20 movies like A Small Act, ordered by similarity : Koko: A Talking Gorilla(1978), The C Word(2016), Aida's Secrets(2016), Night School(2016), Born Into Brothels(2004), Face of Unity(2014), Kabul, City in the Wind(2018), Last Train Home(2009), The Life of Reilly(2006), The Lovely Month of May(1963), Makala(2017), That Summer(2017) ...
Documentary
USA
2010
88 Minutes
schoolteacher young boy mother lawyer father benefactor emotional engaging profound uplifting kenya village harvard university sweden house poverty education generosity united nations human rights
A young Kenyan's life changes drastically when his education is sponsored by a Swedish stranger. Years later, he founds his own scholarship program to replicate the kindness he once received.
Documentary
France
1978
85 Minutes
Penny Patterson Karl H. Pribram
researcher gorilla scientist charming engaging house trailer california stanford university sign language human-animal friendship wild animals animal rights education emotion transformation discovery quest 1970s
A documentary that follows Dr. Penny Patterson's current scientific study of Koko, a gorilla who communicates through American Sign Language.
Documentary
USA
2016
89 Minutes
neurologist cancer patient director emotional engaging inspiring uplifting beach house hospital school grocery store court cancer health society science bad choices discovery pursuit
A personal, important, surprising, and funny documentary about the industries of death that give us cancer, and the unheralded science of prevention.
Documentary
Germany|Israel|Canada|USA
2016
90 Minutes
Shaul Schwarz
birth mother man brother father canadian israeli emotional fascinating intense israel canada airport nursing home car house separation secrets reunion questioning doubt
Family secrets, lies, high drama and generations of contemporary history unspool in this international story that begins with World War II and concludes with an emotional 21st-century ... See full summary »
Documentary
USA
2016
85 Minutes
high school teacher high-school student family member co-worker friend parent fascinating emotional intense indianapolis school classroom house apartment store school second chance work poverty stress
A documentary about three students determined to graduate from their high school in Indianapolis, despite the fact that the institution has one of the lowest graduation rates in the country.
Documentary, Biography
USA
2004
85 Minutes
Zana Briski Avijit Halder Shanti Das
photographer prostitute young boy young girl mother teacher emotional gritty brothel calcutta, india school street mother/child relationship poverty photography ambition growing up underdog 2000s
Two documentary filmmakers chronicle their time in Sonagchi, Calcutta and the relationships they developed with children of prostitutes who work the city's notorious red light district.
Documentary
USA|Australia
2014
68 Minutes
Ray Charles Samuel L. Jackson Henry Kissinger Christopher Lee Michelle Obama
nelson mandela narrator touching uplifting engaging emotional profound south africa south africa nelson mandela racial tension racism injustice peace apartheid life story discovery rise transformation 20th century
Face Of Unity is the definitive Nelson Mandela documentary feature and first retrospective to be released since the president's death in late 2013. It includes a never before seen speech ... See full summary »
Documentary
Afghanistan|Germany|Japan|Netherlands
2018
88 Minutes
bus driver terrorist brother father family member friend bleak brooding tense emotional touching disheartening afghan village house bus iran desert terrorism suicide bombing family
A city is an orchestration of its inhabitants. The film portraits the city Kabul through daily details of two kids and a bus driver, set against the background of a city destroyed by politic and religious powers.
Documentary
2009
85 Minutes
factory worker mother father daughter son seamstress fascinating emotional striking solemn china factory train train station village family worker's rights tradition work vs. family work-life balance
Forced to live far away, two Chinese factory workers make an arduous journey once a year to visit their children, who barely know them.
Documentary
USA
2006
90 Minutes
Frank Anderson
actor audience gay man uplifting emotional engaging stage theater hollywood, calif. homosexuality performance game show family history alcoholism racism rise underdog transformation 2000s
If, in 1940, you had a lobotomized aunt, an institutionalized father, a racist mother, and were the only gay kid on the block, what do you think the odds would be that you'd end up a Tony ... See full summary »
Documentary
1963
124 Minutes
Pierre Lhomme
man woman frenchman engaging mellow paris france street household war economy patriotism religion art social change rise transformation 1960s
Actors Yves Montand and Simone Signoret narrate an introduction to springtime in Paris, as described by its citizens.
Documentary
France
2017
96 Minutes
man family member friend merchant traveler emotional incredible powerful endearing touching inspiring congo road market house poverty trading labor family perseverance
Trials tribulation dreams and aspirations of a young farmer earning a living making and selling charcoal in Congo.
Documentary
Sweden|Denmark|USA
2017
80 Minutes
Peter Beard Lee Radziwill Evelyn Kuhn William Vanden Heuvel
woman photographer filmmaker cousin mother charming tender amusing quirky endearing hamptons long island, n.y. mansion house documentary filmmaking family house restoration estate mother/daughter relationship eviction
Montauk, East Hampton, New York, 2016. Peter Beard discusses his work as a photographer, artist and diarist before reminiscing about his attempt to make a documentary in the summer of 1972 ... See full summary »
Documentary
USA
1998
90 Minutes
singer mother musician songwriter dark emotional engaging fascinating united states concert stage house troubled childhood artistic struggle music family history identity sophie b. hawkins discovery underdog transformation
The Cream Will Rise is a documentary that exposes the turbulent and troubling side of singer/songwriter Sophie B. Hawkins' early years when a confrontation with her mother forces her to ... See full summary »
Documentary
2016
80 Minutes
college student civil rights activist musician collector blues singer confident engaging inspiring uplifting mississippi car office school neighborhood field music music history musicians civil rights movement stunts
In June of 1964, two groups of young men travel to Mississippi. Though neither group was aware of the other, each had come on the same errand: to find an old blues singer and coax him out of retirement.
Documentary
USA
2006
229 Minutes
son daughter mother father patient doctor emotional inspiring hospital household cincinnati cancer childhood family illness medicine growing up quest discovery 2000s
Five families struggle with the ups and downs of cancer treatment over the course of six years.
Documentary, Drama
USA
1994
174 Minutes
William Gates Arthur Agee Sheila Agee Isiah Thomas Bill Gleason
basketball player teenager mother father coach teacher uplifting powerful gutsy emotional chicago westchester, ill. basketball court family home basketball ambition high school racism class distinctions growing up
A film following the lives of two inner-city Chicago boys who struggle to become college basketball players on the road to going professional.
Documentary, Music
USA
2019
96 Minutes
jazz singer journalist friend character confident passionate engaging fascinating interview courtroom house billie holiday celebrities biography interview book discovery growing up forbidden love sacrifice
A group of wealthy boys in Los Angeles during the early 1980s establish a 'get-rich-quick' scam that turns deadly.
Documentary
USA
2009
95 Minutes
daughter celebrity african-american woman chris rock al sharpton maya angelou engaging hilarious profound beauty salon competition hall temple factory house india racial issues african-americans hairdressing beauty father/daughter relationship
Chris Rock explores the wonders of African-American hairstyles.
Documentary, War, Drama, History
USA|Congo
2017
93 Minutes
Mamadou Ndala
merchant poor person villager government official military officer bleak brutal uneasy tense intricate disheartening congo village plains office road market political corruption political unrest military occupation
An unfiltered look in to the lives of 3 characters surviving amongst the most recent cycle of conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo, otherwise known as the M23 rebellion.
Documentary
USA|UK|Denmark|France|Canada|Australia
2002
80 Minutes
journalist government official diplomat lawyer christopher hitchens secretary of state fascinating somber powerful office government building cambodia vietnam united states henry kissinger diplomacy vietnam war human rights war crime politics
A film about the war crimes of the American diplomat, Henry Kissinger.