Movies like Desert People (1967)
The best movies like Desert People (1967) are Come See Me in the Good Light (2025), Ex Libris: The New York Public Library (2017) and Naqoyqatsi (2002). If Desert People hooked you with its documentary, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Desert People
Quick picks
- Highest ratedBaraka (1992)8.2/10 from 734 votes
- NewestA Toxic Love Story (2026)Released 2026
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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 thisA Toxic Love Story (2026)
A string of threatening emails escalates into a revenge plot involving a newly married US marshal and his ex-girlfriend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDownloaded (2013)
A documentary that explores the downloading revolution; the kids that created it, the bands and the businesses that were affected by it, and its impact on the world at large.
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 thisS4: The Bob Lazar Story (2026)
Over 35 years after Bob Lazar's revelations, this documentary exposes secrets of a facility the government still denies. Featuring Lazar's testimony, recreations, and new evidence, it reopens a case that continues to spark global curiosity
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisPowaqqatsi (1988)
An exploration of technologically developing nations and the effect the transition to Western-style modernization has had on them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCapital in the Twenty-First Century (2019)
Film adaptation of French economist Thomas Piketty's ground-breaking global bestseller of the same name: an eye-opening journey through wealth and power.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 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 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 this35 Up (1991)
Director Michael Apted revisits the same group of British-born adults after a 7 year wait. The subjects are interviewed as to the changes that have occurred in their lives during the last seven years.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies 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 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 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
My Survival as an Aboriginal (1979)
Essie Coffey gives the children lessons on Aboriginal culture. She speaks of the importance of teaching these kids about their traditions. Aboriginal kids are forgetting about their Aboriginal heritage because they are being taught white culture instead.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Too Many Captain Cooks (1989)
For both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians, Captain James Cook is a figure of great historical significance.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
We Were Just Little Boys (2022)
Between 1924 to 1970, Kinchela Boys Home in Kempsey, New South Wales, saw an estimated 400 to 600 Aboriginal children exposed to routine acts of cultural genocide and remains one of Australia’s most notorious institutions of the Stolen Generations. After being stolen from their families, country, and community, children were stripped of their names, given numbers, and subjected to ‘reprogramming’ and strict regimes of manual labour. We Were Just Little Boys is narrated by KBH survivors.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Marluku Wirlinyi: The Kangaroo Hunters (1998)
MARLUKU WIRLINYI is a tale of kangaroo hunting that weaves its way through Dreamtime, to the present and back again. A group of old Warlpiri men transport us back to a time of rarely heard history and we follow their journey into the present. Songs, stories and dance relate the importances of the past to the present.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Young Mob Questioning Treaty (2019)
Young Aboriginal people who are traditional custodians in Victoria explore the Treaty process with questions, concerns and their opinions. Sharing their insights into what has been happening and what needs to happen.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Intervention: Stories From the Inside (2009)
On June 21 2007, the Howard Federal Government launched an intervention into Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory. It was one of the most dramatic policy shifts in the history of Aboriginal affairs. Relentless media attention focuses on ideological arguments for and against the Intervention, while the voices of those affected by the policy are rarely heard. For this film more than 40 Alice Springs town camp residents were interviewed in depth over the course of eight months to find out the answer to the question - is it working?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Looky Looky Here Comes Cooky (2020)
A new songline for 21st century Australia - a fresh look at the Cook legend from a First Nations' perspective - the songline tells of connection to country, resistance and survival and features the cheeky, acerbic and heartfelt showman - Steven Oliver and a host of outstanding, political Indigenous singer/songwriters.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Another Country (2015)
In this documentary companion to CHARLIE'S COUNTRY, Australian actor David Gulpilil tells the story of when his people's way of life was derailed by ours.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
The Stolen Eye (2002)
Jane Elliott brings her brown-eye/blue-eye diversity training to Australia, where she explores racism between Aboriginal and white Australians.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Desert People?
The closest matches to Desert People are Come See Me in the Good Light (2025), Ex Libris: The New York Public Library (2017) and Naqoyqatsi (2002). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Desert People?
Start with Come See Me in the Good Light (2025), the closest match to Desert People.
What is the highest-rated movie like Desert People?
Baraka (1992), rated 8.2/10 by 734 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Desert People?
A Toxic Love Story (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Desert People?
Yes: Come See Me in the Good Light (2025), Ex Libris: The New York Public Library (2017) and Naqoyqatsi (2002).
How are movies similar to Desert People chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Desert People, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.