Movies Like Sans Soleil (1983)

Sans Soleil is a 1983 documentary film from Chris Marker with a MovieMagicScore of 7.4/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with Given and The Endless Summer.

Documentary

Given

2017

A young family leaves their home on Kauai. It is time to return to the itinerant path from which all things in their uncommon lives come; beginning and ending on a remote dot in the Pacific. They nomadically trace continents to places where waves meet their edges, envoys of aloha. It is what they will learn, what they bring others, what they will pass on to their children in the hyper-expanded classroom, the lab of direct being; a legacy passed from a father to his family.

7.4

MagicScore

The Endless Summer

1966

Bruce Brown's The Endless Summer is one of the first and most influential surf movies of all time. The film documents American surfers Mike Hynson and Robert August as they travel the world during California’s winter (which, back in 1965 was off-season for surfing) in search of the perfect wave and ultimately, an endless summer.

7.1

MagicScore

Valparaiso

1964

In 1962 Joris Ivens was invited to Chile for teaching and filmmaking. Together with students he made …A Valparaíso, one of his most poetic films. Contrasting the prestigious history of the seaport with the present the film sketches a portrait of the city, built on 42 hills, with its wealth and poverty, its daily life on the streets, the stairs, the rack railways and in the bars. Although the port has lost its importance, the rich past is still present in the impoverished city. The film echoes this ambiguous situation in its dialectical poetic style, interweaving the daily life reality (of 1963) with the history of the city and changing from black and white to colour, finally leaving us with hopeful perspective for the children who are playing on the stairs and hills of this beautiful town.

7.0

MagicScore

Swimming to Cambodia

1987

Spalding Gray sits behind a desk throughout the entire film and recounts his exploits and chance encounters while playing a minor role in the film 'The Killing Fields'. At the same time, he gives a background to the events occurring in Cambodia at the time the film was set.

6.9

MagicScore

Baraka

1992

A paralysingly beautiful documentary with a global vision—an odyssey through landscape and time—that attempts to capture the essence of life.

8.2

MagicScore

Samsara

2011

Filmed over nearly five years in twenty-five countries on five continents, and shot on seventy-millimetre film, Samsara transports us to the varied worlds of sacred grounds, disaster zones, industrial complexes, and natural wonders.

8.1

MagicScore

Koyaanisqatsi

1983

Takes us to locations all around the US and shows us the heavy toll that modern technology is having on humans and the earth. The visual tone poem contains neither dialogue nor a vocalized narration: its tone is set by the juxtaposition of images and the exceptional music by Philip Glass.

7.9

MagicScore

Glass

1958

This short documentary, shot in the glass factories of Leerdam and Schiedam, demonstrates how glass blowers do their work. But thanks to the superbly edited ballet of working hands and the sequence of mechanical motions of the engines, is it especially a cinematic tour de force. That the industry can’t do without man’s involvement is shown in the scene where we hear the voice of Haanstra himself counting the bottles on the conveyor belt, until one bottle breaks…

7.6

MagicScore

Microcosmos

1996

A documentary of insect life in meadows and ponds, using incredible close-ups, slow motion, and time-lapse photography. It includes bees collecting nectar, ladybugs eating mites, snails mating, spiders wrapping their catch, a scarab beetle relentlessly pushing its ball of dung uphill, endless lines of caterpillars, an underwater spider creating an air bubble to live in, and a mosquito hatching.

7.6

MagicScore

#10

Chronos

1985

Carefully picked scenes of nature and civilization are viewed at high speed using time-lapse cinematography in an effort to demonstrate the history of various regions.

7.5

MagicScore

#11

Berlin: Symphony of a Great City

1927

A day in the city of Berlin, which experienced an industrial boom in the 1920s, and still provides an insight into the living and working conditions at that time. Germany had just recovered a little from the worst consequences of the First World War, the great economic crisis was still a few years away and Hitler was not yet an issue at the time.

7.5

MagicScore

#12

Rain

1929

A lyrical portrait of Amsterdam and its changing appearance during a rain-shower.

7.3

MagicScore

#13

Powaqqatsi

1988

An exploration of technologically developing nations and the effect the transition to Western-style modernization has had on them.

7.3

MagicScore

#14

Life in a Day

2011

A documentary shot by filmmakers all over the world that serves as a time capsule to show future generations what it was like to be alive on the 24th of July, 2010.

7.2

MagicScore

#15

Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations

1938

Starting with a long and lyrical overture, evoking the origins of the Olympic Games in ancient Greece, Riefenstahl covers twenty-one athletic events in the first half of this two-part love letter to the human body and spirit, culminating with the marathon, where Jesse Owens became the first track and field athlete to win four gold medals in a single Olympics.

6.8

MagicScore

#16

À propos de Nice

1930

What starts off as a conventional travelogue turns into a satirical portrait of the town of Nice on the French Côte d'Azur, especially its wealthy inhabitants.

6.8

MagicScore

#17

Olympia Part Two: Festival of Beauty

1938

Part two of Leni Riefenstahl's monumental examination of the 1938 Olympic Games, the cameras leave the main stadium and venture into the many halls and fields deployed for such sports as fencing, polo, cycling, and the modern pentathlon, which was won by American Glenn Morris.

6.7

MagicScore

#18

Manhatta

1921

Morning reveals New York harbor, the wharves, the Brooklyn Bridge. A ferry boat docks, disgorging its huddled mass. People move briskly along Wall St. or stroll more languorously through a cemetery. Ranks of skyscrapers extrude columns of smoke and steam. In plain view. Or framed, as through a balustrade. A crane promotes the city's upward progress, as an ironworker balances on a high beam. A locomotive in a railway yard prepares to depart, while an arriving ocean liner jostles with attentive tugboats. Fading sunlight is reflected in the waters of the harbor. The imagery is interspersed with quotations from Walt Whitman, who is left unnamed.

6.6

MagicScore

#19

Fata Morgana

1972

Shot under extreme conditions and inspired by Mayan creation theory, the film contemplates the illusion of reality and the possibility of capturing for the camera something which is not there. It is about the mirages of nature—and the nature of mirage.

6.6

MagicScore

#20

Mirror of Holland

1950

In this short film Bert Haanstra gives his vision - from the water – of a tranquil Holland. During filming he held the camera upside down and afterwards put the images ‘up right’ again in the film. By doing this, we see the ‘usual’ waterfront, but transformed by the rippling of the water. In this way Mirror of Holland became a modern looking experimental film. However this did not devalue the Dutch sentiment regarding waterfronts that are so trusted to so many.

6.2

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like Sans Soleil?

The top films similar to Sans Soleil by MovieMagicScore are Given (7.4), The Endless Summer (7.1), Valparaiso (7.0). Each shares documentary themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is Sans Soleil worth watching?

Sans Soleil holds a MovieMagicScore of 7.4/10 from 256 viewer ratings, putting it among the better-reviewed titles in its genre.

What kind of movie is Sans Soleil?

Sans Soleil (1983) is a documentary film directed by Chris Marker, starring Florence Delay, Amílcar Cabral, Arielle Dombasle.

Where can I find more recommendations like Sans Soleil?

Browse the full ranked list above, or explore more documentary recommendations on MovieMagicScore, where every list is ordered by genuine viewer ratings.

Keep exploring

Movies like Given Movies like The Endless Summer Movies like Valparaiso Movies like Swimming to Cambodia Movies like Baraka Movies like Samsara

About movies like Sans Soleil

This ranked list pairs Sans Soleil (1983), a documentary film from Chris Marker, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Florence Delay take note). Unlike critic-driven sites, every position here is ordered by MovieMagicScore — a rating built only from real viewers, with no studio marketing or paid placement. Scores update as more people rate, so the list stays current.

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