Movies like Footnote (2011)
The best movies like Footnote (2011) are Scaffolding (2017), Tel Aviv on Fire (2018) and Zero Motivation (2014). If Footnote hooked you with its comedy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedMonsieur Lazhar (2011)7.2/10 from 378 votes
- NewestPlaydate (2025)Released 2025
Scaffolding (2017)
17-year-old Asher is split between his charismatic teacher and his brash father, who wants him to take over his scaffolding business.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Tel Aviv on Fire (2018)
Salam, an inexperienced young Palestinian man, becomes a writer on a popular soap opera after a chance meeting with an Israeli soldier. His creative career is on the rise - until the soldier and the show's financial backers disagree about how the show should end, and Salam is caught in the middle.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisZero Motivation (2014)
Filmmaker Talya Lavie steps into the spotlight with a dark comedy about everyday life for a unit of young female Israeli soldiers. The human resources office at a remote desert base serves as the setting for this cast of characters, who bide their time pushing paper, battling for the top score in Minesweeper, and counting down the minutes until they can return to civilian life. Amidst their boredom and clashing personalities, issues of commitment—from friendship to love and country—are handled with humor and sharp-edged wit.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Women's Balcony (2016)
An accident during a bar mitzvah celebration leads to a gendered rift in a devout Orthodox community in Jerusalem, in this rousing, good-hearted tale about women speaking truth to patriarchal power.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
The Band's Visit (2007)
A small Egyptian police band travels to Israel to play at the inaugural ceremony of an Arab arts center, only to find themselves stuck in the wrong town.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem (2014)
The trial story of Viviane Amsalem's five year fight to obtain her divorce in front of the only legal authority competent for divorce cases in Israel, the Rabbinical Court.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Worth the HypeMovies like thisהאושפיזין (2004)
In Jerusalem's orthodox neighborhoods, it's Succoth, seven days celebrating life's essentials in a sukkah, a temporary shack of both deprivation and hospitality. A devout couple, Moshe and Mali, married nearly five years and childless, are broke and praying for a miracle...
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Operation Grandma (1999)
Mivtza Savta ("Operation Grandma") is a satirical Israeli comedy about three very different brothers trying to get around many obstacles to bury their grandmother on her kibbutz. The story takes place in Israel, in the fictional kibbutz "Asisim".
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Monsieur Lazhar (2011)
During a harsh Montréal winter, an elementary-school class is left reeling after its teacher commits suicide. Bachir Lazhar, a charismatic Algerian immigrant, steps in as the substitute teacher for the classroom of traumatized children. All the while, he must keep his personal life tucked away: the fact that he is seeking political refuge in Québec – and that he, like the children, has suffered an appalling loss.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWar Witch (2012)
Somewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa, Komona a 14-year-old girl tells her unborn child growing inside her the story of her life since she has been at war. Everything started when she was abducted by the rebel army at the age of 12.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPast Life (2016)
Two Israeli sisters delve into the dark mystery of their father’s former life in Poland during World War II.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Fill the Void (2012)
Eighteen-year-old Shira is the youngest daughter of the Mendelman family. She is about to be married off to a promising young man of the same age and background. It is a dream come true, and Shira feels prepared and excited. On Purim, her twenty-eight-year-old sister, Esther, dies while giving birth to her first child, Mordechay. The pain and grief that overwhelm the family postpone Shira's promised match. Everything changes when a match is proposed to Yochay-Esther's late husband-to a widow from Belgium. Yochay feels it's too early, although he realizes that sooner or later he must seriously consider getting married again. When the girls' mother finds out that Yochay may marry the widow and move to Belgium with her only grandchild, she proposes a match between Shira and the widower. Shira will have to choose between her heart's wish and her family duty. She will find out that the void which she must choose exists only within her heart.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMaktub (2017)
Steve & Chuma , two criminals are the sole survivors of a terrorist attack at a restaurant in Jerusalem. They decide to change their ways and become flesh and blood angels. They go on a journey of wish fulfilment for people who write requests on paper and put between the sacred stones of the Wailing Wall.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Between the Temples (2024)
A grief-stricken cantor in a crisis of faith finds his world turned upside down when his grade school music teacher re-enters his life as his new adult Bat Mitzvah student. The two forlorn souls develop a special connection.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisSallah (1964)
Sallah Shabati, the patriarch of a big family recently arrived to Israel from Yemen, tries to make money and get better housing, in a country that can barely provide for its own and is in the midst of absorbing hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees from Arab countries.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Paradise Now (2005)
Two childhood friends are recruited for a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBethlehem (2013)
Bethlehem tells the story of the unlikely bond between Razi, an Israeli secret service officer, and his Palestinian informant Sanfur, the younger brother of a senior Palestinian militant. Razi recruited Sanfur when he was just 15, and developed a very close, almost fatherly relationship to him. Now 17, Sanfur tries to navigate between Razi’s demands and his loyalty to his brother, living a double life and lying to both men.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Ida (2013)
In 1960s Poland, young novitiate Anna is on the verge of taking her vows when she discovers a family secret dating back to the years of the German occupation.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLebanon (2009)
During the First Lebanon War in 1982, a lone tank and a paratroopers platoon are dispatched to search a hostile town.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLemon Tree (2008)
A Palestinian widow fights to save her beloved lemon grove after an Israeli defence minister moves next door and security forces order the trees removed, leading her to challenge the authorities with the help of a young lawyer.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Syrian Bride (2004)
In Majdal Shams, the largest Druze village in Golan Heights on the Israeli-Syrian border, the Druze bride Mona is engaged to get married with Tallel, a television comedian that works in the Revolution Studios in Damascus, Syria. They have never met each other because of the occupation of the area by Israel since 1967; when Mona moves to Syria, she will lose her undefined nationality and will never be allowed to return home. Mona's father Hammed is a political activist pro-Syria that is on probation by the Israeli government. His older son Hatten married a Russian woman eight years ago and was banished from Majdal Shams by the religious leaders and his father. His brother Marwan is a wolf trader that lives in Italy. His sister Amal has two teenager daughters and has the intention to join the university, but her marriage with Amin is in crisis. When the family gathers for Mona's wedding, an insane bureaucracy jeopardizes the ceremony.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJellyfish (2007)
Meduzot (the Hebrew word for Jellyfish) tells the story of three very different Israeli women living in Tel Aviv whose intersecting stories weave an unlikely portrait of modern Israeli life. Batya, a catering waitress, takes in a young child apparently abandoned at a local beach. Batya is one of the servers at the wedding reception of Keren, a young bride who breaks her leg in trying to escape from a locked toilet stall, which ruins her chance at a romantic honeymoon in the Caribbean. One of the guests is Joy, a Philippine chore woman attending the event with her employer, and who doesn't speak any Hebrew (she communicates mainly in English), and who is guilt-ridden after having left her young son behind in the Philippines.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAjami (2009)
Ajami is an area of Tel Aviv in Israel where Arabs, Palestinians, Jews and Christians live together in a tense atmosphere. Omar, an Israeli Arab, struggles to save his family from a gang of extortionists. He also courts a beautiful Christian girl: Hadir. Malek, an illegal Palestinian worker, tries to collect enough money to pay for his mother's operation. Dando, an Israeli cop, does his utmost to find his missing brother who may have been killed by Palestinians.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWalk on Water (2004)
Eyal, an Israeli Mossad agent, is given the mission to track down and kill the very old Alfred Himmelman, an ex-Nazi officer, who might still be alive. Pretending to be a tourist guide, he befriends his grandson Axel, in Israel to visit his sister Pia. The two men set out on a tour of the country, during which Axel challenges Eyal's values.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisYes (2025)
In the days following October 7, Y., a jazz musician, and his wife Yasmin, a dancer, resolve to say yes to everything. Y. and Yasmin sell their bodies and souls to the highest bidder, surrendering themselves and their art to Israel’s social, political and military elite. Soon, Y. is entrusted with a mission of the utmost importance: to compose the music for a rousing, ruthless new national anthem.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Beware the Gonzo (2010)
Eddie "Gonzo" Gilman is starting a revolution. When the wild-eyed rebel journalist is ousted from his prep school's newspaper by its über-popular editor, Eddie fronts an underground movement to give a voice to all the misfits, outcasts, and nerds. Soon the power of the press is in Eddie's hands... but will he use it wisely?
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Playdate (2025)
When out-of-work accountant Brian joins stay-at-home dad Jeff for a playdate with their sons, he expects a laid-back afternoon. Instead, they're chased by mercenaries, and Brian—totally unprepared—must survive one absurd obstacle after another.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDaddy's Home 2 (2017)
Father and stepfather Dusty and Brad join forces to make Christmastime perfect for the children. Their newfound partnership soon gets put to the test when Dusty's old-school, macho dad and Brad's gentle father arrive to turn the holiday upside down. After a sudden change in plans, the four men decide to take the kids to a luxury resort for a fun-filled getaway that turns into a hilarious and chaotic adventure.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLittle Nicky (2000)
After the lord of darkness decides he will not cede his throne to any of his three sons, the two most powerful of them escape to Earth to create a kingdom for themselves. This action closes the portal filtering sinful souls to Hell and causes Satan to wither away. He must send his most weak but beloved son, Little Nicky, to Earth to return his brothers to Hell.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisThunderstruck (2012)
After NBA star Kevin Durant switches talent with 16 year old Brian, the teenager becomes the star of his high school team, but Durant starts struggling and eventually learns an important lesson.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Footnote?
The closest matches to Footnote are Scaffolding (2017), Tel Aviv on Fire (2018) and Zero Motivation (2014). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Footnote?
People who watched Footnote most often go on to Scaffolding (2017), Tel Aviv on Fire (2018) and Zero Motivation (2014).
What is the highest-rated movie like Footnote?
Monsieur Lazhar (2011), rated 7.2/10 by 378 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Footnote?
Playdate (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Footnote chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Footnote, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.