Movies like Who Loves the Sun (2024)
The best movies like Who Loves the Sun (2024) are For Sama (2019), The White Helmets (2016) and Naqoyqatsi (2002). If Who Loves the Sun hooked you with its documentary, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedFor Sama (2019)8.2/10 from 323 votes
- NewestMaternal Instinct (2026)Released 2026
For Sama (2019)
A love letter from a young mother to her daughter, the film tells the story of Waad al-Kateab’s life through five years of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria as she falls in love, gets married and gives birth to Sama, all while cataclysmic conflict rises around her. Her camera captures incredible stories of loss, laughter and survival as Waad wrestles with an impossible choice– whether or not to flee the city to protect her daughter’s life, when leaving means abandoning the struggle for freedom for which she has already sacrificed so much.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe White Helmets (2016)
As daily airstrikes pound civilian targets in Syria, a group of indomitable first responders risk their lives to rescue victims from the rubble.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNaqoyqatsi (2002)
A visual montage portrait of our contemporary world dominated by globalized technology and violence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFuck (2006)
A documentary on the expletive's origin, why it offends some people so deeply, and what can be gained from its use.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTread (2020)
Pushed to his breaking point, a master welder in a small town at the foot of the Rocky Mountains quietly fortifies a bulldozer with 30 tons of concrete and steel and seeks to destroy those he believes have wronged him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAquaman: Heroines of Atlantis (2019)
Amber Heard and Nicole Kidman discuss their characters Mera and Atlanna.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKoyaanisqatsi (1983)
Takes us to locations all around the US and shows us the heavy toll that modern technology is having on humans and the earth. The visual tone poem contains neither dialogue nor a vocalized narration: its tone is set by the juxtaposition of images and the exceptional music by Philip Glass.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisBurma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country (2008)
Going beyond the occasional news clip from Burma, the acclaimed filmmaker, Anders Østergaard, brings us close to the video journalists who deliver the footage. Though risking torture and life in jail, courageous young citizens of Burma live the essence of journalism as they insist on keeping up the flow of news from their closed country.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBeing James Bond (2021)
Daniel Craig candidly reflects on his 15 year adventure as James Bond. Including never-before-seen archival footage from Casino Royale to the upcoming 25th film No Time To Die, Craig shares his personal memories in conversation with 007 producers, Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli.
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 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 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 thisHyperNormalisation (2016)
We live in a world where the powerful deceive us. We know they lie. They know we know they lie. They do not care. We say we care, but we do nothing, and nothing ever changes. It is normal. Welcome to the post-truth world. How we got to where we are now…
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like this2000 Meters to Andriivka (2025)
Amid the failing counteroffensive, a journalist follows a Ukrainian platoon on their mission to traverse one mile of heavily fortified forest and liberate a strategic village from Russian occupation. But the farther they advance through their destroyed homeland, the more they realize that this war may never end.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisCity of Ghosts (2017)
With unprecedented access, this documentary follows the extraordinary journey of “Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently”—a group of anonymous citizen journalists who banded together after their homeland was overtaken by ISIS—as they risk their lives to stand up against one of the greatest evils in the world today.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEvil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story (2025)
Unravel the case of Utah therapist Jodi Hildebrandt, whose child abuse arrest with parenting YouTuber Ruby Franke exposed a twisted tale of manipulation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGirl Model (2011)
A documentary on the modeling industry's 'supply chain' between Siberia, Japan, and the U.S., told through the experiences of the scouts, agencies, and a 13-year-old model.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTo Kill a Tiger (2023)
Ranjit, a farmer in India, takes on the fight of his life when he demands justice for his 13-year-old daughter, the victim of a brutal gang rape. His decision to support his daughter is virtually unheard of, and his journey unprecedented.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMaternal Instinct (2026)
Police pull over a woman who claims she just gave birth. But the baby — and the blood — aren't hers. Twisted lies unravel in this true-crime documentary.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Curious Birth of Benjamin Button (2009)
A documentary about the making of David Fincher's 2008 film THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON. Virtually every element in the evolution of the Fincher's film is documented here, from the project's attachment to numerous other directors during the 1990s, to its shoot in 2006 and 2007 in New Orleans, to its complex, CGI-intensive postproduction process.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFamiliar Tale (2022)
The memory lives on in Yukio Saeki's memory. At 83 years old, he still hears the echo of the sea in Japan, near Hiroshima, and the atomic bomb falling from the sky.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
The Big Swim (1964)
This short documentary shows Canada's top swimmers in training for the 1964 Olympic Games. Under the critical eye of coach Ed Healy, they practice long hours in the gym and in the pool to build strength and stamina.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
It's a Wonderful Day (1975)
The cartoon based on the works of Alexander Pushkin was created on the basis of drawings from the exhibition "Pushkin through the eyes of children".
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Gonzalo Suárez: Sam Peckinpah, director salvaje (2011)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Evoluon (1969)
A 12 minute film about the Evoluon [a conference centre and former science museum erected by the electronics and electrical company Philips at Eindhoven in the Netherlands], of which is thought that it was made in 1969 by Bert Haanstra or Pim Heytman. British TV viewers will probably remember this movie, since the BBC used it for test transmissions. In those transmissions a number of films was broadcast every day in the early seventies so technicians could adjust the new color TVs they installed at customers homes. —http://www.dse.nl/~evoluon/film-e.htm
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Dear Sa Bastida (2025)
For generations, Sa Bastida has been much more than a house: it has been a refuge, a witness, and a vital centre for the Barceló family. Today, however, solitude has settled into every room, and Joan, the last one who remains, carries the living memory of all that it once was. As the arrival of new rhythms, infrastructures, and urban landscapes threatens this fragile environment, the documentary delves into the tension between the persistence of the past and the relentless advance of modernity. With an intimate and contemplative gaze, Dear Sa Bastida portrays not only the physical decay of a home, but also the emotional and symbolic value of a space that is quietly fading away. It is a tribute to the spaces that disappear, to the people who endure within them, and to the need to preserve memory before progress completely erases what defines us.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Ho Chi Minh Kim Chi (2016)
The sights and sounds of a kimchi factory in Vietnam.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Collar de moscas (2002)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
El jardín de las delicias (2009)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Who Loves the Sun?
The closest matches to Who Loves the Sun are For Sama (2019), The White Helmets (2016) and Naqoyqatsi (2002). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Who Loves the Sun?
Start with For Sama (2019), the closest match to Who Loves the Sun.
What is the highest-rated movie like Who Loves the Sun?
For Sama (2019), rated 8.2/10 by 323 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Who Loves the Sun?
Maternal Instinct (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Who Loves the Sun chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Who Loves the Sun, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.