Movies like American Santa (2023)
The best movies like American Santa (2023) are Tongues Untied (1990), When We Were Kings (1996) and The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution (2015). If American Santa hooked you with its documentary, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedBaraka (1992)8.2/10 from 734 votes
- NewestCathedrals (2025)Released 2025
Tongues Untied (1990)
Marlon Riggs, with assistance from other gay Black men, especially poet Essex Hemphill, celebrates Black men loving Black men as a revolutionary act. The film intercuts footage of Hemphill reciting his poetry, Riggs telling the story of his growing up, scenes of men in social intercourse and dance, and various comic riffs, including a visit to the "Institute of Snap!thology," where men take lessons in how to snap their fingers: the sling snap, the point snap, the diva snap.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhen We Were Kings (1996)
It's 1974. Muhammad Ali is 32 and thought by many to be past his prime. George Foreman is ten years younger and the heavyweight champion of the world. Promoter Don King wants to make a name for himself and offers both fighters five million dollars apiece to fight one another, and when they accept, King has only to come up with the money. He finds a willing backer in Mobutu Sese Suko, the dictator of Zaire, and the "Rumble in the Jungle" is set, including a musical festival featuring some of America's top black performers, like James Brown and B.B. King.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution (2015)
The story of the Black Panthers is often told in a scatter of repackaged parts, often depicting tragic, mythic accounts of violence and criminal activity; but this is an essential story, vibrant, human; a living and breathing chronicle of a pivotal movement that birthed a new revolutionary culture in America.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGod Grew Tired of Us (2006)
Filmmaker Christopher Quinn observes the ordeal of three Sudanese refugees -- Jon Bul Dau, Daniel Abul Pach and Panther Bior -- as they try to come to terms with the horrors they experienced in their homeland, while adjusting to their new lives in the United States.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCrips and Bloods: Made in America (2009)
With a first-person look at the notorious Crips and Bloods, this film examines the conditions that have lead to decades of devastating gang violence among young African Americans growing up in South Los Angeles.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Am Not Your Negro (2017)
Working from the text of James Baldwin’s unfinished final novel, director Raoul Peck creates a meditation on what it means to be Black in the United States.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHigh School Musical: The Musical: The Holiday Special (2020)
The cast of “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series” delivers an abundance of feel-good holiday cheer as they perform their favorite Christmas, Hanukkah and New Year’s songs and share their fondest holiday memories.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 (2011)
Examines the evolution of the Black Power Movement in US society from 1967 to 1975. It features footage of the movement shot by Swedish journalists in the United States during that period and includes the appearances of Angela Davis, Bobby Seale, Huey P. Newton, Eldridge Cleaver, and other activists, artists, and leaders central to the movement.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHeart of a Dog (2015)
Musician and performance artist Laurie Anderson reflects on the deaths of her husband Lou Reed, her mother and her beloved dog.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Crystal Calls - Making The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (2019)
Go behind the scenes with stars, puppeteers and creators as they bring Jim Henson's magical world of Thra back to life in a sweeping fantasy series.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGirl Rising (2013)
Nine filmmakers each profile a young girl from a different part of the world to weave a global tapestry of youth in the 21st century.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLooking for Richard (1996)
Al Pacino's deeply-felt rumination on Shakespeare's significance and relevance to the modern world through interviews and an in-depth analysis of "Richard III."
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBaraka (1992)
A paralysingly beautiful documentary with a global vision—an odyssey through landscape and time—that attempts to capture the essence of life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisDavid Blaine: Real or Magic (2013)
David Blaine's signature brand of street magic mystifies the most recognisable celebrities in the world, such as Jamie Foxx, Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Ricky Gervais, Katy Perry, Woody Allen, and Robert DeNiro, to name a few. He goes to the homes of Kanye West and Harrison Ford, Will Smith and Olivia Wilde. He pays a visit to Stephen Hawking at his office in Cambridge University. Blaine also travels the world, astonishing people from all walks of life with never-before seen, inconceivable magic.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Green Book: Guide to Freedom (2019)
In 1936, Victor H. Green (1892-1960) published The Negro Motorist Green Book, a book that was both a travel guide and a survival manual, to help African-Americans navigate safe those regions of the United States where segregation and Jim Crow laws were disgracefully applied.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEx Libris: The New York Public Library (2017)
A documentary about how a dominant cultural and demographic institution both sustains their traditional activities and adapts to the digital revolution.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like this3 ½ Minutes, 10 Bullets (2015)
Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving November 2012, four boys in a red SUV pull into a gas station after spending time at the mall buying sneakers and talking to girls. With music blaring, one boy exits the car and enters the store, a quick stop for a soda and a pack of gum. A man and a woman pull up next to the boys in the station, making a stop for a bottle of wine. The woman enters the store and an argument breaks out when the driver of the second car asks the boys to turn the music down. 3½ minutes and ten bullets later, one of the boys is dead. 3½ MINUTES dissects the aftermath of this fatal encounter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBecoming (2020)
Join former first lady Michelle Obama in an intimate documentary looking at her life, hopes and connection with others as she tours with "Becoming."
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisMcQueen (2018)
Alexander McQueen's rags-to-riches story is a modern-day fairy tale, laced with the gothic. Mirroring the savage beauty, boldness and vivacity of his design, this documentary is an intimate revelation of McQueen's own world, both tortured and inspired, which celebrates a radical and mesmerizing genius of profound influence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBéziers, The Other Side (2024)
Structured in two parts, the film uses the municipal newspaper, Le Journal de Béziers (later renamed Le Journal du Biterrois), to examine the city's management by Robert Ménard, elected mayor in 2014 with the support of the National Rally. By meeting with residents and activists, the film reveals the "behind the scenes" of this southern French city. It shows how this newspaper shapes a political and ideological line for a fundamentalist Catholic France, rejecting Muslims, while simultaneously seeking to control and monitor all its inhabitants. A vision of the far right in power…
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Cathedrals (2025)
In CATHEDRALS, filmmaker Dan Algrant embarks on a journey to reconnect with two black collaborators from a film made nearly 50 years ago. CATHEDRALS becomes a powerful exploration of the bonds that tie us together and the experiences that shape our identities. Through the lens of a creative collaboration, the film illuminates the struggles and triumphs that define life in a close-knit community, ultimately reaffirming the importance of human connection and the power of collective memory.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
White Noise (2019)
Through a poetic language, "White Noise" seeks to reflect on the whitening processes that Brazil suffered for 130 years, after the abolition of slavery. How it affects our offspring and makes it difficult to search for the identity of black people in a historically racist country.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Third Ward TX (2007)
Third Ward TX is the story of how Project Row Houses used the tools of design, art and architecture to transform two blocks of "shotgun" houses reminiscent of New Orleans and other Black communities across the South into exhibition space, classrooms, gardens, and residential space. But their success in reducing crime, and making their "campus" a magnet for art enthusiasts, families, and local residents, also attracts deep-pocket real estate developers. Their bold response is to include community planning and new housing as a part of their art practice. If they can shape an area in Third Ward for the residents, there's a chance they can keep the neighborhood intact.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Pour mes fils, mon silence est impossible (2020)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Disciples (2021)
“DISCIPLES” is a new Dazed film by Jess Kohl exploring the subcultural world of Malaysian skinheads including the traditional, SHARP skins, and Nazis.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
The Antifascists (2017)
A low-intensity war is being fought on the streets of Europe and the aim is on fascism. This critically acclaimed documentary takes us behind the masks of the militants called antifascists. In 2013 a group of armed nazis attacks a peaceful demonstration in Stockholm where several people are injured. In Greece the neo-nazi party Golden Dawn becomes the third largest in the election and in Malmö the activist Showan Shattak and his friends are attacked by a group of nazis with knives and he ends up in a coma. In this portrait of the antifascists in Greece and Sweden we get to meet key figures that explain their view on their radical politics but also to question the level their own violence and militancy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
A Propos D'Un Crime (1967)
In 1967, Visconti came to Algiers for the filming of The Stranger with Mastroianni and Anna Karina. Camus, during his lifetime, had always refused to allow one of his novels to be brought to the screen. His family made another decision. The filming of the film was experienced in Algiers, like a posthumous return of the writer to Algiers. During filming, a young filmmaker specializing in documentaries Gérard Patris attempts a report on the impact of the filming of The Stranger on the Algerians. Interspersed with sequences from the shooting of Visconti's film, he films Poncet, Maisonseul, Bénisti and Sénac, friends of Camus, in full discussions to situate Camus and his work in a sociological and historical context. “The idea is for us to show people, others, ourselves as if they could all be Meursault, or at least the witnesses concerned to his drama.”
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
The Color of Fear 2: Walking Each Other Home (1997)
In THE COLOR OF FEAR, eight American men participated in emotionally charged discussions of racism. In this sequel, we hear and see more from those discussions, in which the men talk about about how racism has affected their lives in the United States. We also learn more about the relationships between them, and about their reactions during some of the most intense moments of that discussion.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
The Ripple Effect (2021)
The Ripple Effect is a powerful documentary primarily centred around St Kilda legend and proud Noongar Nicky Winmar's generation-defining stand against racism at Victoria Park in 1993.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like American Santa?
The closest matches to American Santa are Tongues Untied (1990), When We Were Kings (1996) and The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution (2015). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after American Santa?
Start with Tongues Untied (1990), the closest match to American Santa.
What is the highest-rated movie like American Santa?
Baraka (1992), rated 8.2/10 by 734 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like American Santa?
Cathedrals (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like American Santa?
Yes: Tongues Untied (1990), When We Were Kings (1996) and The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution (2015).
How are movies similar to American Santa chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside American Santa, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.