Movies Similar to Jackie Chan: Building an Icon

The Thomas The Tank Engine Man(1995)

Semi-Biographical film documenting the life of The Reverend Wilbert Awdry, creator of the beloved Thomas The tank Engine Stories

Chadwick Boseman: Portrait of an Artist(2021)

An intimate look at the Oscar-nominated actor’s incomparable artistry, and the acting process which informed his transformative performances. Viola Davis, Denzel Washington, Spike Lee, George C. Wolfe, Branford Marsalis, Phylicia Rashad and more take us behind the scenes to explore Boseman's extraordinary commitment to his craft.

Senses of Cinema(2022)

As notions of civil rights transformed across the world, so was the screen landscape reformed by the ascension of grassroots film movements seeking to challenge the mainstream. Some aspired to push form to its limit; others worked to destabilise what they saw as a homogenous industry, or to provoke questions around gender, sexuality, migration and race.

Grizzly Man(2005)

Werner Herzog's documentary film about the "Grizzly Man" Timothy Treadwell and what the thirteen summers in a National Park in Alaska were like in one man's attempt to protect the grizzly bears. The film is full of unique images and a look into the spirit of a man who sacrificed himself for nature.

Larisa(1980)

Elem Klimov's documentary ode to his wife, director Larisa Shepitko, who was killed in an auto wreck.

Introducing, Selma Blair(2021)

In a quest to take control of her personal health, actor Selma Blair adapts to new ways of living while pursuing an experimental medical procedure, after revealing her diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis in 2018.

Lily Topples The World(2021)

Follow 20-year-old Lily Hevesh — the world’s greatest domino toppler and the only woman in her field — in a coming-of-age story of artistry, passion, and unlikely triumph.

Reality Winner(2021)

A state of secrets and a ruthless hunt for whistleblowers – this is the story of 25-year-old Reality Winner who disclosed a document about Russian election interference to the media and became the number one leak target of the Trump administration.

The Miracle Worker(1979)

The true story of Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan, a gripping battle to overcome impossible obstacles and the struggle to communicate. As a young girl, Helen Keller is stricken with scarlet fever. The illness leaves her blind, mute, and deaf. Sealed off from the world, Helen cannot communicate with anyone, nor anyone with her. Often frustrated and desperate, Helen flies into uncontrollable rages and tantrums that terrify her hopeless family. The gifted teacher Annie Sullivan is summoned by the family to help the girl understand the world from which she is isolated, freeing Helen Keller from her internal prison forever. Television remake of the 1962 film which also starred Patty Duke in the role of Helen Keller.

Moonface: A Woman in the War(2019)

A walk through the life and career of the legendary French photojournalist Christine Spengler, known as Moonface, one of the few female war reporters in the seventies, also a writer and surrealist painter, who worked in Chad, Northern Ireland, Vietnam, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iran, Iraq and other places where unfortunately war and death prevailed for years.

Behind Natacha Rambova's Shadow(2019)

The adventurous life of Natacha Rambova (1897-1966), an American artist, born Winifred Kimball Shaughnessy, who reincarnated herself countless times: false Russian dancer, silent film actress, scenographer and costume designer, writer, spiritist, Egyptologist, indefatigable traveler, mysterious and curious; an amazing 20th century woman who created the myth of Rudolph Valentino.

Red Army(2014)

A documentary highlighting the Soviet Union's legendary and enigmatic hockey training culture and world-dominating team through the eyes of the team's Captain Slava Fetisov, following his shift from hockey star and celebrated national hero to political enemy.

Life of Klim Samgin(1986)

When My Sorrow Died: The Story of Armen Ra and The Theremin(2015)

Glamorously eccentric and enigmatic Theremin master Armen Ra recounts his dynamic journey in this life-spanning documentary that mixes rare concert performances, candid interviews, and archive material with the magical power of music that can alchemize ancient sorrow into timeless beauty.

Gary's Story - Under a Car in Life

Gary's Story is part of a collective filmmaking project that looks at relationships between teenagers and their grandparents in families that have recently immigrated to the US from the former Soviet Union. Gary's family is from Moscow.

Pasang: In the Shadow of Everest(2024)

Transcending cultural barriers and consistently going against the grain, female Nepali climber Pasang Lhamu Sherpa attempted to summit Everest four times in the early nineties. Although she was not allowed to attend school as a child, Pasang did not let that stop her from pursuing her dreams. After founding her own trekking company in Kathmandu, she blazed a trail for Nepali women via her efforts to summit Everest. Proving how big you can dream and how far you can go to achieve those dreams, she left a legacy not only for the family she has left behind, but for the myriad women following in her footsteps.

A Fighting Choice(1986)

Bright teenager afflicted with epilepsy sues his parents for the right to have "split brain" surgery in order to cure his seizures.

The Man Who Defied Beijing(2019)

A portrait of Chinese writer Liu Xiaobo (1955-2017), a witness of the Tiananmen Square massacre (1989), a dissident, a woodpecker who tirelessly pecked the putrid brain of the Communist regime for decades, demanding democracy loudly and fearlessly. Silenced, arrested, convicted, imprisoned, dead. Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2010, alive forever. These are his last words.

Marilyn, Her Final Secret(2022)

Thanks to DNA, this documentary establishes the identity of Marilyn's biological father, thus revealing her new paternal family, 60 years after the icon's death.

The 11th Hour(2007)

A look at the state of the global environment including visionary and practical solutions for restoring the planet's ecosystems. Featuring ongoing dialogues of experts from all over the world, including former Soviet Prime Minister Mikhail Gorbachev, renowned scientist Stephen Hawking, former head of the CIA R. James Woolse