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Paris Is Burning poster

Movies that feel likeParis Is Burning (1991)

Where does voguing come from, and what, exactly, is throwing shade? This landmark documentary provides a vibrant snapshot of the 1980s through the eyes of New York City's African American and Latinx Harlem drag-ball scene. Made over seven years, PARIS IS BURNING offers an intimate portrait of rival fashion "houses," from fierce contests for trophies to house mothers offering sustenance in a world rampant with homophobia, transphobia, racism, AIDS, and poverty. Featuring legendary voguers, drag queens, and trans women — including Willi Ninja, Pepper LaBeija, Dorian Corey, and Venus Xtravaganza.

If you loved Paris Is Burning, the closest films we have are Los Angeles Plays Itself (2004), The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young (2014) and The Ambassador (2011). All three share Paris Is Burning's contemplative and epic feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is The Girl with the Needle (2024).

🍅 99% Rotten Tomatoes★ 8.2 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Jennie Livingstoncontemplativeepic
6 of 12 streaming nowHBO Max · Criterion Channel · MUBI

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If Paris Is Burning hit the spot, these will too

Los Angeles Plays Itself poster
Los Angeles Plays Itself
2004 · dir. Thom Andersen
🍅 96%★ 7.8documentary · history

The same mix in both: stillness, then scale

From its distinctive neighborhoods to its architectural homes, Los Angeles has been the backdrop to countless movies. In this dazzling work, Andersen takes viewers on a whirlwind tour through the metropolis' real and cinematic history, investigating the myriad stories and legends that have come to define it, and meticulously, judiciously revealing the real city that lives beneath.

The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young poster
🍅 60%★ 7.7documentary · history

Contemplative documentary in both cases

The difference: The scrappier of the two with critics

In its first 25 years only 10 people have finished The Barkley Marathons. Based on a historic prison escape, this cult like race tempts people from around the world to test their limits of physical and mental endurance in this documentary that contemplates the value of pain.

The Ambassador poster
The Ambassador
2011 · dir. Mads Brügger
🍅 71%★ 7.2documentary · history

Epic history, and it commits to that

The difference: 20 years apart, and the 2010s show

Danish journalist Mads Brügger goes undercover as a Liberian Ambassador to embark on a dangerous yet hysterical journey to uncover the blood diamond trade in Africa.

Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India poster
Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India
2001 · dir. Ashutosh Gowariker
🍅 95%★ 8.1adventure · drama · history

History with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

The difference: Sits closer to adventure than Paris Is Burning does

The year is 1893 and India is under British occupation. In a small village, the tyrannical Captain Russell has imposed an unprecedented land tax on its citizens. Outraged, Bhuvan, a rebellious farmer, rallies the villagers to publicly oppose the tax. Russell offers a novel way to settle the dispute: he challenges Bhuvan and his men to a game of cricket, a sport completely foreign to India. If Bhuvan and his men can defeat Russell's team, the tax will be repealed.

The Act of Killing poster
The Act of Killing
2012 · dir. Joshua Oppenheimer
🍅 96%★ 8.2documentary · historyRent or buy

Documentary built on scale, twice over

After befriending documentarian Joshua Oppenheimer, former Indonesian death squad leaders reenact their real-life mass killings in the style of various American film genres. As they recreate their past atrocities, the line between reality and performance blurs, exposing the lingering impact of Indonesia's 1965-66 anti-communist purge and the unsettling psychology of its perpetrators.

Night and Fog poster
Night and Fog
1956 · dir. Alain Resnais
★ 8.6documentary · historyMax

Cut from the same documentary cloth

Filmmaker Alain Resnais documents the atrocities behind the walls of Hitler's concentration camps.

Milk poster
Milk
2008 · dir. Gus Van Sant
🍅 93%★ 7.5history · drama

Two things both keep coming back to: homophobia and male homosexuality

The true story of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man ever elected to public office. In San Francisco in the late 1970s, Harvey Milk becomes an activist for gay rights and inspires others to join him in his fight for equal rights that should be available to all Americans.

Labyrinth of Lies poster
Labyrinth of Lies
2014 · dir. Giulio Ricciarelli
🍅 83%★ 7.3drama · history

Both play history straight

A young prosecutor in postwar West Germany investigates a massive conspiracy to cover up the Nazi pasts of prominent public figures.

Fitzcarraldo poster
Fitzcarraldo
1982 · dir. Werner Herzog
🍅 78%★ 7.9drama · adventure

Contemporaries, and it shows

Fitzcarraldo is a dreamer who plans to build an opera house in Iquitos, in the Peruvian Amazon, so, in order to finance his project, he embarks on an epic adventure to collect rubber, a very profitable product, in a remote and unexplored region of the rainforest.

Pather Panchali poster
Pather Panchali
1955 · dir. Satyajit Ray
🍅 98%★ 8.2drama · historyMax

Both working the same history territory

Impoverished priest Harihar Ray, dreaming of a better life for himself and his family, leaves his rural Bengal village in search of work. Alone, his wife, Sarbojaya, looks after her rebellious daughter, Durga, and her young son, Apu, as well as Harihar's elderly aunt Indir. The children enjoy the small pleasures of their difficult life, while their parents suffer the daily indignities heaped upon them.

The Girl with the Needle poster
The Girl with the Needle
2024 · dir. Magnus von Horn
🍅 93%★ 7.5drama · historyRent or buy

Both know what they want from history

Struggling to survive in post-WWI Copenhagen, a newly unemployed and pregnant young woman is taken in by a charismatic elder to help run an underground adoption agency. The two form an unexpected bond, until a sudden discovery changes everything.

Gandhi poster
Gandhi
1982 · dir. Richard Attenborough
🍅 89%★ 8drama · history

The same history instincts

In the early years of the 20th century, Mohandas K. Gandhi, a British-trained lawyer, forsakes all worldly possessions to take up the cause of Indian independence. Faced with armed resistance from the British government, Gandhi adopts a policy of 'passive resistance', endeavouring to win freedom for his people without resorting to bloodshed.

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The best-reviewed films that share Paris Is Burning’s defining feeling.