A selection of ESPN’s most highly acclaimed sports documentaries will screen on National Geographic this January as part of ‘ESPN Films on National Geographic’.
Beginning on Monday January 11, National Geographic will air 11 of the best sports documentaries from ESPN, including selections from the Peabody and Academy Award winning 30 for 30 film series.
The three week event will showcase selected films every night at 8.30pm AEDT from January 11 to January 29.
Highly acclaimed films such as ‘LANCE’, the two-part feature that was one of the most watched films of 2020 on ESPN, and ‘Be Water’, the story of Bruce Lee, lead the blockbuster slate.
LANCE, directed by Marina Zenovich, features unprecedented access to Lance Armstrong through raw interviews and personal perspective on his full story, the inspiring rise and dramatic fall from grace.
Bao Nguyen’s film Be Water is an intimate and very personal look at the life and purpose that motivated Bruce Lee, the martial artist trailblazer and pop culture icon.
Also featuring is the five-part Academy-Award winning 30 for 30 documentary ‘OJ: Made in America’. The documentary won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature at the 89th Academy Awards in 2017.
It is perhaps the defining cultural tale of 20th-century America, one that centers around two of their country’s greatest fixations: race and celebrity.
Directed by Peabody-, Emmy- and Academy-Award winner Ezra Edelman, “O.J.: Made in America” explores these themes in tracing a personal journey, from how Orenthal James Simpson first became a football star, to why the country fell in love with him off the field, to his being accused of murdering his ex-wife, his subsequent acquittal and then ultimately serving a jail sentence for another crime.
ESPN Films on National Geographic also brings to gripping features from the 30 for 30: Soccer Stories series, ‘Hillsborough’ and ‘The Two Escobars’.
Hillsborough, analyzes the worst sporting disaster in history. The documentary, directed by Daniel Gordon, looks at the tragedy that occurred during the semifinals of the FA Cup in a football match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, England.
It is a comprehensive account of the events that occurred before, during and after the horrific afternoon that led to the deaths of 96 people and injuries to several hundred more, as well as the emotional trauma to countless lives.
The film offers the stories of fans who were present and of police officers, many of them speaking on camera for the first time, and also analyzes the tragedy through the experiences of families who lost their loved ones and undertook the arduous journey in search of justice, an effort that continues today.
Through the glory and tragedy, The Two Escobars daringly investigates the secret marriage of crime and sport, and uncovers the surprising connections between the murders of Andres and Pablo Escobar.
While rival drug cartels warred in the streets, the Colombian national soccer team set out to blaze a new image for their country. What followed was a mysteriously rapid rise to glory, to become one of the best teams in the world.
Central to this success were to men named Escobar: Andres’, 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’.
The 1994 World Cup was meant to transform Colombia’s international image, but the shocking murder of Andres Escobar dashed the hopes of a nation.
ESPN Films on National Geographic –
Monday January 11
8.30pm AEDT, 30 for 30: Playing for The Mob
Tuesday January 12
8.30pm AEDT, 30 for 30: The Two Escobars
Wednesday January 13
8.30pm AEDT, 30 for 30: Into the Wind
Thursday January 14
8.30pm AEDT, 30 for 30: Hillsborough
Friday January 15
8.30pm AEDT, 30 for 30: Brothers in Exile
Monday January 18
8.30pm AEDT, OJ: Made in America (Part One)
Tuesday January 19
8.30pm AEDT, OJ: Made in America (Part Two)
Wednesday January 20
8.30pm AEDT, OJ: Made in America (Part Three)
Thursday January 21
8.30pm AEDT, OJ: Made in America (Part Four)
Friday January 22
8.30pm AEDT, OJ: Made in America (Part Five)
Monday January 25
8.30pm AEDT, LANCE: Part One
Tuesday January 26
8.30pm AEDT, LANCE: Part Two
Wednesday January 27
8.30pm AEDT, 30 for 30: Be Water
Thursday January 28
8.30pm AEDT, 16th Man
9.30pm AEDT, Ghosts of Ole Miss
Friday January 29
8.30pm AEDT, Hawaiian: The legend of Eddie Aikau
*All times listed are AEDT
National Geographic is available on Foxtel, Fetch TV and Sky NZ.
