Movies like Balloons Over Babylon (2019)
The best movies like Balloons Over Babylon (2019) are Facing Ali (2009), The Kid Stays in the Picture (2002) and Welcome to Chechnya (2020). If Balloons Over Babylon hooked you with its documentary, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedFor Sama (2019)8.2/10 from 323 votes
- NewestTony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off (2022)Released 2022
Facing Ali (2009)
Ten of Muhammad Ali's former rivals pay tribute to the three-time world heavyweight champion.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Kid Stays in the Picture (2002)
Documentary about legendary Paramount producer Robert Evans, based on his famous 1994 autobiography.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWelcome to Chechnya (2020)
This searing investigative work shadows a group of activists risking unimaginable peril to confront the ongoing anti-LGBTQ program raging in the repressive and closed Russian republic. Unfettered access and a remarkable approach to protecting anonymity exposes this under-reported atrocity–and an extraordinary group of people confronting evil.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMatangi / Maya / M.I.A. (2018)
Drawn from a never before seen cache of personal footage spanning decades, this is an intimate portrait of the Sri Lankan artist and musician who continues to shatter conventions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNight Will Fall (2014)
When Allied forces liberated the Nazi concentration camps in 1944-45, their terrible discoveries were recorded by army and newsreel cameramen, revealing for the first time the full horror of what had happened. Making use of British, Soviet and American footage, the Ministry of Information’s Sidney Bernstein (later founder of Granada Television) aimed to create a documentary that would provide lasting, undeniable evidence of the Nazis’ unspeakable crimes. He commissioned a wealth of British talent, including editor Stewart McAllister, writer and future cabinet minister Richard Crossman – and, as treatment advisor, his friend Alfred Hitchcock. Yet, despite initial support from the British and US Governments, the film was shelved, and only now, 70 years on, has it been restored and completed by Imperial War Museums under its original title "German Concentration Camps Factual Survey".
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press (2017)
The courtroom and publicity battles between the superstar wrestler and the notorious website explode in a sensational trial all about the limits of the First Amendment and the new no holds barred nature of celebrity life in an internet dominated society.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBobby Robson: More Than a Manager (2018)
The definitive portrait of one of sport's most inspirational, influential figures - whose legacy lives on far beyond the football field.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHated: GG Allin and The Murder Junkies (1993)
An overview of the life of the most shocking, vile, and notorious of punk rock legends.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFor Sama (2019)
A love letter from a young mother to her daughter, the film tells the story of Waad al-Kateab’s life through five years of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria as she falls in love, gets married and gives birth to Sama, all while cataclysmic conflict rises around her. Her camera captures incredible stories of loss, laughter and survival as Waad wrestles with an impossible choice– whether or not to flee the city to protect her daughter’s life, when leaving means abandoning the struggle for freedom for which she has already sacrificed so much.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisRoom 237 (2012)
A subjective documentary that explores various theories about hidden meanings in Stanley Kubrick's classic film The Shining. Five very different points of view are illuminated through voice over, film clips, animation and dramatic reenactments.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off (2022)
A wide-ranging, definitive look at Hawk’s life and iconic career, and his relationship with the sport with which he’s been synonymous for decades, featuring unprecedented access, never-before-seen footage, and interviews with Hawk and prominent figures in the sport including Stacy Peralta, Rodney Mullen, Mike McGill, Lance Mountain, Steve Caballero, Neil Blender, Andy MacDonald, Duane Peters, Sean Mortimer, and Christian Hosoi.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStop at Nothing: The Lance Armstrong Story (2014)
A portrait of the man behind the greatest fraud in sporting history. Lance Armstrong enriched himself by cheating his fans, his sport and the truth. But the former friends whose lives and careers he destroyed would finally bring him down.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisClient 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer (2010)
An in-depth look at the rapid rise and dramatic fall of New York Governor Eliot Spitzer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOne Child Nation (2019)
Through interviews with both victims and instigators, Nanfu Wang, a first-time mother, breaks open decades of silence on a vast, unprecedented social experiment that shaped — and destroyed — countless lives in China.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOne More Time with Feeling (2016)
Andrew Dominik's One More Time With Feeling is a remarkable black and white documentary which chronicles the creation of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds' album Skeleton Tree. Originally a performance based concept, the film evolved into something much more significant as Dominik delved into the tragic backdrop of the writing and recording of the album. The result is stark, fragile and raw, and a true testament to an artist trying to find his way through the darkness. It documents the writing, recording and performing of Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds’ sixteenth studio album, Skeleton Tree.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years (1988)
An exploration of the heavy metal scene in Los Angeles, with particular emphasis on glam metal. It features concert footage and interviews of legendary heavy metal and hard rock bands and artists such as Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Kiss, Megadeth, Motörhead, Ozzy Osbourne and W.A.S.P..
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGeneration Wealth (2018)
Over the past 25 years, Lauren Greenfield's documentary photography and film projects have explored youth culture, gender, body image, and affluence. Underscoring the ever-increasing gap between the haves and the have-nots, portraits reveal a focus on cultivating image over substance, where subjects unable to attain actual wealth instead settle for its trappings, no matter their ability to pay for it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Shock Doctrine (2009)
An investigation of "disaster capitalism", based on Naomi Klein's proposition that neo-liberal capitalism feeds on natural disasters, war and terror to establish its dominance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSour Grapes (2016)
Controversy erupts when an unassuming young man floods the American wine market with fake vintages valued in the millions, bamboozling the wine world elite, in this humorous and suspenseful tale of an ingenious con on the eve of the 2008 stock market crash.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRobin Williams: Come Inside My Mind (2018)
A funny, intimate and heartbreaking portrait of one of the world’s most beloved and inventive comedians, Robin Williams, told largely through his own words. Celebrates what he brought to comedy and to the culture at large, from the wild days of late-1970s L.A. to his death in 2014.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisDavid Blaine: Ascension (2020)
David Blaine will redefine magic once again for an unprecedented live event at a time when the world could use a positive distraction.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
BLAST! (2008)
With extraordinary access, BLAST exposes a world of risky, hardcore, scientific adventure. The story follows an international team of astrophysicists trying to launch a multi-million dollar telescope on a NASA high-altitude balloon. Their journey to discover thousands of early galaxies takes them from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Revealing frustrations, inevitable failures and ultimate triumph, BLAST puts a human face on the quest to answer our most basic question - How did we get here?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Andy Warhol's Silver Flotations (1966)
Andy Warhol's Silver Flotations is a portrait of Warhol's famous installation of floating silver helium-filled balloons at the Leo Castelli Gallery in 1966. Willard Maas's lyrical "film poem" is the only visual document of this seminal exhibition.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Balloonfest (2017)
Mid-Missouri cult hero Nathan Truesdell sifts through a Cleveland TV station's archives and unearths a fancy wrist watch, blistered fingers and other casualties of a misbegotten exercise in civic pride. In September 1986, the city of Cleveland attempted to set a special record: the simultaneous launch of 1.5 million balloons. But fate intervened, and the result was both crazier and more tragic than anyone could have imagined.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Captain Spelterini's Balloon Trip Across the Jungfrau (1905)
1905, featuring Eduard Spelterini, cinematography by Frank Ormiston-Smith.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Twisted Secrets Revealed (TBA)
Michael Lynn Jr. discusses tips on how to make balloon animals.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Switzerland Series (1904)
Distributed under the title of ‘Switzerland’ or ‘Playground of Europe’, the film consists of a collection of scenes filmed in the Alps by Frank Ormiston-Smith between 1903 and 1905. The scenes belong to concrete moments in different ascents and treks in the Alps and are presented together without the intention to narrate a concrete ascent. These are some of the scenes: Snow avalanche on the Shreckhorn, Difficult ascent of a Rock Peak, A close call - Dangerous climbing, Descent of steep snow drift, Crossing a dangerous snow bridge, Fusillade of rocks on the Alps, Descending a steep rock-faced mountain side, Capt. Spelterini's balloon trip across the Jungfrau, Surmounting the summit of the Finsteraar-joch.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Frankenstein Island (1981)
Four balloonists and their dog are stranded on a remote island with a woman believed to be a descendant of Frankenstein, who is conducting experiments on lost sailors.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Adventures of Mark Twain (1985)
Based on elements from the stories of Mark Twain, this feature-length Claymation fantasy follows the adventures of Tom Sawyer, Becky Thatcher and Huck Finn as they stowaway aboard the interplanetary balloon of Mark Twain. Twain, disgusted with the human race, is intent upon finding Halley's Comet and crashing into it, achieving his "destiny." It's up to Tom, Becky, and Huck to convince him that his judgment is wrong and that he still has much to offer humanity that might make a difference. Their efforts aren't just charitable; if they fail, they will share Twain's fate. Along the way, they use a magical time portal to get a detailed overview of the Twain philosophy, observing the "historical" events that inspired his works.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWinnie-the-Pooh (1969)
According to Winnie-the-Pooh himself, bears love honey very much. That's why it always runs out very quickly. And you can't do without honey, so Winnie, along with Piglet, sets off for a tall tree with a beehive hanging from it. Winnie fearlessly climbs up to the beehive on a balloon, singing a song about a little cloud.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Balloons Over Babylon?
The closest matches to Balloons Over Babylon are Facing Ali (2009), The Kid Stays in the Picture (2002) and Welcome to Chechnya (2020). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Balloons Over Babylon?
Start with Facing Ali (2009), the closest match to Balloons Over Babylon.
What is the highest-rated movie like Balloons Over Babylon?
For Sama (2019), rated 8.2/10 by 323 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Balloons Over Babylon?
Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off (2022) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Balloons Over Babylon?
Yes: Facing Ali (2009), The Kid Stays in the Picture (2002) and Welcome to Chechnya (2020).
How are movies similar to Balloons Over Babylon chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Balloons Over Babylon, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.