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Movies like Burn the Sea (2014)

The best movies like Burn the Sea (2014) are Varda by Agnès (2019), Daguerréotypes (1978) and Love, Marilyn (2013). If Burn the Sea hooked you with its documentary, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.

Quick picks

  1. Varda by Agnès (2019)

    An unpredictable documentary from a fascinating storyteller, Agnès Varda’s last film sheds light on her experience as a director, bringing a personal insight to what she calls "cine-writing," traveling from Rue Daguerre in Paris to Los Angeles and Beijing.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  2. Daguerréotypes (1978)

    An intimate portrait of the small shops and shopkeepers of the Rue Daguerre in Paris, a picturesque street that has been the filmmaker’s home for more than 50 years.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  3. Love, 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 this
  4. Heart 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 this
  5. In 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 this
  6. Harry 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 this
  7. Deliver 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 this
  8. News from Home (1976)

    Impersonal and beautiful images of Akerman's life in New York are combined with letters from her loving but manipulative mother, read by Akerman herself.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  9. Feminists: What Were They Thinking? (2018)

    In 1977, a book of photographs captured an awakening - women shedding the cultural restrictions of their childhoods and embracing their full humanity. This documentary revisits those photos, those women and those times and takes aim at our culture today that alarmingly shows the need for continued change.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  10. As 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 this
  11. Love, Gilda (2018)

    Diaries, audiotapes, videotapes and testimonials from friends and colleagues offer insight into the life and career of Gilda Radner -- the beloved comic and actress who became an icon on Saturday Night Live.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  12. Maidentrip (2014)

    14-year-old Laura Dekker sets out on a two-year voyage in pursuit of her dream to become the youngest person ever to sail around the world alone.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  13. Cameraperson (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 this
  14. Making 'The Shining' (1980)

    Directed and edited by Stanley Kubrick's daughter Vivian Kubrick, this film offers a look behind the scenes during the making of The Shining.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  15. She's Beautiful When She's Angry (2014)

    A documentary that resurrects the buried history of the outrageous, often brilliant women who founded the modern women's movement from 1966 to 1971.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  16. Black Panthers (1968)

    A film shot during the summer of 1968 in Oakland, California around the meetings organised by the Black Panthers Party to free Huey Newton, one of their leaders, and to turn his trial into a political debate. They tried and succeeded in catching America’s attention.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  17. To Be Takei (2014)

    Over seven decades, actor and activist George Takei journeyed from a World War II internment camp to the helm of the Starship Enterprise, and then to the daily news feeds of five million Facebook fans. Join George and his husband, Brad, on a wacky and profound trek for life, liberty, and love.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  18. 28 Up (1985)

    Just two years away from turning 30, participants in Michael Apted's documentary series are facing serious questions of identity and purpose, wondering whether they've found their place in the world.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  19. The Decline of Western Civilization Part III (1998)

    A musical study of Los Angeles in the late 90s, where homeless teens roam the streets and profess to live a punk lifestyle of music, drugs, and flouting authority.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  20. Come 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 this
  21. Toots (2007)

    The '40s and '50s were a classic period in New York City nightlife, when the saloonkeeper was king and regular folks could drink with celebrities like Frank Sinatra and Jackie Gleason. In this documentary, Kristi Jacobson profiles her grandfather, the king of kings: Toots Shor of the eponymous restaurant and saloon, which was once the place to be seen in Manhattan. Edward R. Murrow called Toots Shor the owner of America’s greatest saloon. He became the unlikely den-mother to the heroes of America's golden age. Politicians and gangsters, sports heroes and movie stars - Sinatra, Gleason, DiMaggio, Ruth, Costello, Eisenhower, Nixon, Warren - for 30 years, they all found their way to Toots' eponymous saloon on New York's West 51st Street.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary

  22. In Country (2015)

    War is Hell. Why would anyone want to spend their weekends there? Deep in the Oregon woods, the heat of a reenacted Vietnam battle sheds light on America's complicated relationship with war and its veterans.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary

  23. Asparagus! Stalking the American Life (2008)

    For 30 years, Oceana County Michigan has been the Asparagus Capital of the World. Now its spear-struck residents and family farms take on the U.S. War on Drugs, Free Trade and a Fast Food Nation, all to save their beloved roots.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary

  24. In fabbrica (2007)

    The movie revolves around the factory worker figure evolution from post-WWII in Italy, with the emigration from southern to northern regions, the years of economic boom, the strikes, the riots and the infamous march of the 40000 in Turin in 1980.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary

  25. Tough Love (2014)

    Fighting to reunite with their children, 'Tough Love' chronicles the lives of two parents with cases in the United States child welfare system as they attempt to prove to the courts and the system that they deserve a second chance to be a parent and have a family.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary

  26. Butch Jamie (2008)

    The film follows the story of Jamie, a struggling butch lesbian actress who gets cast as a man in a film. The main plot is a romantic comedy between Jamie's male alter-ego, "Male Jamie," and Jill, a heterosexual woman on set. The film's subplots include Jamie's bisexual roommate Lola and her cat actor Howard, Lola's abrasive butch German girlfriend Andi, and Jamie's gay Asian friend David.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary

  27. Iverson (2014)

    Iverson is the ultimate legacy of NBA legend Allen Iverson, who rose from a childhood of crushing poverty in Hampton, Virginia, to become an 11-time NBA All-Star and universally recognized icon of his sport. Off the court, his audacious rejection of conservative NBA convention and unapologetic embrace of hip hop culture sent shockwaves throughout the league and influenced an entire generation. Told largely in Iverson's own words, the film charts the career highs and lows of one of the most distinctive and accomplished figures the sport of basketball has ever seen.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  28. Come Worry with Us! (2013)

    Acclaimed Montreal band Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra is one of a growing number of rock groups to have accepted an infant into their touring tribe. Touring with children is both costly and complicated, yet SMZ are determined to combine family life and being on the road with the band's deep political commitment.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary

  29. Absences (2014)

    Carole Laganière dives deeply into personal territory in this beautifully crafted exploration of absence and loss and its painful effect on daily lives. Inspired by her mother’s steadily advancing Alzheimer’s and the inevitability of her estrangement, Laganière weaves their story with the stories of others wrestling with loss: Ines, an immigrant who returns to her birth country of Croatia to find the mother who abandoned her during the war; Deni, an American author who’s finally able to search for his Quebec roots; and Nathalie, who’s desperately looking for her missing sister. Through their experiences the film ponders how absence is often the catalyst for a quest—a quest for information, understanding and often acceptance. Through its many voices, Absences speaks to us of the immense fragility and resiliency of human emotions.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary

  30. Blindsight (2006)

    Six blind Tibetan teenagers climb the Lhakpa-Ri peak of Mount Everest, led by seven-summit blind mountain-climber Erik Weihenmayer.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary

Like Burn the Sea and something else?

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Frequently asked questions

What are the best movies like Burn the Sea?

The closest matches to Burn the Sea are Varda by Agnès (2019), Daguerréotypes (1978) and Love, Marilyn (2013). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.

What should I watch after Burn the Sea?

Start with Varda by Agnès (2019), the closest match to Burn the Sea.

What is the highest-rated movie like Burn the Sea?

Deliver Us from Evil (2006), rated 7.2/10 by 216 TMDB users.

What is the newest movie like Burn the Sea?

Come See Me in the Good Light (2025) is the most recent release on this list.

Are there French movies like Burn the Sea?

Yes: Varda by Agnès (2019), Daguerréotypes (1978) and News from Home (1976).

How are movies similar to Burn the Sea chosen?

First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Burn the Sea, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.

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