Movies like Tunnel 18 (1997)

Argo (2012)

As the Iranian revolution reaches a boiling point, a CIA 'exfiltration' specialist concocts a risky plan to free six Americans who have found shelter at the home of the Canadian ambassador.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

Septembers of Shiraz (2015)

In this adaptation of the critically acclaimed debut novel by Iranian American author Dalia Sofer, a secular Jewish family is caught up in the maelstrom of the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

Not Without My Daughter (1991)

An American woman, trapped in Islamic Iran by her brutish husband, must find a way to escape with her daughter as well.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

The Stoning of Soraya M. (2009)

In 1986 Iran, Sahebjam, whose car breaks down in a remote village, enters into a conversation with Zahra, who relays to him the story about her niece, Soraya, whose arranged marriage to an abusive tyrant ended in tragedy.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

Reading Lolita in Tehran (2024)

In 1979, amidst censorship and religious extremism, a revolutionary literature professor in Tehran gathers seven of her most dedicated female students to immerse themselves in banned literary classics.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

Hounddog (2008)

A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

The Nest (2020)

Rory is an ambitious entrepreneur who brings his American wife and kids to his native country, England, to explore new business opportunities. After abandoning the sanctuary of their safe American suburban surroundings, the family is plunged into the despair of an archaic '80s Britain and their unaffordable new life in an English manor house threatens to destroy the family.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

The Road Dance (2022)

A young girl lives in the Outer Hebrides in a small village in the years just before WWI. Isolated and hard by the shore, her life takes a dramatic change when a terrible tragedy befalls her.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

The Operative (2019)

A young Western woman is recruited by the Mossad to go undercover in Tehran where she becomes entangled in a complex triangle with her handler and her subject.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

Salomé (2013)

After the lewd and frenetic Dance of the Seven Veils, and with the solemn pledge from the very lips of Herod himself that she could have whatever her heart desires up to half his kingdom, wanton and proud young Salomé comes before her king with an unreasonable demand. Beguiled by John the Baptist, and then scorned for the sake of his god, lascivious Salomé—encouraged by her mother, the vindictive, Herodias—commands that John be executed and his head delivered on a silver platter.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

The Girl in the Book (2015)

The story of a young writer's transformation when her past invades her present.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

All Day and a Night (2020)

While serving life in prison, a young man looks back at the people, the circumstances and the system that set him on the path toward his crime.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

Bastard Out of Carolina (1996)

A poor, struggling South Carolinian mother and daughter face painful choices with their resolve and pride. Bone, the eldest daughter, and Anney her tired mother, grow both closer and farther apart: Anney sees Glen as her last chance.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

Tatami (2024)

Iranian female judokas Leila and her coach Maryam, travel to the Judo World Championship, intent on bringing home Iran’s first gold medal. Midway through the Judo World Championships, they receive an ultimatum from the Islamic Republic ordering Leila to fake an injury and lose, or she will be branded a traitor of the state. With her own and her family’s freedom at stake, Leila is faced with an impossible choice: comply with the Iranian regime as her coach Maryam implores her to do, or fight on, for the gold.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

6 Days (2017)

London, England, April 1980. Six terrorists assault the Embassy of Iran and take hostages. For six days, tense negotiations are held while the authorities decide whether a military squad should intervene.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius (2004)

The story of golf icon and legend, Bobby Jones, who retired from competition at the tender age of 28.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

The Short History of the Long Road (2019)

Nola grew up living in a van with her father, Clint—two nomads against the world. When tragedy strikes, Nola must confront the reality of life on the road alone, learning to own her grief, her past, and her new destination.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

Call Me Crazy: A Five Film (2013)

A psychotherapist helps a law student cope with schizophrenia in one of five interconnected tales dealing with mental illness.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

The Trials of Cate McCall (2013)

In order to be reinstated to the bar and recover custody of her daughter, a hotshot lawyer, now in recovery and on probation, must take on the appeal of a woman wrongfully convicted of murder.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

O.G. (2018)

Louis Menkins is five weeks away from being released after 26 years in prison. He is faced with the decision to put his own release at risk in order to protect a young man named Beecher from growing gang controversies.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

Jalil (2009)

Jalil is 17-year-old boy living with his Iranian family in a suburb near Helsinki. Though he has lived in Finland all his life, it seems hard for him to find acceptance among the "native" Finns. At home he faces the opposite problem. His parents demand him to respect Iranian cultural traditions. Jalil is about one day in the life of a boy standing on the edge of two cultures. On this summer day big things are bound to culminate; religion, identity, love.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

Desert Dancer (2014)

Inspirational true story of Iranian dancer Afshin Ghaffarian, who risked his life for his dream to become a dancer despite a nationwide dancing ban.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

Death of Yazdgerd (1982)

A poetic imagining of the circumstances leading to the death of Yazdgerd III, the last of the Sassanid kings of Iran. His death in 651, during the Arab invasions that brought Islam to this Zoroastrian realm, remains mysterious: his corpse is discovered in a mill, but the cause of death—and the whereabouts of his remains—are unknown.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

Gold and Copper (2011)

A Tehran mullah-in-training struggles to take care of his ailing wife and their children in this profoundly moving melodrama. A film of near-universal appeal, it puts a human face on Iran's Muslim clergy with its unusual tale of a man forced by hardship to become a better husband and father. Seyed Reza has just moved with his family to Tehran so he can study the Koran, and he relies on his lovely wife Zahra to look after their two young children and weave the intricate rugs that earn them a living. But one evening Zahra collapses and is taken to the hospital, where she's diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Scarcely able to process the tragedy, Seyed is left to cook, change diapers, walk his daughter to school and take his toddler son with him to his classes, where peers and elders treat him with scorn. But Seyed eventually learns to cope, his prayers and devotional studies taking on deeper meaning as he attends to the hard nightly work of rug weaving, getting through with a heavy ...

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

Prince Ehtejab (1975)

Prince Ehtejab, one of the last remaining heirs of the Qajar royal family, is suffering from tuberculosis, which he knows is fatal. He spends his last days alone in the magnificent rooms of his wintry palace, from where he recollects the glory days of his ancestors as well as days of degradation. Among the latter are the gruesome manner in which his cruel grandfather murdered his mother and brother, and the way that he himself caused the death of his wife.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

The mirror man (TBA)

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

Nila's Dream in the Garden of Eden (2024)

Leyla and her six-year-old daughter Nila live in the holy city of Mashhad in Iran. Nila is the result of a temporary marriage, which allows a man to marry a woman even if he is already married. Children born from such a relationship are legally non-existent. As long as the father does not recognize the child, no birth certificate can be issued and Nila cannot attend school. The documentary depicts Leyla's tireless efforts to clarify Nila's legal status in order to offer her a perspective for her future. In a never-ending bureaucratic battle, Leyla fights not only against the legal system, but also against a judgmental society.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

Leili’s Photo (2026)

Eight-year-old Leili needs to take a pinhole picture of her family for school the next day, but her family will not cooperate.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

The Darkest Side (2021)

Five psychological thrilling tales about the emotions that can destroy our souls: despair, temptation, guilt, doubt and anger. Which one has the worst consequence?

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

Women's Prison (2002)

Spanning 18 years in an Iranian women's prison, this follows two women: the new prison warden, a tough as nails devout Muslim who has served in the army on the Iraqi front, and a young midwife, Mitra, who is serving her sentence for killing her mother's abusive husband. In the early years, Mitra is repeatedly punished as the warden tries to break her. This includes punishment for delivering a baby in the prison cell while all of the prison staff has taken shelter during an Iraqi bombing. The warden's attitude starts to change after 8 years, when Mitra tries to protect a new inmate from rape at the hands of her older cellmates. When the baby comes back in 1991 as a 17 year old delinquent, Sepideh, the warden respects Mitra enough to protect the girl.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama