Movies Like Killing Patient Zero

If you liked Killing Patient Zero (2019), a documentary and history movie directed by Laurie Lynd, here are 20 movies with a similar feel, based on TMDB's recommendations. Each one links to its cast, trailer and where it's streaming.

1
How to Survive a Plague (2012)
★ 6.8/10Also documentary and history
A story of two coalitions – ACT UP and TAG (Treatment Action Group) – whose activism and innovation turned AIDS from a death sentence into a manageable condition. Despite having no scientific training, these self-made…
2
Inside Deep Throat (2005)
★ 6.4/10Also documentary and history
In 1972, a seemingly typical shoestring budget pornographic film was made in a Florida hotel: "Deep Throat," starring Linda Lovelace. This film would surpass the wildest expectation of everyone involved to become one…
3
Paris Is Burning (1991)
★ 8/10Also documentary and history
Where does voguing come from, and what, exactly, is throwing shade? This landmark documentary provides a vibrant snapshot of the 1980s through the eyes of New York City's African American and Latinx Harlem drag-ball…
4
Howard (2018)
★ 6.8/10Also documentary
Though legendary lyricist Howard Ashman died far too young, his impact on Broadway, movies, and the culture at large were incalculable. Told entirely through rare archival footage and interviews with Ashman’s family…
5
9/11: Inside the President's War Room (2021)
★ 6.9/10Also documentary and history
Experience the events of September 11, 2001 through the eyes of President Bush and his closest advisors as they personally detail the crucial hours and key decisions from that historic day.
6
Welcome to Chechnya (2020)
★ 7/10Also documentary
This searing investigative work shadows a group of activists risking unimaginable peril to confront the ongoing anti-LGBTQ program raging in the repressive and closed Russian republic. Unfettered access and a…
7
Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound (2019)
★ 6.9/10Also documentary and history
The history of cinematic sound, told by legendary sound designers and visionary filmmakers.
8
Disclosure (2020)
★ 7.8/10Also documentary
An investigation of how Hollywood's fabled stories have deeply influenced how Americans feel about transgender people, and how transgender people have been taught to feel about themselves.
9
The Last Repair Shop (2024)
★ 7.5/10Also documentary
In a warehouse in the heart of Los Angeles, a dwindling handful of devoted craftspeople maintain more than 80,000 student musical instruments, the largest remaining workshop in America of its kind. Meet four…
10
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (2022)
★ 7.1/10Also documentary
The life of internationally renowned artist and activist Nan Goldin is told through her slideshows, intimate interviews, ground-breaking photography, and rare footage of her personal fight to hold the Sackler family…
11
Tab Hunter Confidential (2015)
★ 7.2/10Also documentary
Throughout the 1950s, Tab Hunter reigned as Hollywood’s ultimate male heartthrob. But throughout his years of stardom, Tab had a secret. Tab Hunter was gay, and spent his Hollywood years in a precarious closet that…
12
The Celluloid Closet (1996)
★ 7.3/10Also documentary and history
Exuberant, eye-opening movie that serves up a dazzling hundred-year history of the role of gay men and lesbians have had on the silver screen. Film contains fabulous footage from 120 films showing the changing face of…
13
Tongues Untied (1990)
★ 6.7/10Also documentary
Marlon Riggs, with assistance from other gay Black men, especially poet Essex Hemphill, celebrates Black men loving Black men as a revolutionary act. The film intercuts footage of Hemphill reciting his poetry, Riggs…
14
28 Up (1985)
★ 7.5/10Also documentary
Just two years away from turning 30, participants in Michael Apted's documentary series are facing serious questions of identity and purpose, wondering whether they've found their place in the world.
15
Who Are You, Charlie Brown? (2021)
★ 6.9/10Also documentary
Lupita Nyong'o narrates a documentary about Peanuts and its creator, Charles M. Schulz. Famous fans—including Drew Barrymore, Kevin Smith, and Al Roker—share its influence on them, and a new animated story finds…
16
The Unknown Known (2013)
★ 6.8/10Also documentary and history
Former United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld discusses his career in Washington D.C. from his days as a congressman in the early 1960s to planning the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
17
Cover-Up (2025)
★ 7.2/10Also documentary and history
He's devoted his career to uncovering stories the powerful want buried. From My Lai to Abu Ghraib, dig into the life's work of journalist Seymour Hersh.
18
Circus of Books (2019)
★ 6.8/10Also documentary and history
For decades, a nice Jewish couple ran Circus of Books, a porn shop and epicenter for gay LA. Their director daughter documents their life and times.
19
Pray Away (2021)
★ 6.7/10Also documentary
In the 1970s, five men struggling with being gay in their Evangelical church started a bible study to help each other leave the "homosexual lifestyle." They quickly received over 25,000 letters from people asking for…
20
Sidney (2022)
★ 6.9/10Also documentary
This revealing documentary honors the legendary Sidney Poitier—iconic actor, filmmaker, and civil rights activist. Featuring interviews with Denzel Washington, Spike Lee, Halle Berry, and more.