmakers have with Cannes and the film business. Featuring insights from directors Martin Scorsese, 'Bernando Bertolucci' and Roman Polanski; actors Ryan Gosling and Jessica Chastain and a host of film distribution luminaries.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Fan's Guide to Ms. Marvel (2022)
A documentary short that gives you an exclusive look behind the groundbreaking original series, "Ms. Marvel", from its comic book origins to its development and production as Marvel Studios’ next hit series on Disney+. It features interviews with its award winning filmmaking team and the show’s captivating star, newcomer Iman Vellani.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJodorowsky's Dune (2013)
In 1974, Chilean-French director Alejandro Jodorowsky embarked on the quixotic project of adapting Frank Herbert's influential novel Dune (1969) for the big screen. After investing two years, and millions of dollars, the gigantic project ended in failure; but the artists Jodorowsky brought together to carry it out continued to work together, and ended up laying the foundations for modern science fiction cinema.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDawson City: Frozen Time (2017)
The true history of a collection of some 500 films dating from 1910s to 1920s, which were lost for over 50 years until being discovered buried in a sub-arctic swimming pool deep in the Yukon Territory, in Dawson City, located about 350 miles south of the Arctic Circle.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove, Marilyn (2013)
Using the book 'Fragments', which collects Marilyn Monroe's poems, notes and letters, and with participation from the Arthur Miller and Truman Capote estates who have contributed more material, each of the actresses will embody the legend at various stages in her life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Age of Stupid (2009)
Pete Postlethwaite stars as a man living alone in the devastated future world of 2055, looking at old footage from 2008 and asking: why didn’t we stop climate change when we had the chance?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhy We Fight: Prelude to War (1942)
Prelude to War was the first film of Frank Capra's Why We Fight propaganda film series, commissioned by the Pentagon and George C. Marshall. It was made to convince American troops of the necessity of combating the Axis Powers during World War II. This film examines the differences between democratic and fascist states.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Eyes of Orson Welles (2018)
A poetic journey into the visual world of the legendary filmmaker and actor Orson Welles (1915-85) that reveals a new portrait of a unique genius, both of his life and of his monumental work: through his own eyes, drawn by his own hand, painted with his own brush.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThis Changes Everything (2019)
An investigative look and analysis of gender disparity in Hollywood, featuring accounts from well-known actors, executives and artists in the Industry.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEverything or Nothing (2012)
The story of three men with a shared dream: James Bond franchise producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, and Bond creator and author Ian Fleming. It’s the thrilling and inspiring narrative behind the longest running film franchise in cinema history, which began in 1962.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTian Soepangat: Muslim Sailor (2015)
Tian Soepangat joins the U.S. Navy out of a commitment to helping others. As a Muslim, Tian is uncertain of his shipmates' attitudes toward his religion, and so he hides it. Eventually discovering he doesn't have to hide his faith, he is free to express pride in his heritage.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Land Without Bread (1933)
An exploration —manipulated and staged— of life in Las Hurdes, in the province of Cáceres, in Extremadura, Spain, as it was in 1932. Insalubrity, misery and lack of opportunities provoke the emigration of young people and the solitude of those who remain in the desolation of one of the poorest and least developed Spanish regions at that time.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGonzalo Suárez: Sam Peckinpah, director salvaje (2011)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Dear Chantal (2021)
Pereda returns with a small, mysterious and moving tribute to Chantal Akerman, conceived as a series of joyful impossible letters addressed to the great disappeared from the cinema, to answer her fictional question about renting her bright apartment in Coyoacán.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Bis weit über's Jahr 2000 (1983)
The Bitterfeld lignite combine includes a large number of lignite plants, open-cast mines, power stations and briquette factories. The film presents several mining professions, shows miners' jobs, mostly in connection with modern mining technology, and points out the great prospects that mining offers in a wide variety of professions.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Wild Australia: The Edge (1996)
From beautiful but dangerous waterfalls to canyons and underground rivers carved into stone millions of years ago, Wild Australia is a stunning look at our fragile world and how it relates to Earth of ninety million years ago
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
The Number of Completion (2017)
Short documentary about Twin Peaks: The Return.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
C-Film (1970)
Two women in a living room: smoking, playing cards, listening to the radio. As often in Dwoskin’s films, the use of masks, make-up and costumes allows the characters to playfully transform themselves. Shot in colour film, C-film exuberates swinging London energy. In the second part of the film, the women appear to be watching the rushes of the film on an editing table. ”We are making a movie” we hear them say. As Dwoskin points out, “C-film asks how much is acting acted”, an ongoing question in Dwoskin’s cinema. Produced by Alan Power, with Esther Anderson & Sally Geeson.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Europe by Bidon (2022)
Biodun is Nigerian. In this animated documentary, he tells the story of his journey on foot from Lagos to Paris, how he survives with a container (un bidon) and thanks to his courage. With his amazing patter, he transforms the events into extraordinary adventures.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Nightmares in Red, White and Blue (2009)
An exploration of the appeal of horror films, with interviews of many legendary directors in the genre.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Our Cinema?
The closest matches to Our Cinema are Embrace the Panda: Making Turning Red (2022), The Pixar Story (2007) and Obi-Wan Kenobi: A Jedi's Return (2022). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Our Cinema?
Start with Embrace the Panda: Making Turning Red (2022), the closest match to Our Cinema.
What is the highest-rated movie like Our Cinema?
Jodorowsky's Dune (2013), rated 7.8/10 by 789 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Our Cinema?
Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Our Cinema chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Our Cinema, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.