“Messi’s World Cup: The Rise of a Legend” highlights the thrilling story of the planet’s top living athlete, his loyal supporters across Argentina, and those who made the pilgrimage across the globe to witness his epic World Cup win. The series also features the most personal interviews to date with Messi, alongside conversations with teammates, coaches, competitors, devout fans and commentators testifying to the incredible influence and impact he has on a nation and world stage. The docuseries explores the grace, fortitude and willpower he has exhibited throughout his career as it charts the dramatic path from his first match with the Argentina national football team to carrying the weight of a country on his shoulders through several elusive World Cup wins, leading to his early retirement in 2016 and, ultimately, the comeback to become a FIFA World Cup champion and be crowned the 2022 tournament’s best player.
ABOUT JUAN CAMILO CRUZ ORREGO:
Juan Camilo Cruz is an Emmy and Bafta award-winning documentary filmmaker. He served as the Executive Producer for Apple’s documentary, “THE RISE OF A LEGEND,” focusing on Lionel Messi during the 2022 World Cup. Recently, he directed “Venezuela: Country of Lost Children” for ARTE in Germany. Currently, he is actively engaged in the production of the documentary “FATHERLAND” in Ukraine, collaborating with Sundance-winning filmmaker Artem Ryzhykov. This project is being undertaken in partnership with Propagate content in the USA.
Juan’s extensive portfolio as a producer includes “In Her Hands,” a documentary filmed in Afghanistan for Netflix, directed by Oscar-nominated director Marcel Mettelsiefen. The film was co-produced with Hidden Light, the production company of Hillary and Chelsea Clinton. Additionally, Juan has collaborated with Oscar-nominated director Matthew Heineman on projects like “City of Ghosts” and “The Boy from Medellin,” delving into stories about the war in Syria and the life of Colombian musician J Balvin, respectively.
ABOUT JENNA MILLMAN:
Jenna Millman is a multi Emmy Award-winning filmmaker who has made films and series for HBO, National Geographic, Amazon Studios, and Apple TV+.
Most recently, Millman was showrunner for a 10-part docuseries about the New England Patriot’s unprecedented, yet controversial 20-year domination of the NFL. Millman executive produced the series for Imagine Documentaries, which is set to air on Apple TV+ in 2024.
Millman was previously lead creative producer at Our Time Productions where, in partnership with Academy Award-nominated director Matthew Heineman, she oversaw development of unscripted projects and selectively produced high-impact documentary projects. She produced THE FIRST WAVE, a feature documentary film with exclusive access inside one of New York City’s hardest-hit hospital systems during the harrowing first four months of the COVID-19 pandemic. THE FIRST WAVE received the International Documentary Association’s prestigious Pare Lorentz Award, was shortlisted for an Academy Award, and was nominated for seven Emmy awards, winning three including Best Documentary. The film was a New York Times Critics’ Pick hailed by The Hollywood Reporter as a “masterfully crafted film” and Variety as “a courageous and astonishing cinematic time capsule.” Released by National Geographic Documentary Films and NEON, the film is currently available on Hulu.
At Our Time, Millman also produced TIGER, HBO’s critically acclaimed, two-part documentary exploring the rise, fall, and epic comeback of Tiger Woods. She also executive produced THE BOY FROM MEDELLIN, a feature documentary following global reggaeton star J Balvin as he prepared for a pivotal homecoming concert in Medellin, Colombia for Amazon Studios.
Previously, as Senior Broadcast Producer and showrunner for ABC News, Millman led investigative, international, and feature reporting for the storied current affairs show, NIGHTLINE. She helped helm special projects, including the worldwide #1 podcast and primetime documentary, The Dropout, and the award-winning mini-series Back to the Beginning with Christiane Amanpour. Her work at ABC was recognized with two Emmy Awards and 14 nominations, a Dupont-Columbia Silver Baton, the Deadline Award, and a National Press Club award, among others.
