Best movies like Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin

The world reveals itself to those who travel on foot

A unique, carefully handpicked, selection of the best movies like Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin Starring Werner Herzog, Bruce Chatwin, Karin Eberhard, Nicholas Shakespeare, and more. If you liked Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin then you may also like: Vito, The Wanderer, The Wanderer, Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe, Queen of the Desert and many more popular movies featured on this list. You can further filter the list even more or get a random selection from the list of similar movies, to make your selection even easier.

When Bruce Chatwin was dying of AIDS, his friend Werner Herzog made a final visit. As a parting gift, Chatwin gave him his rucksack. Thirty years later, Herzog sets out on his own journey, inspired by Chatwin’s passion for the nomadic life, uncovering stories of lost tribes, wanderers and dreamers.

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Vito

In the aftermath of Stonewall, a newly politicized Vito Russo found his voice as a gay activist and critic of LGBTQ+ representation in the media. He went on to write "The Celluloid Closet", the first book to critique Hollywood's portrayals of gays on screen. During the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, Vito became a passionate advocate for justice via the newly formed ACT UP, before his death in 1990.

The Wanderer

A little over six minutes survive of this Biograph short. Not to be confused with another Biograph short, Olaf- An Atom (1913, starring Harry Carey, later re-released as The Wanderer), a film not directed by Griffith.

The Wanderer

Jether, a shepherd, is lured from his home by Tisha, priestess of the goddess Ishtar. He journeys to the city of Babylon, where he lavishes Tisha with gifts and spends his share of his father's wealth on riotous living.

Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe

Directors Werner Herzog and Errol Morris make a bet which results in Herzog living up to his promise that he would eat his shoe if Errol Morris ever completed the film Gates of Heaven.

Queen of the Desert

A chronicle of Gertrude Bell's life, a traveler, writer, archaeologist, explorer, cartographer, and political attaché for the British Empire at the dawn of the twentieth century.

The Ryan White Story

The story of Ryan White, a 13-year-old haemophiliac who contracted AIDS from factor VIII, which was used to control this disorder.

Bells from the Deep

A group of pilgrims lie down on the thin ice of the lake Svetloyar and begin to look for the city of Kitesh. According to the legend, God saved the city from the Mongolian prince Batyi's soldiers by letting it sink to the bottom of the lake. If you listen carefully you can hear the bells of the Kitesh cathedral toll deep down.

Burden of Dreams

The Amazon rain forest, 1979. The crew of Fitzcarraldo (1982), a film directed by German director Werner Herzog, soon finds itself with problems related to casting, tribal struggles and accidents, among many other setbacks; but nothing compared to dragging a huge steamboat up a mountain, while Herzog embraces the path of a certain madness to make his vision come true.

Cave of Forgotten Dreams

Werner Herzog gains exclusive access to film inside the Chauvet caves of Southern France, capturing the oldest known pictorial creations of humankind in their astonishing natural setting.

The Cure

Erik, a loner, finds a friend in Dexter, an eleven-year-old boy with AIDS. They vow to find a cure for AIDS together and save Dexter's life in an eventful summer.

Salt and Fire

A scientist blames the head of a large company for an ecological disaster in South America. But when a volcano begins to show signs of erupting, they must unite to avoid a disaster.

Passion in the Desert

Young French officer Augustin Robert escorts artist Jean-Michel Venture de Paradis to Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign. Napoleon sent de Paradis to record Egypt's great monuments and temples that are destroyed by French soldiers in acts of barbarism. During combat, Augustin and Jean-Michel are separated from their regiment, and they start wandering through the desert fighting for their life. In one of the canyons Augustin meets a leopard he names Simoom and a strange bond between them appears.

Encounters at the End of the World

Herzog and cinematographer Peter Zeitlinger go to Antarctica to meet people who live and work there, and to capture footage of the continent's unique locations. Herzog's voiceover narration explains that his film will not be a typical Antarctica film about "fluffy penguins", but will explore the dreams of the people and the landscape.

The Gift

A sailor on Christmas leave visits his boozing, one-legged father and dreamer mother in 1950s Brooklyn.

The Gift

Controversial documentary about gay men purposely contracting the AIDS virus.

Phase IV

Journalism student Simon Tate thinks it's strange when four students at the university suddenly die in "unrelated" accidents. When his friend, Dr. Benjamin Roanic, becomes the prime suspect and is suddenly murdered, Simon sets out to prove his innocence. He soon discovers the students were Roanic's test subjects in a secret drug test program, and had been cured of AIDS. He is forced to run for his life, when a pharmaceutical company tries to prevent him from revealing the truth behind "Phase IV".

Grizzly Man

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.

How to Survive a Plague

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 activists infiltrated the pharmaceutical industry and helped identify promising new drugs, moving them from experimental trials to patients in record time.

Into the Abyss

We do not know when and how we will die. Death Row inmates do. Werner Herzog embarks on a dialogue with Death Row inmates, asks questions about life and death and looks deep into these individuals, their stories, their crimes.

Lessons of Darkness

Shot in documentary style from the perspective of an almost alien observer, the film is an exploration of the ravaged oil fields of post-Gulf War Kuwait. An effective companion to his earlier film Fata Morgana, Herzog again perceives the desert as a landscape with its own voice, as he glides over seas of oil, geyser-like infernos, monstrous smoke plumes and ashen roadways. With musical accompaniment by Wagner, Prokofiev and Pärt to boot, he observes the soot-covered creatures allured by the blaze.

Life Itself

The surprising and entertaining life of renowned film critic and social commentator Roger Ebert (1942-2013): his early days as a freewheeling bachelor and Pulitzer Prize winner, his famously contentious partnership with Gene Siskel, his life-altering marriage, and his brave and transcendent battle with cancer.

Little Dieter Needs to Fly

In 1966, Dieter Dengler was shot down over Laos, captured, and, down to 85 pounds, escaped. Barefoot, surviving monsoons, leeches, and machete-wielding villagers, he was rescued. Now, near 60, living on Mt. Tamalpais, Dengler tells his story: a German lad surviving Allied bombings in World War II, postwar poverty, apprenticed to a smith, beaten regularly. At 18, he emigrates and peels potatoes in the U.S. Air Force. He leaves for California and college, then enlistment in the Navy to learn to fly. A quiet man of sorrows tells his story: war, capture, harrowing conditions, escape, and miraculous rescue. Where did he find the strength; how does he now live with his memories?

My Best Fiend

A film that describes the love-hate relationship between Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski, the deep trust between the director and the actor, and their independently and simultaneously hatched plans to murder one another.

Point Last Seen

Fact-based story about a tracker who searches for a little girl who was lost in the desert, but suffers internally because her own children were kidnapped by her ex-husband.

Buddies

When 25 year-old gay yuppie David volunteers to be a "buddy" to an AIDS patient, the gay community center assigns him to Robert, a 32 year-old politically impassioned gay gardener abandoned by his friends and lovers. Throughout his visits to Robert's hospital room, the two men become friends.

Borderline

Craving that girl she was never able to replace and seeking inspiration in her presence, or absence, or rather fantasy, a troubled writer embarks on a stormy journey of love, passion and potentially perdition.

Tokyo-Ga

German director Wim Wenders made this documentary in which he tries to explore the Tokyo that was depicted in the films of Yasujiro Ozu. When Wenders visits Tokyo for the first time, he finds a very different city, one with a booming fascination with technology that often clashes with the traditional elements of Japanese culture. Wenders also interviews Ozu's cinematographer, Yuharu Atsuta, and Chishu Ryu, an actor who frequently collaborated with Ozu.

Sex Positive

Sex Positive explores the life of Richard Berkowitz, a revolutionary gay S&M hustler turned AIDS activist in the 1980s, whose incomparable contribution to the invention of safe sex has never been aptly credited. Mr. Berkowitz emerged from the epicenter of the epidemic demanding a solution to the problem before the outside world would take heed. Now destitute and alone, Mr. Berkowitz tells his story to a world who never wanted to listen.

Dinotasia

Computer-generated animation about the daily lives of dinosaurs, narrated by Werner Herzog.

The New Adventures of Tarzan

A feature film. Tarzan, who has returned to Africa after living in England, sets off to Guatemala in search of an old friend who may have survived a plane crash there. Also in Guatemala are Ula Vale and Major Martling who are out to find the riches of the Green Goddess. They join forces after they learn that a competitor, Raglan, has already set out ahead of them. Tarzan has to rescue everyone after they are taken prisoner. When they get to the hidden city, Tarzan finds his friend alive and the fabulous treasure.

A Castle for Christmas

To escape a scandal, a bestselling author journeys to Scotland, where she falls in love with a castle -- and faces off with the grumpy duke who owns it.

Wings of Hope

Werner Herzog returns to the South American jungle with Juliane Koepcke, the German woman who was the sole survivor of a plane crash there in 1971. They find the remains of the plane and recreate her journey out of the jungle.

Robbie the Reindeer: Legend of the Lost Tribe

Follow Robbie as he sets out to discover a mythical tribe of lost Viking warriors to help him save his friends from another dastardly plot by the evil Blitzen and his new-found partner-in-crime The White Rabbit. Robbie is having girl trouble too - Donner is feeling neglected and decides to give Robbie an ultimatum. Can Robbie save the day, keep his girl and unravel the mystery of the Legend of the Lost Tribe?

Lost Lake

When Kat Walker, an exotically beautiful free spirit, takes a job at rustic Tamarack Lodge, she appears to have little in common with her strange new companions. Soon, amazing interconnections between them are revealed and their lives intertwine with passion and humor as they challenge one another on the steepest slopes of the body, mind and soul. After an avalanche traps Kat and her friends in the isolated lodge, she becomes increasingly haunted by seductive and terrifying visions. As a secret world unfolds, her mysterious past emerges and her new life awakens. With its fascinating characters and compelling story, LOST LAKE is a captivating journey into the light and shadows of the human heart.

Transmigration

Curtis, an American looking for an escape to a foreign land, joins his estranged Brazilian biologist brother Francis on a spontaneous journey to find a rare jungle beetle in the Amazon. While hiking, Curtis is bitten by a snake. As he enters a venom induced hallucinogenic dream the two brothers are captured as slaves by a fantasy tribe of Amazonian women, and given to the tribal queen. With the aid of another slave, Curtis must plot a rescue of Francis and their escape, unless he finds his new situation better than the life he left behind.

Snowmads: A Journey Towards Eastern Suns

Pro skier Fabian Lentsch is a wanderer, through and through. In a customized fire truck, he sets off on an expedition to explore the peaks of the Middle East. With a rotating group of wildly different skiers, they wind up on the tour of a lifetime.

Without Grace

Based on a true story of heartbreak and triumph, Lucas embarks on a journey filled with lost love, lost faith and three best friends who refuse to give up on him.

Freddie Mercury: The Final Act

The story of the extraordinary final chapter of Freddie Mercury’s life and how, after his death from AIDS, Queen staged one of the biggest concerts in history, the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert at Wembley Stadium, to celebrate his life and challenge the prejudices around HIV/AIDS. For the first time, Freddie's story is told alongside the experiences of those who tested positive for HIV and lost loved ones during the same period. Medical practitioners, survivors, and human rights campaigners recount the intensity of living through the AIDS pandemic and the moral panic it brought about.

Life of Crime 2

This follow-up to the 1989 documentary ONE YEAR IN A LIFE OF CRIME revisits three of the original subjects in New Jersey during a five-year period in the 1990s. We share in their triumphs and setbacks as they navigate lives of poverty, drug abuse, AIDS, and petty crime.

David Beckham: Into the Unknown

This documentary chronicles David Beckham and his friends' unforgettable journey deep into the heart of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. Travelling by motorbike and boat, and guided by locals, he visits far-flung communities and tribes that live in this remote landscape.

The Irresistible Blueberry Farm

Ellen Branford, a high-powered attorney, finds love, purpose, and the promise of a simpler life when she sets off on a journey to fulfill her grandmother’s dying wish – to find the hometown boy she once loved and give him her last letter. Based on a book by Mary Simses.

The River

Passion carried an innocent boy and a worldly woman beyond the barriers of conscience.

Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet

Ten Minutes Older is a 2002 film project consisting of two compilation feature films entitled The Trumpet and The Cello. The project was conceived by the producer Nicolas McClintock as a reflection on the theme of time at the turn of the Millennium. Fifteen celebrated film-makers were invited to create their own vision of what time means in ten minutes of film.

The Christmas Gift

Ten-year-old Megan, who upon receiving a Secret Santa gift, is touched by its contents which end up having a huge impact on her life. Now a driven young journalist, Megan can’t shake her desire to thank the person who sent her that heartfelt gift over a decade ago. Determined to prove herself to her editor, she goes on the search for the perfect Christmas story, and in doing so, she finally discovers who her Secret Santa is. Inspired by a true story.

Giovanna d'Arco

Director Werner Herzog, one of the most highly acclaimed German film makers, joins forces with the great Italian conductor Riccardo Chailly to effect a masterful rendition of this rarely-performed opera involving spectacular scenes of alternating light and dark, pageantry and intimacy. Staged and recorded at Teatro Comunale di Bologna in Bologna, Italy.

Beautiful Dreamers

When the superintendent of the Canadian insane asylum, Dr. Maurice Bucke, meets poet Walt Whitman, his life and that of his wife and patients is radically changed. Like Dr. Bucke, Whitman has avant-garde ideas on the subject of mental illness. "Dreamers" is based on true events. Dr. Bucke became an important biographer of Walt Whitman.

Be Still

Already a successful portrait photographer, Hannah sets to reinvent this art form. Abandoning herself to a creative process that might easily be mistaken for madness, she's soon visited by mirror images of herself, as well as her daughter's ghost. Inspired by the life of photographer Hannah Maynard (1834-1918).

Titanic: A Tale of Two Journeys'

The fate of the RMS Titanic - the 'unsinkable' ship that never completed its maiden voyage - has enthralled us all for over a hundred years. Her power to captivate the world has only grown with every year she has lain on the seabed, so tantilizingly out of reach. Now, join a voyage of discovery as one man sets out to see the wreck of RMS Titanic with his own eyes. The result is a unique film that show the enduring passion for the Titanic story, the enormous challenges that must be conquered in order to visit the site and the amazing remains that still lie on the ocean floor, waiting for those brave and dedicated enough to make the long journey down.

The Flying Horseman

Mark Winton is a wanderer who takes up the cause of a band of ragamuffin's bullied by nasty loan shark Bert Ridley. In between buying the youngsters Boy Scout uniforms, the irrepressible Winton comes to the aid of lovely rancher June Savary , whose father is in financial trouble because of Ridley.

Men of the Desert

Some of the most sanguinary feuds in America have been fought out, not in the mountains of the south, but on the deserts of the great west, where cattlemen and sheepmen often dealt out death to each other with the aid of their old friends, Winchester and Colt. Such a feud is in progress between the men of the desert when Jack, a nomadic cowboy, wanders into the scene. He is outspoken against the outlawry, and the sheriff, in jest, hands him his badge and asks him if he can do any better. Jack accepts the challenge and arrests one of the most recent slayers.

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