Movies like Samad Becomes an Artist (1974)
The best movies like Samad Becomes an Artist (1974) are Close-Up (1990), Esther (1999) and The Stoning of Soraya M. (2009). If Samad Becomes an Artist hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedClose-Up (1990)8.0/10 from 474 votes
- NewestThe Fix (2026)Released 2026
Close-Up (1990)
This fiction-documentary hybrid uses a sensational real-life event—the arrest of a young man on charges that he fraudulently impersonated the well-known filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf—as the basis for a stunning, multilayered investigation into movies, identity, artistic creation, and existence, in which the real people from the case play themselves.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisEsther (1999)
Esther, the beautiful queen of Persia, intervenes to save the Jewish people from a bloody massacre.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe 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
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCircumstance (2011)
A wealthy Iranian family struggles to contain a teenager's growing sexual rebellion and her brother's newfound conservatism.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNo Bears (2022)
Iranian director Jafar Panahi, who has been barred from leaving the country, arrives at a village on the Iran-Turkey border to supervise a film based on a real-life couple seeking passports to Europe being shot in Turkey, but both his stay and the production run into trouble.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNot 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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTehran Taboo (2017)
The lives of three strong-willed women and a young musician cross paths in Tehran’s schizophrenic society where sex, adultery, corruption, prostitution and drugs coexist with strict religious law. In this bustling modern metropolis, avoiding prohibition has become an everyday sport and breaking taboos can be a means of personal emancipation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSeptembers 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
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Black Pirate (1926)
A nobleman vows to avenge the death of his father by the hands of pirates. To this end, he infiltrates the pirate band; Acting in character, he single-handedly captures a merchant vessel, but things are complicated when he finds that there is a beautiful young woman of royal blood aboard.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTeen Beach 2 (2015)
When characters from the movie musical “Wet Side Story” get stuck in the real world, teens Brady and Mack must find a way to return them home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTatami (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
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Fix (2026)
Disillusioned by the end of the war in Afghanistan, a group of disgraced, war-torn ex-CIA operatives set out to Tehran to take down a life-changing score.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisCristiano Ronaldo: World at His Feet (2014)
Cristiano Ronaldo: The World at His Feet follows the footballer from his beginnings in Portugal, breakthrough start with Manchester United and current career at Real Madrid.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhisky Galore (2016)
The story of the inhabitants of the isolated Scottish island of Todday, in the Outer Hebrides, where gloom sets in as their wartime rationing of whisky runs out. When cargo ship the SS Cabinet Minister runs aground the shrewd islanders run rings around the buffoonish English Home Guard commander Captain Waggett and conspire to hide away cases of the precious amber nectar.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisPorno (2019)
When a group of naive teens working at a movie theater in a small Christian town discover a mysterious film hidden in its basement, they unleash an alluring succubus who gives them a sex education…written in blood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLaw of Tehran (2019)
Samad is nobody’s fool. The narcotics officer has seen his share of a drug dealer’s lies and games, and his patience has come to run thin. While searching for the infamous drug baron Nasser Khakzad, he and his colleague Hamid scour the streets of Tehran, turning an overcrowded prison on its head. With his rough and dubious approach, Samad finally manages to find the criminal’s whereabouts – but things do not quite go according to plan...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGotcha! (1985)
A student on a trip to France is tricked into smuggling secrets across the Iron Curtain by a sexy spy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStargirl (2020)
An unassuming high schooler finds himself inexplicably drawn to the free-spirited new girl, whose unconventional ways change how they see themselves…and their world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFireworks Wednesday (2006)
Rouhi, a young bride-to-be, is hired as a maid for an affluent family in Tehran. Upon arriving, she is suddenly thrust into an explosive domestic conflict. The wife is convinced her husband is having an affair and enlists Rouhi as a spy, to follow her husband, and confirm her suspicions. What Rouhi discovers, however, threatens not only their marriage but her own future.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWomen Without Men (2009)
Against the tumultuous backdrop of Iran's 1953 CIA-backed coup d'état, the destinies of four women converge in a beautiful orchard garden, where they find independence, solace and companionship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Samad Becomes an Artist?
The closest matches to Samad Becomes an Artist are Close-Up (1990), Esther (1999) and The Stoning of Soraya M. (2009). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Samad Becomes an Artist?
Start with Close-Up (1990), the closest match to Samad Becomes an Artist.
What is the highest-rated movie like Samad Becomes an Artist?
Close-Up (1990), rated 8.0/10 by 474 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Samad Becomes an Artist?
The Fix (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Samad Becomes an Artist chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Samad Becomes an Artist, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.