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DIRECTED and PRODUCED by
JEFF ZIMBALIST and MICHAEL ZIMBALIST
US / documentary / 2010
SYNOPSIS
While rival drug cartels warred in the streets and the murder rate climbed
to the highest in the world, the Colombian national soccer team set out to
blaze a new image for their country. What followed was a mysteriously rapid
rise to glory, as the team catapulted out of decades of obscurity to become
one of the best in the world. Central to this success were two men named
Escobar: Andrés, the captain and poster child of the National Team, and Pablo,
the infamous drug baron who pioneered the phenomenon known in the
underworld as ‘Narco-soccer’. But just as Colombia was expected to win the
1994 World Cup and transform its international image, the shocking murder of
Andrés Escobar dashed the hopes of a nation.
Through the glory and the tragedy, The Two Escobars daringly investigates
the secret marriage of crime and sport, and uncovers the surprising connections
between the murders of Andrés and Pablo.
Filmmakers’ Statement
Our films tend to focus on disenfranchised communities in the process of rising
up and transforming their political and economic circumstances.We choose these
stories due to the scale of their historic importance - this is where societies are
shaped.
By comparison, sports have often felt like mere diversion, games limited to the
playing field. At times, we have both drifted from the passion for sports we shared
as young athletes and fans, engaging ourselves in other endeavors as seasons of
professional competition passed by.
Then, invariably, definitive moments in sports history would grab our attention and
turn our logic upside down. Like in 1994, when an athlete named Andrés Escobar
was murdered for accidentally scoring an own goal that cost the Colombian
National Team a chance of winning the World Cup and transforming its negative
image on the international stage. Here was a country with a national identity
so integrally connected to the success of its soccer team that one mistake on a
playing field dashed the pride of an entire nation and cost a man his life.
Looking into the incident, we learned that the dramatic rise and fall of Colombian
soccer was inextricably linked to the rise and fall of Pablo Escobar’s Medellín
Drug Cartel, considered by many the ‘ruling party’ of Colombia at the time.
Sport in Colombia not only mirrored the personality and politics of society, but
was also an inseparable part of that society - the playing field an extension of the
streets and offices where influential decisions are made.
On our journey through diverse walks of Colombian society during production,
it became clear that this was far from a classic “deal-with-the-devil” narrative.
It was the story of the passions and dreams of a people intrinsically tied to the
rise and fall of a team.
Stories such as this revive our childhood fascination with sports and confirm the
fundamental role they play in shaping our world.
Jeff Zimbalist & Michael Zimbalist
Filmmaker Biographies
Jeff and Michael are Emmy Award nominated writers, directors, and editors
whose films have been broadcast on HBO, MTV, PBS, Channel 4 UK, the BBC
and BET, as well as theatrically distributed throughout North America, Europe,
South America, Australia and Asia.
FAVELA RISING, which Jeff directed, shot, edited and produced, was shortlisted for
the Academy Award® for Best Feature Length Documentary in 2005, and among
the 36 international awards it has won are Film of the Year from the International
Documentary Association, Best Film at the Sydney International Film Festival and
Leeds International Film Festival, as well as Best Director at the Tribeca Film
Festival. FAVELA RISING was theatrically exhibited in five continents, held over
in theaters in the UK for six months, and theatrically released by ThinkFilm and
HBO in 34 cities in North America.
Jeff and Michael are currently developing a 3D IMAX film on Carnaval in Rio de
Janeiro with Quincy Jones, a feature documentary on the working poor being
produced by Stan Lathaan and Russell Simmons, a feature documentary starring
Shakira for her ALAS movement, and THE SCRIBE OF URABÁ, a narrative feature
Jeff and Michael wrote and will direct about the true story of the first Colombian
Peace Community, starring Academy Award® nominee Viola Davis (Doubt) and
Goya Award winner Ivana Baquero (Pan’s Labyrinth).
Jeff and Michael’s production company All Rise Films is a Ford Foundation grant
recipient and has produced award-winning documentaries on third world
development issues for clients such as the United Nations, the World Bank, the
Inter-American Development Bank, and the John Templeton Foundation. Recently,
All Rise finished a four-part series for the Sundance Channel. The brothers’
segment on The Addiction Project, HBO’s 14-part series on drug abuse, continues
to broadcast on HBO.
Jeff graduated magna cum laude from Brown University with honors in Art
Semiotics and Modern Culture and Media, and a concentration in Latin American
Studies. Michael graduated with honors from Wesleyan University and trained as
an actor at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.
The Zimbalist’s knockout documentary, “The Two Escobars” is… kinetically
edited into a seamless historical narrative… This riveting pic pulses with the
same rhythmic mastery achieved in the filmmakers’ earlier “Favela Rising.”
Thrilling…Riveting…A treasure chest…To the beat of an eclectic score and
through seamless editing that weaves together a plethora of news accounts,
personal photos, and interviews with relatives, teammates, and other firsthand
- frontline - witnesses, the directors deftly segue between two stories, either
of which could stand solidly on its own.
The story moves forward with the swift momentum of an espionage thriller.
“The Two Escobars” crams 100 minutes of alternating joy, thrills, heartbreak
and tragedy into a film that tells a story little known outside [Colombia].
A triumph… Few movies have better documented both the good
and bad of sports.
Illuminating… A must-see film.
One of the best sports documentaries every made.
The Sportsguy, Bill Simmons
The sleeper hit documentary of the Tribeca Film Festival.
The most complex and ambitious of the films available for review
[at Tribeca]…on the widest canvas.
A fast-paced, high-kicking look at the golden age of narco-soccer in Colombia.
New York Magazine
A can’t-miss documentary.
The Latin Americanist
Riveting… Appealing visual panache and a rhythmic soundtrack.
The filmmakers hang a chilling cautionary tale about what can happen when
success becomes a drug.
Gives whole new meaning to the announcer’s phrase
“The winner will be determined by a shoot out”.
Candid interviews… and reels of rarely seen archival footage.
If you want to see a soccer film, you’re in luck.
One of the most exhilarating and emotional documentaries of the last
few years. It’s simultaneously a great sports story and the most insightful,
all-encompassing depiction of the legendary drug lord to date.
Gordon and the Whale
Propulsive, riveting… Momentum…carries the movie
with an almost rock-arena fervor.
Eye on the Arts
CREW
Directors and Producers
Jeff Zimbalist and Michael Zimbalist
Screenwriters
Michael Zimbalist and Jeff Zimbalist
Editors
Jeff Zimbalist and Gregory O’Toole
DP
Line Producer
Fixer
Original Score
Producer for ESPN
Production Coordinator
Original Concept
Associate Producer
Jeff Zimbalist
Viviana Galvis Romero
Jenny Carolina González Camacho
Ion Furjanic
Daniel Silver
Charlotte Von Hemert
Nick Sprague
Erin McPherson