Sins of My Father is a 2009 Argentine

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

 documentary film

Documentary film

Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

 directed by Nicolas Entel

Nicolas Entel

Nicolas Entel is a filmmaker. He was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1975, and lives in Brooklyn, NY. His latest project is the documentary Sins of My Father, which tells the story of Colombian drug kingpin Pablo Escobar through the eyes of his only son, as well as the sons of his most prominent...

. It tells the story of the notorious drug lord

Drug lord

A drug lord, drug baron or kingpin is the term used to describe a person who controls a sizable network of persons involved in the illegal drugs trade. Such figures are often difficult to bring to justice, as they might never be directly in possession of something illegal, but are insulated from...

 Pablo Escobar

Pablo Escobar

Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria was a Colombian drug lord. He was an elusive cocaine trafficker and rich and successful criminal. He owned numerous luxury residences, automobiles, and even airplanes...

 from the inside perspective of his son, now living in Argentina under the name Sebastián Marroquín.

Synopsis

In 1993, after Pablo Escobar is gunned down by the police, his then sixteen-year-old son Juan Pablo flees to Argentina together with his mother and sister. To avoid being identified and in fear of his life he changes his name to Sebastián Marroquín. "My life was worth $4 million ... That’s the price they put on my head", he said. After a decade of silence, he and his mother publicly speak about the life of their family member for the first time. In an attempt to end the cycle of violence and to ask for forgiveness Marroquín travels to Colombia to meet the sons of two of his father's two most prominent murder victims: presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galán

Luis Carlos Galán

Luis Carlos Galán Sarmiento was a Colombian journalist and liberal politician who ran for the presidency of Colombia on two occasions, the first time representing the Liberal Party in 1982 which he lost to Belisario Betancur...

 and Minister of Justice Rodrigo Lara Bonilla

Rodrigo Lara Bonilla

Rodrigo Lara Bonilla was a Colombian lawyer and politician, who served as Minister of Justice under President Belisario Betancur, and was assassinated by orders of Pablo Escobar because of his work as Minister in prosecuting cocaine traffickers mainly belonging to the Medellín Cartel.Lara's death...

 as well as the son of the former Colombian president César Gaviria

César Gaviria

César Gaviria Trujillo is a Colombian politician and a Latin American statesman. He served as President of Colombia from 1990 to 1994, and Secretary General of the Organization of American States from 1994 until 2004.-Early life:...

. In connection to telling the story of Pablo Escobar, the film also explores the recent violent history of Colombia as a "narco-state" and the country's illegal drug trade

Illegal drug trade in Colombia

Illegal drug trade in Colombia refers to the practice of producing and distributing illegal drugs with psychoactive effects in Colombia. Colombia has had four major drug trafficking cartels which eventually created a new social class and influenced several aspects of Colombian culture...

.

Production

In 2005, after declining multiple filmmakers, Marroquín met Entel who suggested making a documentary focused on the sons of the two famous men Escobar ordered killed in addition to Marroquín's inside perspective. Questioned about the usefulness of Marroquín apologizing to the sons of his father's victims for crimes he himself did not commit, Entel said the point was to promote reconciliation, "[the film] has the value of saying, 'It stops here. We are not going to inherit our parents' hatred.'" Marroquín's accepted to participate in the project on two conditions: that "Pablo Escobar" was not included in the title and that his sister was not shown. The film includes personal never-seen-before material of the Escobar family.

Awards

Award	Category	Recipient(s)	Result
Miami International Film Festival Miami International Film Festival The Miami International Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Miami, Florida in the late winter. The film festival is sponsored by the Miami Film Society, which has been around since 1983....	Grand Jury Prize: Dox Competition	Nicolas Entel
	Audience Award: Dox Competition	Nicolas Entel
Havana Film Festival Havana Film Festival The Havana Film Festival is a Cuban festival that focuses on the promotion of Spanish-language filmmakers. It is also known in Spanish as Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano de La Habana, and in English as Festival of New Latinamerican Cinema of La Havana.The festival takes place...	Best Doc Award	Nicolas Entel
Sundance Film Festival Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...	Grand Jury Prize: World Cinema - Documentary	Nicolas Entel