About 'Brothers in Exile'

Major League Baseball has been transformed by the influx of Cuban players such as Aroldis Chapman, Yasiel Puig and Jose Abreu. But a special debt of gratitude is owed to two half-brothers, whose courage two decades ago paved the way for their stardom. "Brothers in Exile" tells the incredible story of Livan and Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez, who risked their lives to get off the island. Livan left first, banking on his status as the hottest young prospect in Cuba he defected via Mexico and signed with the Florida Marlins, for whom he became one of the youngest World Series MVPs in history in 1997. Staying behind was Orlando, who was banned from professional baseball in Cuba for life because he was suspected of having helped Livan escape. Then, on Christmas 1997, an increasingly frustrated and harassed Orlando left Cuba in a small boat. He was stranded on a deserted island for days before being picked up by the U.S. Coast Guard. Less than a year later, "El Duque" was helping pitch the New York Yankees to a world championship, completing a most unlikely journey for two half-brothers who rode their arms to freedom and triumph.

I remember watching Orlando "El Duque" Hernández pitch his way through a sensational rookie season with the Yankees in 1998 with only a vague understanding of his life in Cuba before he made it to the major leagues. I knew he had escaped the island on a boat, but that was pretty much it. The bigger story at the time was his dominant pitching and the fact he led the team to another World Series championship.

Years later, I came across an article about El Duque and his half-brother, Florida Marlins pitcher Liván, that gave me a deeper appreciation of them as people. By all accounts their journey to the major leagues was an ordeal, especially for El Duque who initially did not choose that path. You can't talk about El Duque and Livan without also discussing Cuba's economic turmoil in the 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union, which created desperate conditions for everyone on the island, including baseball players.

These conditions produced a potential market for a new breed of anti-Castro sports agents in the U.S. who began facilitating the defection of Cuban players and placing them on Major League teams. In different ways, El Duque and Livan became pawns in a political tug of war that changed their lives in dramatic ways. It's incredible to think that many years after the end of the Cold War two apolitical baseball players were still caught in its crosshairs.

My approach to directing this film was to tell El Duque's and Livan's story from their own unique perspective, tracking their thoughts and motivations through every challenge they faced. Most importantly, my goal was to provide an understanding of the reasons behind many Cuban defections and the fact there is a real human cost associated with them. Many of these players make the decision to leave their country and their families knowing they might not be able to ever return. No matter how successful they become as major league players, there is still a painful trade-off.

As a Latino filmmaker it is my hope that "Brothers in Exile" resonates on a human level, cutting through the political stalemate that has characterized the U.S./Cuba discourse for decades. After all, El Duque and Livan did not and still do not take sides on the issue of U.S./Cuba relations. They remain, simply, athletes who love the game of baseball.