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Movies like Martha: A Picture Story (2019)

The best movies like Martha: A Picture Story (2019) are Finding Vivian Maier (2014), Cameraperson (2016) and Naqoyqatsi (2002). If Martha: A Picture Story hooked you with its documentary, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.

Quick picks

  1. Finding Vivian Maier (2014)

    Vivian Maier's photos were seemingly destined for obscurity, lost among the clutter of the countless objects she'd collected throughout her life. Instead these images have shaken the world of street photography and irrevocably changed the life of the man who brought them to the public eye. This film brings to life the interesting turns and travails of the improbable saga of John Maloof's discovery of Vivian Maier, unravelling this mysterious tale through her documentary films, photographs, odd collections and personal accounts from the people that knew her. What started as a blog to show her work quickly became a viral sensation in the photography world. Photos destined for the trash heap now line gallery exhibitions, a forthcoming book and this documentary film.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  2. 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
  3. Naqoyqatsi (2002)

    A visual montage portrait of our contemporary world dominated by globalized technology and violence.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

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  4. My 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 this
  5. All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (2022)

    The life of internationally renowned artist and activist Nan Goldin is told through her slideshows, intimate interviews, ground-breaking photography, and rare footage of her personal fight to hold the Sackler family accountable for the overdose crisis.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  6. LA Originals (2020)

    Photographer Estevan Oriol and artist Mister Cartoon turned their Chicano roots into gritty art, impacting street culture, hip hop and beyond.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  7. 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
  8. Tupac: Resurrection (2003)

    Home movies, photographs, and recited poetry illustrate the life of Tupac Shakur, one of the most beloved, revolutionary, and volatile hip-hop MCs of all time.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

    Absolute CinemaMovies like this
  9. David Lynch: The Art Life (2017)

    An intimate journey through the formative years of David Lynch's life. From his idyllic upbringing in small town America to the dark streets of Philadelphia, we follow Lynch as he traces the events that have helped to shape one of cinema's most enigmatic directors.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  10. Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present (2012)

    Performance artist Marina Abramovic prepares for a major retrospective of her work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  11. Struggle: The Life and Lost Art of Szukalski (2018)

    Artists in LA discover the work of forgotten Polish sculptor Stanislav Szukalski, a mad genius whose true story unfolds chapter by astounding chapter.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  12. Fuck (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 this
  13. Nothing Like a Dame (2018)

    BBC Arena's documentary on the Dames of British Theatre and film featuring Maggie Smith, Eileen Atkins, Judi Dench and Joan Plowright on screen together for the first time as they reminisce over a long summer weekend in a house Joan once shared with Sir Laurence Olivier.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  14. Style Wars (1984)

    Tony Silver and Henry Chalfant's PBS documentary tracks the rise and fall of subway graffiti in New York in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  15. Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff (2010)

    In 2001 Jack Cardiff (1914-2009) became the first director of photography in the history of the Academy Awards to win an Honorary Oscar. But the first time he clasped the famous statuette in his hand was a half-century earlier when his Technicolor camerawork was awarded for Powell and Pressburger's Black Narcissus. Beyond John Huston's The African Queen and King Vidor's War and Peace, the films of the British-Hungarian creative duo (The Red Shoes and A Matter of Life and Death too) guaranteed immortality for the renowned cameraman whose career spanned seventy years.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  16. Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures (2016)

    Nude men in rubber suits, close-ups of erections, objects shoved in the most intimate of places—these are photographs taken by Robert Mapplethorpe, known by many as the most controversial photographer of the twentieth century. Openly gay, Mapplethorpe took images of male sex, nudity, and fetish to extremes that resulted in his work still being labelled by some as pornography masquerading as art. But less talked about are the more serene, yet striking portraits of flowers, sculptures, and perfectly framed human forms that are equally pioneering and powerful.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  17. Banksy Does New York (2014)

    On October 1, 2013, the elusive street artist Banksy launched a month-long residency in New York, an art show he called Better Out Than In. As one new work of art was presented each day in a secret location, a group of fans, called “Banksy Hunters,” took to the streets and blew up social media.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  18. 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
  19. S4: 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 this
  20. 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
  21. Here We Come (2006)

    The story of hip hip behind the iron curtain.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary

  22. Gen A: Do What You Love (2022)

    Jakub Strach aka NobodyListen is a successful Czech DJ and music producer. A portrait of his life and work can be seen as a manifesto of the millennial club-going generation. After hundreds of shows and preparations for the upcoming, renowned Addict party, the DJ must deal with the consequences of inflicting a wound scarring his image. Footage from the club backstage mingles with scenes of everyday life in which NobodyListen ponders the dark sides of the club scene, like drugs and misogyny. During the shooting, the Covid pandemic strikes, revealing the insecurities of work in culture.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary

  23. Francisco Boix: A Photographer in Hell (2000)

    In 1939, just finished the Spanish Civil War, Spanish republican photographer Francesc Boix escapes from Spain; but is captured by the Nazis in 1940 and imprisoned in the Mauthausen concentration camp, in Austria, a year later. There, he works as a prisoner in the SS Photographic Service, hiding, between 1943 and 1945, around 20,000 negatives that later will be presented as evidence during several trials conducted against Nazi war criminals after World War II.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary

  24. Stevie Wonder - Soul Genius (2013)

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary

  25. Dave Chappelle's Block Party (2005)

    The American comedian/actor delivers a story about the alternative Hip Hop scene. A small town Ohio mans moves to Brooklyn, New York, to throw an unprecedented block party.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  26. Irina Ionesco - Nocturnes Porte Dorée (2003)

    "Nocturnes at the Golden Gate" - invites us to discover the world and work of Irina Ionesco, a unique figure of contemporary photography. Since the early 70's, she photographer has been working in her apartment near the Porte Dorée, in Paris, principally with the female body. Scraps from the past and elements of the present come together to evoke the coherence and multiple meanings of Irina's baroque universe : the solitude of her Romanian childhood ; her youthful debut in the music hall ; her relationships with her models and her way of building images. Little by little, her work is illuminated and takes on different vibrations, though we have never left the apartment : her workspace, temple and museum.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary

  27. O Rap Pelo Rap (2014)

    To do this documentary, the director Pedro Henrique Fávero featured 42 characters - among MCs, DJs and producers - to make a detailed map of its kind in the country. Without mincing words, they speak openly here about 8 topics proposed by the film and try to understand Hip Hop in Brazil. The result is a collection of stories from a lot of fighting, where there are many eternal start-end-start, overcoming the difficulties of being understood and feeling of belonging to a group and many clichés.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary

  28. The Writing on the Wall (1986)

    "In this half-hour documentary, Producer Sandra King provides an intimate portrait of a public phenomenon: Graffiti. Over an 18 month period, King and her crew followed the teenage members of a graffiti 'crew,' Vandals on the Street, as they painted and rapped and moved through the streets of downtown Newark. What emerges is a unique glimpse behind the 'tags' at the kind of inner city kids who write on walls, but who also make art; who create out of wedlock children, but who also form binding relationships; who drop out of school and never read a book, but who create their own brand of poetry through the medium of 'rap.'

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary

  29. #monalisa (2020)

    People looking at the Mona Lisa in the Louvre – or are they just looking at themselves?

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary

  30. EPIK HIGH 20 THE MOVIE (2024)

    The iconic Korean hip-hop group Epik High debuted in 2003 and has since captivated fans worldwide with their exceptional lyricism and evocative music videos. Now, their 20th-anniversary concert comes to life in a stunning documentary, capturing the raw passion and emotions of these hip-hop poets on stage. Joined by their devoted fans, "High Skool," Epik High sets their sights on an even greater future together.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary

Like Martha: A Picture Story and something else?

Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best movies like Martha: A Picture Story?

The closest matches to Martha: A Picture Story are Finding Vivian Maier (2014), Cameraperson (2016) and Naqoyqatsi (2002). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.

What should I watch after Martha: A Picture Story?

Start with Finding Vivian Maier (2014), the closest match to Martha: A Picture Story.

What is the highest-rated movie like Martha: A Picture Story?

Finding Vivian Maier (2014), rated 7.6/10 by 342 TMDB users.

What is the newest movie like Martha: A Picture Story?

S4: The Bob Lazar Story (2026) is the most recent release on this list.

Are there English movies like Martha: A Picture Story?

Yes: Finding Vivian Maier (2014), Cameraperson (2016) and Naqoyqatsi (2002).

How are movies similar to Martha: A Picture Story chosen?

First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Martha: A Picture Story, 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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