Movies Similar to Paper Tigers

Adolescents(2020)

Emma and Anaïs are best friends and yet everything in their life seems to set them apart, their social backgrounds but also their personalities. From the age of thirteen to eighteen, Adolescentes follows the two teenagers during these years where radical transformations and first times punctuate daily life. Through their personal stories, the film offers a rare portrait of France and its recent history.

7.4

Science Fair(2018)

Filmmakers follow nine high school students from around the globe as they compete at an international science fair. Facing off against 1,700 of the smartest teens from 78 countries, only one will be named Best in Fair.

7.2

Freakonomics(2010)

Some of the world's most innovative documentary filmmakers will explore the hidden side of everything.

6.2

Permission to Exist(2020)

In just sixty years, South Korea went from being one of the poorest countries on the Asian continent to having the 12th largest economy in the entire world. Every year, it is measured that Korean students have some of the highest test scores and a higher rate of acceptance into Ivy League schools compared to all other nations. But on the flip side, South Korea also has one of the highest suicide rates in the developed world, the highest gender pay gap of all developed countries, and the highest plastic surgery rate per capita. Always expected to receive top scores and constantly bombarded by media and messages that seem to demand nothing short of visual “perfection,” how do these individuals come to accept and learn to love themselves as they are?

0.0

Jeff Weise: My Personal Documentary(2010)

Documentary about the Red Lake school shooting and its perpetrator, Jeff Weise.

0.0

American Teen(2008)

A documentary on seniors at a high school in a small Indiana town and their various cliques.

6.4

Frontrunners(2008)

A documentary on the competition for student body president at New York's Stuyvesant High School. As the notoriously competitive school's election draws near, the campaign becomes a microcosm for the nation at large, with race, gender and appearance vying for attention with real issues.

6.4

The First Class(2023)

An intimate verité film that follows students and educators at a groundbreaking new high school in Memphis. Their inspiring journey shows what learning can look like—and accomplish—when a city comes together to rethink what high school can be.

0.0

More than a Game(2008)

This documentary follows NBA superstar LeBron James and four of his talented teammates through the trials and tribulations of high school basketball in Ohio and James' journey to fame.

7.2

My So-Called High School Rank(2022)

A deep dive into the lives of high school students in three radically disparate communities as they navigate the pressures around college while staging a musical, until seismic events upend their dreams and expectations.

6.0

We Did It on a Song(2014)

This film tells the stormy tale of a group of friends from Boulogne-sur-Mer, a French town hit by the financial crisis. A year between dreams and disillusion, imagined by teenagers from a working or middle class background, with songs that regularly add poetry, laughter, and emotion to reality.

5.9

Resolved(2007)

The fascinating complexity of high school debate gives way to a portrait of the equally complex racial and class bias of American education in Greg Whiteley's riveting documentary.

7.2

Zoned In(2008)

Winner of the New York LOVES Film Award at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2008. Filmed over the course of nine years, Zoned In traces the remarkable real-life journey of 16-year-old Daniel from a Bronx high school to an Ivy League university while simultaneously exploring the role of race and class in the American education system. Narrated by Daniel himself, the movie celebrates the accomplishments of this extraordinary young man but does not shy away from depicting his struggles to fit in amongst the privileged students at his college and his candid questioning of a system that has allowed him to excel but has left so many of his friends and family members behind.

0.0

Going Varsity in Mariachi(2023)

A year in the life of an underdog competitive high school mariachi band in the Texas borderlands.

0.0

Home + Away(2018)

This coming-of-age story follows three students of El Paso's Bowie High and their search for the American dream, a dream inspired by family, fueled by sports, and complicated by the US/Mexican border.

1.0

Killer Bees(2018)

A championship high school basketball team provides pride, tradition and hope for an African American community struggling to survive in the middle of one of the wealthiest communities in America - The Hamptons.

8.0

How to Dance in Ohio(2015)

In Columbus, Ohio, a group of autistic teenagers and young adults role-play this transition by going through the deceptively complex social interactions of preparing for a spring formal. Focusing on several young women as they go through an iconic American rite of passage, we are given intimate access to people who are often unable to share their experiences with others. With humor and heartbreak, How to Dance in Ohio shows the daily courage of people facing their fears and opening themselves to the pain, worry, and joy of the social world.

6.6

TMZ Presents: The Downfall of Diddy(2024)

A series of lawsuits and allegations have legendary rap mogul P. Diddy on the ropes. TMZ has the troubling inside story from people who were there.

5.2

I Love You, East Garrison (A Video Essay by Haley Hoult)(2023)

Haley Hoult, a student of Est Harrison High, creates a sarcastic video essay about his school.

10.0

Mr. Football

After an urban Catholic High School football team comes together to win a state championship, tragedy strikes. A star player is killed and two of his teammates are charged with his murder. Based on the true story of the Cleveland, Ohio Benedictine football team's 2004 season.

0.0