Purpose The study was conducted to determine the effect of professional films on the professional pride of nursing students. Method The study is a single-center, randomized controlled experimental study based on CONSORT 2010 guidelines (registry number: NCT05675839). The study, which was conducted in randomized controlled experimental design, included 102 students enrolled in the first year of nursing faculty of a state university in the 2022–2023 academic year. In the analysis of the data, nominal variables were evaluated as frequency and percentage, and ordinal variables were evaluated as mean and standard deviation. Results The mean age of the students participating in the study was 18.69 ± 0.82 years and 80% of them were women. After the intervention, the experimental group's total HMCS score was higher than the control group (p < 0.05). In the post-intervention measurements, the mean scores of the scale sub-dimensions of the experimental group were higher than the control group (p < 0.05). When the pretest-posttest HMIS total scores of the students in the experimental group were compared, it was determined that there was a significant increase in the scale sub-dimensions of professional feeling and desire to continue the profession (p < 0.05). Conclusion As a result, it has been determined that making nursing students watch movies about the profession positively contributes to their professional pride. For this reason, it is important for nursing education to make such practices that can contribute positively to the professional pride of nursing students in terms of professional emotion, role satisfaction, problem-solving role and self-achievement.