# Michael Zimbalist

Michael Zimbalist is an American filmmaker. He is a three-time Emmy Award and a Peabody Awards winner.

## Life and career

Michael Zimbalist was born in Northampton, Massachusetts. He graduated from Wesleyan University and trained as an actor at the New York University Tisch School of the Arts. He is a director, producer, and writer whose films have been broadcast on HBO, Netflix, Apple, Fox, Showtime, PBS, ESPN and the BBC, as well as theatrically distributed worldwide. He has also produced and directed commercial work for RealTruck, Gatorade, Pepsi, Verizon, and the NFL.

### The Two Escobars

In 2010, Michael wrote, directed and produced The Two Escobars with his brother Jeff Zimbalist. The film was an official selection at the Cannes Film Festival, the Tribeca Film Festival, the Los Angeles Film Festival, the IDFA International Film Festival, and was released by Disney / ESPN Films. Sports Illustrated named the film the Documentary of the Year alongside The Tillman Story. The New York Post and Vulture ranked it as the best of the 150 films in the Academy Award-winning and Emmy Award-winning 30 for 30 series.

### Youngstown Boys and 30 for 30

Between 2010 and 2014, Michael produced four entries in the 30 for 30 series, including Arnold's Blueprint with Arnold Schwarzenegger, The Myth of Garrincha, and Youngstown Boys, about Maurice Clarett and Jim Tressel. Youngstown Boys, which Michael also co-wrote and directed, won the Sports Emmy Award in 2014.

### Pelé and Loving Pablo

In 2016, Michael co-wrote and directed Pelé: Birth of a Legend, a scripted feature film about the soccer legend for Imagine Entertainment with Academy Award winner Brian Grazer producing and an original score from Academy Award winner A. R. Rahman. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and was released theatrically worldwide. In 2017, Michael wrote the story for and associate produced Loving Pablo, starring Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz, which premiered at the Venice International Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival and was released by Universal Studios.

### Nossa Chape, Momentum Generation, Give Us This Day, and Phenoms

In 2018, Michael co-wrote, produced and directed Nossa Chape, the critically acclaimed story of the Chapecoense soccer club airplane crash, which premiered at SXSW and was released in theaters and later broadcast by Fox. The same year, Michael co-wrote, produced and directed Momentum Generation, about the world’s most legendary surf crew, starring Kelly Slater and Rob Machado and executive produced by Robert Redford. It also won the Sports Emmy Award for Best Feature Documentary, and a Tribeca Film Festival Audience Award. Also in 2018, Michael co-wrote, produced and directed the feature documentary Give Us This Day, about three police officers and three residents in East St. Louis, the city with the highest homicide rate in the country, executive produced by Vince Vaughn. Additionally, in 2018, Michael produced and directed 6 episodes of Fox's series Phenoms, about young footballers in the lead up to the World Cup.

## Filmography

| Year | Film | Director | Writer | Producer | Note |
| 2023 | Mayan Softball Revolution | Yes | Yes | Yes | Documentary |
| 2022 | The Trucket List | Yes | No | No | 3 episodes |
| 2021 | The Line | No | No | Yes | Limited Series |
| 2020 | Cantera 5v5 | Yes | Yes | Yes | TV special |
| 2019 | ReMastered: Devil at the Crossroads | No | Yes | Yes | Documentary |
| 2019 | ReMastered: The Miami Showband Massacre | No | Yes | Yes | Documentary |
| 2019 | ReMastered: The Two Killings of Sam Cooke | No | Yes | Yes | Documentary |
| 2019 | ReMastered: Massacre at the Stadium | No | Yes | Yes | Documentary |
| 2019 | Ordinary Gods | Yes | No | Yes | Documentary |
| 2018 | ReMastered: Tricky Dick & the Man in Black | No | Yes | Yes | Documentary |
| 2018 | ReMastered: The Lion's Share | No | Yes | Yes | Documentary |
| 2018 | ReMastered: Who Killed Jam Master Jay? | No | Yes | Yes | Documentary |
| 2018 | ReMastered: Who Shot the Sheriff? | No | Yes | Yes | Documentary |
| 2018 | Give Us This Day | Yes | Yes | Yes | Documentary |
| 2018 | Momentum Generation | Yes | Yes | Yes | Documentary |
| 2018 | Nossa Chape | Yes | Yes | Yes | Documentary |
| 2018 | Phenoms | Yes | Yes | Yes | 11 episodes |
| 2017 | Loving Pablo | No | Yes | Yes | Feature film |
| 2016 | Pelé: Birth of a Legend | Yes | Yes | No | Feature film |
| 2016 | Battling Back | Yes | Yes | Yes | Documentary |
| 2016 | The 18th Annual 'A Home for the Holidays' | Yes | No | Yes | TV special |
| 2015 | The 17th Annual 'A Home for the Holidays' | Yes | No | Yes | TV special |
| 2015 | Shadowboxing | No | No | Yes | Short film |
| 2014 | 30 for 30: The Myth of Garrincha | No | No | Yes | Documentary short |
| 2013 | Youngstown Boys | Yes | Yes | Yes | Documentary |
| 2012 | 30 for 30: Arnold's Blueprint | Yes | Yes | Yes | Documentary short |
| 2010 | The Two Escobars | Yes | Yes | Yes | Documentary |
| 2007 | The Addiction Project | No | No | Yes | 9 episodes |
| 2007 | Hijos de la guerra | No | Yes | No | Documentary |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Result | Award | Category | Work |
| 2022 | Nominated | News & Documentary Emmy Awards | Best Documentary | The Line |
| 2022 | Nominated | News & Documentary Emmy Awards | Outstanding Investigative Documentary | The Line |
| 2020 | Won | News & Documentary Emmy Awards | Outstanding Arts & Culture Documentary | ReMastered: The Lion's Share |
| 2020 | Nominated | News & Documentary Emmy Awards | Outstanding Historical Documentary | ReMastered: Massacre at the Stadium |
| 2020 | Nominated | NAACP Image Awards | Outstanding Documentary | ReMastered: The Two Killings of Sam Cooke |
| 2019 | Nominated | News & Documentary Emmy Awards | Outstanding Arts & Culture Documentary | ReMastered: Who Shot the Sheriff? |
| 2019 | Nominated | News & Documentary Emmy Awards | Outstanding Research | ReMastered: Tricky Dick & the Man in Black |
| 2019 | Won | Sports Emmy Awards | Outstanding Long Sports Documentary | Momentum Generation |
| 2019 | Nominated | Sports Emmy Awards | Outstanding Music Composition/Direction/Lyrics | Momentum Generation |
| 2018 | Won | Whistler Film Festival | World Documentary Award | Momentum Generation |
| 2018 | Won | Tribeca Film Festival | Audience Award | Momentum Generation |
| 2018 | Nominated | American Film Festival | Best Documentary Feature | Momentum Generation |
| 2018 | Nominated | Hamptons International Film Festival | Best Documentary Award | Momentum Generation |
| 2017 | Nominated | Santa Barbara International Film Festival | Best Documentary Short | Battling Back |
| 2014 | Won | Sports Emmy Awards | Outstanding Edited Sports Series/Anthology | 30 for 30 Youngstown Boys |
| 2011 | Nominated | Writers Guild of America | Best Documentary Screenplay | The Two Escobars |
| 2010 | Nominated | Tribeca Film Festival | Best Documentary Feature | The Two Escobars |
| 2010 | Nominated | Doha Tribeca Film Festival | Best Documentary Feature | The Two Escobars |
| 2010 | Nominated | São Paulo International Film Festival | Best Documentary | The Two Escobars |
| 2010 | Won | American Film Festival | Best Film | The Two Escobars |
| 2010 | Nominated | Zurich Film Festival | Best International Documentary Film | The Two Escobars |