Movies like The Gates of Heaven (2025)
The best movies like The Gates of Heaven (2025) are They'll Love Me When I'm Dead (2018), Love, Antosha (2019) and As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty (2000). If The Gates of Heaven 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
- NewestVelintonia 3 (2025)Released 2025
They'll Love Me When I'm Dead (2018)
As his life comes to its end, famous Hollywood director Orson Welles puts it all on the line at the chance for renewed success with the film The Other Side of the Wind.
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 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 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 thisDe Palma (2016)
An intimate conversation between filmmakers, chronicling De Palma’s 55-year career, his life, and his filmmaking process, with revealing anecdotes and, of course, a wealth of film clips.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAltman (2014)
Robert Altman's life and career contained multitudes. This father of American independent cinema left an indelible mark, not merely on the evolution of his art form, but also on the western zeitgeist. With its use of rare interviews, representative film clips, archival images, and musings from his family and most recognizable collaborators, Altman is a dynamic and heartfelt mediation on an artist whose expression, passion and appetite knew few bounds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 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 thisAnna Nicole Smith: You Don't Know Me (2023)
From the heights of her modeling fame to her tragic death, this documentary reveals Anna Nicole Smith through the eyes of the people closest to her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Irishman: In Conversation (2019)
Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Al Pacino in conversation about The Irishman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisMilius (2013)
The life story of ‘Zen Anarchist’ filmmaker John Milius, one of the most influential storytellers of his generation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWoody Allen: A Documentary (2011)
An intense portrait of the iconic filmmaker, writer, actor, comedian and musician Woody Allen: his life, family and friends; his writing and directing habits, and his relationship with performers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSide by Side (2012)
Since the invention of cinema, the standard format for recording moving images has been film. Over the past two decades, a new form of digital filmmaking has emerged, creating a groundbreaking evolution in the medium. Keanu Reeves explores the development of cinema and the impact of digital filmmaking via in-depth interviews with Hollywood masters, such as James Cameron, David Fincher, David Lynch, Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, George Lucas, Steven Soderbergh, and many more.
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 thisNothing Like a Dame (2018)
BBC Arena's documentary on the Dames of British Theatre and film featuring Maggie Smith, Eileen Atkins, Judi Dench and Joan Plowright on screen together for the first time as they reminisce over a long summer weekend in a house Joan once shared with Sir Laurence Olivier.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFilmworker (2018)
The story of Leon Vitali, who surrendered his promising acting career to become Stanley Kubrick's devoted right-hand man.
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 thisMaria by Callas (2017)
Told through performances, TV interviews, home movies, family photographs, private letters and unpublished memoirs, the film reveals the essence of an extraordinary woman who rose from humble beginnings in New York City to become a glamorous international superstar and one of the greatest artists of all time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCasting By (2012)
This essential new documentary pays tribute to the legacy of the late, legendary casting director Marion Dougherty and shines a light on one of the most overlooked and least understood crafts in filmmaking.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTati Express (2015)
Tati Express dives into Jacques Tati's films and how they look at a changing world throughout the 20th century. It shows how modernity impacts human-beings and goes through that amazing body of work at 100 mph.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
The Mother of All Hurricanes (2018)
The Hurricane Maria represented a historic event for the island of Puerto Rico. The Puerto Rican spirit at the helm of this natural disaster was shattered beyond repair. And from the rumble the Puerto Rican spirit will be reborn again. Omar Iloy makes a desperate call to the wounded spirit of the island, a call for hope and help.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Soundz of Spirit (2005)
Award winning documentary by Joslyn Rose Lyons exploring the relationship between spiritual connection and the creative process in hip-hop music.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
The Desperado from Kolsva (2004)
About Jösta Hagelbäck (1945-2009), Swedish film director, writer, poet, musician, actor etc. A human bipolar mixture of genius and madman. Invited to Hollywood, had an artistic hit with the film "Kejsaren/The Emperor" (1979) at the Berlin Film Festival.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
21 Years: Richard Linklater (2014)
A journey through the professional life of innovative film director Richard Linklater: 21 years creating films, carving his signature in pop culture; an analysis of his style and motivations, through the funny and moving testimonies of close friends and collaborators, actors and other filmmakers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Hitchcock Confidential (2019)
Alfred Hitchcock is known as a giant of movie making, a facetious master of suspense, obsessed with blond heroines in peril, with the reputation of being tyrannical towards his actors. But who knows the real Hitchcock? During his last public appearance, "Hitch" paid tribute to the wife, mother, co-writer, editor and partner of a lifetime that was Alma Reville Hitchcock. The two Hitchcock were inseparable, engineering the unquestionable masterpieces together. Their genuine collaboration never stopped from the day they met until the end of their lives. It's in light of this fusional relationship that this film will revisit and shed fresh light on the legend.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Sing! Fight! Sing! Fight! From LeRoi to Amiri (2024)
The story of how Everett Leroy Jones became Amiri Baraka, from his childhood to the mid '60s, is told through interviews recorded in the late '90s.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Anne Sexton at Home (TBA)
A fourteen-minute documentary splitted in two parts where we can see Anne Sexton at her home reading, talking about poetry and about her family.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Never Be Boring: Billy Wilder (2017)
A funny walk through the life story of Billy Wilder (1906-2002), a cinematic genius; a portrait of a filmmaker who never was a boring man, a superb mind who had ten commandments, of which the first nine were: “Thou shalt not bore.”
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Velintonia 3 (2025)
The memory of the poet Vicente Aleixandre remains silent at No. 3 Velintonia Street. Home of a Nobel Prize in Literature 1977, it also recalls the joy of Lorca and other members of Generation´27, the pain of civil war and post-war, and became a meeting point for most writers in 20th century Spanish Literature, now is abandoned and for sale. This documentary recreates its story and spirit.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Gates of Heaven?
The closest matches to The Gates of Heaven are They'll Love Me When I'm Dead (2018), Love, Antosha (2019) and As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty (2000). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Gates of Heaven?
Start with They'll Love Me When I'm Dead (2018), the closest match to The Gates of Heaven.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Gates of Heaven?
I Am Heath Ledger (2017), rated 7.4/10 by 233 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Gates of Heaven?
Velintonia 3 (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Gates of Heaven?
Yes: They'll Love Me When I'm Dead (2018), Love, Antosha (2019) and As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty (2000).
How are movies similar to The Gates of Heaven chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Gates of Heaven, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.