Movies like Ai Weiwei: Without Fear or Favour (2010)
The best movies like Ai Weiwei: Without Fear or Favour (2010) are Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry (2012), The Secret Life of Brian (2007) and Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th (2013). If Ai Weiwei: Without Fear or Favour hooked you with its documentary, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedI Am Heath Ledger (2017)7.4/10 from 233 votes
- NewestCome See Me in the Good Light (2025)Released 2025
Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry (2012)
An account of the many tribulations that Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, known for his subversive art and political activism, endured between 2008 and 2011, from his rise to world fame via the Internet to his highly publicized arrest due to his frequent and daring confrontations with the Chinese authorities.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Secret Life of Brian (2007)
A documentary about the making of the controversial Life of Brian and the surrounding accusations of blasphemy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCrystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th (2013)
Taking inspiration from Peter M. Bracke's definitive book of the same name, this seven-hour documentary dives into the making of all twelve Friday the 13th films, with all-new interviews from the cast and the crew.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFrida (2024)
An intimately raw and magical journey through the life, mind, and heart of iconic artist Frida Kahlo. Told through her own words for the very first time — drawn from her diary, revealing letters, essays, and print interviews — and brought vividly to life by lyrical animation inspired by her unforgettable artwork.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Art of the Steal (2010)
A gripping tale of intrigue and mystery in the art world, this film traces the history of a collection of Post-Impressionist paintings - worth billions - which became the subject of a power struggle after the death of its owner. Dr. Albert Barnes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHarry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction (2013)
An impressionistic portrait of the iconic actor Harry Dean Stanton comprised of intimate moments, film clips from some of his 250 films and his renditions of American folk songs.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn the Realms of the Unreal (2004)
In the Realms of the Unreal is a documentary about the reclusive Chicago-based artist Henry Darger. Henry Darger was so reclusive that when he died his neighbors were surprised to find a 15,145-page manuscript along with hundreds of paintings depicting The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glodeco-Angelinnian War Storm, Cased by the Child Slave Rebellion.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCome See Me in the Good Light (2025)
In an intimate and joyful story of love in the face of loss, celebrated poets Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley find strength—and unexpected hilarity—in what might be their final year together.
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 thisMy Mom Jayne (2025)
Through deeply personal interviews with her siblings and an examination of the photographs, letters, and belongings left behind, Mariska assembles a new portrait of her mother Jayne Mansfield, an extraordinary and complex woman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies 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 thisNight Will Fall (2014)
When Allied forces liberated the Nazi concentration camps in 1944-45, their terrible discoveries were recorded by army and newsreel cameramen, revealing for the first time the full horror of what had happened. Making use of British, Soviet and American footage, the Ministry of Information’s Sidney Bernstein (later founder of Granada Television) aimed to create a documentary that would provide lasting, undeniable evidence of the Nazis’ unspeakable crimes. He commissioned a wealth of British talent, including editor Stewart McAllister, writer and future cabinet minister Richard Crossman – and, as treatment advisor, his friend Alfred Hitchcock. Yet, despite initial support from the British and US Governments, the film was shelved, and only now, 70 years on, has it been restored and completed by Imperial War Museums under its original title "German Concentration Camps Factual Survey".
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCameraperson (2016)
As a visually radical memoir, CAMERAPERSON draws on the remarkable footage that filmmaker Kirsten Johnson has shot and reframes it in ways that illuminate moments and situations that have personally affected her. What emerges is an elegant meditation on the relationship between truth and the camera frame, as Johnson transforms scenes that have been presented on Festival screens as one kind of truth into another kind of story—one about personal journey, craft, and direct human connection.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Am Heath Ledger (2017)
The life and career of an actor, artist, and icon. His own journey through his own camera.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDeliver Us from Evil (2006)
Documentary filmmaker Amy Berg investigates the life of 30-year pedophile Father Oliver O'Grady and exposes the corruption inside the Catholic Church that allowed him to abuse countless children. Victims' stories and a disturbing interview with O'Grady offer a view into the troubled mind of the spiritual leader who moved from parish to parish gaining trust ... all the while betraying so many.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCharlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin (2003)
Brilliant, long in-the-works story of the life and art of the world's greatest comedian and the cinema's first genius, Charlie Chaplin. Produced, written and directed by renowned film critic Richard Schickel.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLove, Antosha (2019)
From a prolific career in film and television, Anton Yelchin left an indelible legacy as an actor. Through his journals and other writings, his photography, the original music he wrote, and interviews with his family, friends, and colleagues, this film looks not just at Anton's impressive career, but at a broader portrait of the man.
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 thisRoman Polanski: A Film Memoir (2012)
An interview with film director Roman Polanski conducted during his period of house arrest, discussing his life and work.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAs I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty (2000)
A compilation of over 30 years of private home movie footage shot by Lithuanian-American avant-garde director Jonas Mekas, assembled by Mekas "purely by chance", without concern for chronological order.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Origin of Miracles (2023)
A nation's architect battles war and chaos to forge a country from the ashes—can he secure its future before freedom slips away?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
The Beksińskis. A Sound and Picture Album (2017)
Painter Zdzisław Beksiński, his wife Zofia and their son Tomasz, a well-known radio journalist and translator, were a typical and unconventional family, both at the same time. One of the father’s obsessions was filming himself and his family members. Using archival footage only, shot primarily by Zdzisław, as well many other materials, which have not been presented anywhere so far, the film tells a tragic story of the Beksińskis that has never ceased to fascinate Polish filmmakers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Art City 1 Making It in Manhattan (1996)
Unlike any art movie you've ever seen, Making it in Manhattan is informed 'entertainment' about the people who make contemporary art. Artists, collectors, and dealers bring to life the art capital of the world, New York, as it plunges into the 21st Century. Presenting a cross-section of artists, the film discusses inspiration, aesthetics, and the meaning of success. With Louise Bourgeois, Brice Marden, Chuck Close, Neil Jenney, Elizabeth Murray, Ashley Bickerton, Gary Simmons, Ursula von Rydingsvard, Rirkrit Tiravanija, St. Clair Cemin, Ivan Karp, Jay Gorney, Matthew Marks, Jerry Saltz, Herb & Dorothy Vogel, and others. From abstraction to figuration, from installation to conceptual art, from the privacy of the doctor's office to the posh gallery opening, Making it in Manhattan captures the reality of a special world. Music by Tom Waits, Don Braden Ryuichi Sakamoto, George van Eps, Piero Umiliani with Chet Baker.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Art City 2 Simplicity (2002)
Travelling around the country, Art City: Simplicity takes viewers on a revealing trip into the studios and lives of a group of singular artists. On a desert mesa outside Santa Fe, Richard Tuttle invents his mysterious and marvellously humble forms, made of wire, cardboard, wood. In Taos, Agnes Martin rhythmically repeats extremely simplified images. Near the Santa Monica surf, John Baldessari, aims for successful juxtapositions of photographs and text. In his North Hollywood living room, Robert Williams revels in surreal cartoon imagery. At a cabin in Woodstock, Joan Snyder refines her sensuous art amid a lush forest. Mike Bidlo salutes Duchamp in a SoHo Gallery, while on Sunset Boulevard, Amy Adler reclaims personal history through self-portraits. Through this group of memorable iconoclasts, the creative "act" is there to see and study.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Art City 3 A Ruling Passion (2002)
Many artists use the pain, exhilaration and resolution of private desires to express themselves. Art City: A Ruling Passion focuses on intense personalities who’ve used their art to explore the emotional impact of psychological truths. Everything that Louise Bourgeois creates - whether in marble, fabric or bronze - comes from memory. Michael Ray Charles investigates the marketing of black memorabilia, using early American advertising imagery. Elizabeth Peyton reinvents portraiture, using her friends as subjects, as well as pop culture royalty. Ed Ruscha’s literary landscapes burst from the physical world "right outside the window." The comic spirit of Lari Pittman contrasts with his graphic declarations. In a landmark house, Richmond Burton remembers his dreams to build "psychic fields" of abstraction. The arrays of featureless faces by David Deutsch are stimulated by sub-conscious sensations.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Goya (1950)
Presents life in 18th century Spain as the painter Francisco de Goya showed it to us.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
I Was, I Am, I Will Be (1974)
In the spring of 1974, a camera team from Studio H&S succeeded against the explicit orders of the Junta’s Chancellery, entered into two large concentration camps in the north of the country - Chacabuco and Pisagua - leaving with filmed sequences and sound recordings.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
In France with Madonna (2022)
France is at the heart of Madonna's life. She is inspired by French culture and its values and has surrounded herself with French artists for many years. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Queen of Pop's career, this film revisits the close and unique bond between Madonna and France and features testimonials from close collaborators and French friends who have helped create her unique artistic universe: Maripol, Jean Paul Gaultier, Julien d'Ys, Nicolas Huchard, and Marion Motin. Today's artists such as Florence Foresti, Leïla Slimani, Victor Weinsanto and HollySiz talk about the influence of this emancipating figure, which extends far beyond music.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Brigitte macron, un roman français (2018)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Vízie z Inferna-umenie proti zabúdaniu (2005)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Ai Weiwei: Without Fear or Favour?
The closest matches to Ai Weiwei: Without Fear or Favour are Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry (2012), The Secret Life of Brian (2007) and Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th (2013). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Ai Weiwei: Without Fear or Favour?
Start with Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry (2012), the closest match to Ai Weiwei: Without Fear or Favour.
What is the highest-rated movie like Ai Weiwei: Without Fear or Favour?
I Am Heath Ledger (2017), rated 7.4/10 by 233 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Ai Weiwei: Without Fear or Favour?
Come See Me in the Good Light (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Ai Weiwei: Without Fear or Favour?
Yes: Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry (2012), The Secret Life of Brian (2007) and Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th (2013).
How are movies similar to Ai Weiwei: Without Fear or Favour chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Ai Weiwei: Without Fear or Favour, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.