15 Movies Like Wadjda
Loved Wadjda? Based on its unique Cinema DNA—including its pacing, themes, and emotional tone—we've curated the ultimate list of what you should watch next.
The Voice of Hind Rajab
January 29, 2024. Red Crescent volunteers receive an emergency call. A five-year old girl is trapped in a car under fire in Gaza, pleading for rescue. While trying to keep her on the line, they do everything they can to get an ambulance to her. Her name was Hind Rajab.
💡Why it's a match: A fantastic follow-up watch to Wadjda.
Capernaum
After running away from his negligent parents, committing a violent crime and being sentenced to five years in jail, a hardened, streetwise 12-year-old Lebanese boy sues his parents in protest of the life they have given him.
💡Why it's a match: A fantastic follow-up watch to Wadjda.
Black Beauty
Born free in the American West, Black Beauty is a horse rounded up and brought to Birtwick Stables, where she meets spirited teenager Jo Green. The two forge a bond that carries Beauty through the different chapters, challenges and adventures.
💡Why it's a match: A highly-rated genre match based on the viewing habits of people who liked Wadjda.
All That's Left of You
In the Occupied West Bank in Palestine of the 1980s, a Palestinian teenager is swept into a protest that changes the course of his family's life. Reeling from its aftermath, his mother, Hanan, shares the story that led them to that fateful moment. Spanning seven decades, this epic drama traces the hopes and heartaches of one uprooted family, revealing not only the scars of ethnic cleansing, but the unbreakable spirit of survival.
💡Why it's a match: A fantastic follow-up watch to Wadjda.
Reading Lolita in Tehran
In revolutionary Iran, as fundamentalists tighten their grip on society, a professor secretly gathers seven of her most dedicated female students to read and discuss forbidden classics of Western literature, including Lolita and Pride and Prejudice. Based on the bestselling memoir by Azar Nafisi. A film by Eran Riklis starring Golshifteh Farahani (Paterson), Zar Amir (Holy Spider), and Mina Kavani (No Bears).
💡Why it's a match: A highly-rated genre match based on the viewing habits of people who liked Wadjda.
Halfaouine: Boy of the Terraces
Twelve-year-old Noura dangles uncertainly in that difficult netherworld between childhood and adulthood. His growing libido has gotten him banned from the women's baths, where his mother took him when he was younger, but he's not yet old enough to participate in grown-up discussions with the men of his Tunisian village. Noura's only real friend is a troublemaker named Salih -- the village political outcast.
💡Why it's a match: A fantastic follow-up watch to Wadjda.
From the Ashes: The Pit
Trapped in an underground pit during a storm, three students from an all-girls school must confront their personal conflicts as they fight to survive.
💡Why it's a match: A fantastic follow-up watch to Wadjda.
I Was a Stranger
A Syrian doctor and her daughter flee Aleppo, setting off a chain of events that binds five strangers together. A smuggler, a soldier, a poet, and a coast guard captain collide in a crisis that tests their courage, their choices, and their humanity.
💡Why it's a match: A fantastic follow-up watch to Wadjda.
Chief Omar Harb
Omar Harb runs a gambling casino. A quiet young man lands a job at the casino, despite his family's abhorrence and disapproval, to get the money necessary for his marriage. He excels at work and catches the attention of the manager who chooses him for a challenging task.
💡Why it's a match: A fantastic follow-up watch to Wadjda.
Bittersweet
An Egyptian-American returns to his homeland after twenty years abroad, filled with nostalgia and high hopes. But as he reconnects with his roots, he finds himself caught between two worlds—and begins to experience the reality of a country he thought he knew.
💡Why it's a match: A fantastic follow-up watch to Wadjda.
Eagles of the Republic
George Fahmy, Egypt's most adored actor, is pressured to star in a film commissioned by the highest authorities. He reluctantly accepts and finds himself thrown into the inner circle of power. Like moth drawn to flame, he begins an affair with the mysterious wife of the general overseeing the project.
💡Why it's a match: A fantastic follow-up watch to Wadjda.
An American Girl: Chrissa Stands Strong
A fourth grader and her friends deal with bullying from a more popular girl in their class.
💡Why it's a match: A highly-rated genre match based on the viewing habits of people who liked Wadjda.
Gigi & Nate
A young man with a bright future suffers a near-fatal accident and recreates his new life with the help of an unlikely animal friend.
💡Why it's a match: A highly-rated genre match based on the viewing habits of people who liked Wadjda.
I Am David
A 12-year-old boy manages to flee a Communist concentration camp on his own, through sheer will and determination. All he has in his possession is a loaf of bread, a letter to deliver to someone in Denmark, and a compass to help get him there.
💡Why it's a match: A highly-rated genre match based on the viewing habits of people who liked Wadjda.
Won't Back Down
Jamie Fitzpatrick and Nona Alberts are two women from opposites sides of the social and economic track, but they have one thing in common: a mission to fix their community's broken school and ensure a bright future for their children. The two women refuse to let any obstacles stand in their way as they battle a bureaucracy that's hopelessly mired in traditional thinking, and they seek to re-energize a faculty that has lost its passion for teaching.
💡Why it's a match: A highly-rated genre match based on the viewing habits of people who liked Wadjda.