In all the excitement of the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway on January 24 and 25, one would be forgiven for missing another local festivity happening concurrently. As it so happens, the debut of a racing movie just across the street from the race itself proved one of the best storylines of the weekend.
2DIE4 held its first ever theatrical run from January 21 to 25 in Daytona Beach, after years of production spanning three continents and countless hours of hands-on production. Despite a bare-bones promotional campaign, the film proved one of the most popular showings at its theater. So how exactly does that happen? The story of two brothers with little more than a camera and a dream makes the unlikely trajectory of a bold artistic venture seem almost inevitable.
Premiering a Movie in Daytona Beach
2DIE4, an hour-long feature film by Brazilian directors Salomão and André Abdala, recently completed its premiere run at CMX Cinemas in One Daytona. The film played before, during, and after the race. Though conventional wisdom would lean against competing with an entertainment juggernaut, the alignment was actually intentional. During the long hours and days race fans spent at the track, many took the easy drive across the street to catch a showing.
“I wanted the people that like 24-hour races to watch the film,” Salamão Abdala explained. “It was like a no-brainer for us. I absolutely want to be at Daytona, I absolutely want to watch the 24-hour race, and I absolutely want to watch this film with racing fans and hear them to see if we nailed what we set out to do from the beginning.”
A Highly Unconventional Sports Thriller
ⓒ Abdala Brothers Media House
The brothers’ debut production centers around Felipe Nasr, a Brazilian endurance racer, as he worked to win the 2024 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Similar to the Rolex 24, the Le Mans race in France asks drivers to take shifts in elite sports cars over a full day of nonstop racing. Nasr is an ex-Formula One driver who entered the weekend as a two-time winner of the Rolex 24. He won the race yet again while his movie was showing.
Despite the Abdalas having known Nasr personally prior to the film’s production, its portrayal of him is unapologetic and unpolished. The 33-year-old is portrayed as unflinchingly intense, and some scenes show his outward frustration at the mistakes of his co-drivers. At no point in watching 2DIE4 does it feel as though the Abdalas want the viewer to sympathize with Nasr or even like him. He’s exactly abrasive either. The portrayal is realistic, featuring all sides of an elite athlete’s game-day psyche. The goal is clearly a vivid simulation of what Nasr experiences both in the cockpit and between driving stints.
As prestigious as Daytona’s Rolex 24 is, Le Mans is the most esteemed event in all of endurance racing. To tell the story of Nasr’s obsessive push to win it, the Abdala brothers took an unconventional approach. They followed him throughout the race with only eight crew members, and presented the film with a narrative structure instead of as a documentary. 2DIE4 has virtually no exposition. It functions as a traditional, story-boarded sports drama in which the brothers simply let the race itself write the plot.
Compare that to another movie with strong local ties: Joseph Kosinski’s F1. Shot partially in Daytona Beach, 2025’s Oscar-nominated blockbuster integrated authentic racing action to an impressive extent, but ultimately utilized the sport only so far as it advanced a preconceived narrative. 2DIE4 differs in that it conveys its story with all the same Hollywood flare, but leaves the story entirely up to raw, unbridled fate.
No Script, No Exposition
ⓒ Abdala Brothers Media House
The decision to rely on an uncontrolled variable for a key component of 2DIE4‘s structure was a calculated risk. Nasr could’ve crashed within the first hour of the race. Perhaps worse yet, he could’ve simply cruised to a mundane finish – not too high, not too low – and suffocated any possibility of a climactic ending. Without spoiling the ending of this highly google-able event, the Abdala brothers were not deprived of a climactic ending.
“Everybody said that we were crazy. ‘What if Felipe crashes on the first turn?’ I don’t care. We’re gonna do this,” Abdala continued.
Foregoing narration was also a gamble. Any viewer who steps in not knowing how the 24 Hours of Le Mans works isn’t going to be given much. The reason that doesn’t detract from the viewing experience is because, in the eyes of the Abdala brothers, 2DIE4 isn’t about racing. Racing is the setting for a film that depicts obsession, passion, and dedication. Salomão volunteered a comparison to Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash, a movie about jazz drumming which is similarly focused on universal concepts applied to a niche profession. Because of that, 2DIE4 is equally digestible to racing experts and novices alike.
Overcoming the Odds
ⓒ Abdala Brothers Media House
Upon trekking to Daytona Beach for their film’s premiere theatrical run, it wasn’t lost on the Abdala brothers that history was being made. The pair are the first Brazilian directors ever to complete an IMAX film production. At 28 and 26 during production, they may be the youngest IMAX directors in history as well. Being young and unproven may have been an obstacle in getting the movie produced, but the Abdalas never took that as a reason not to try.
“We knocked on IMAX’s door, we presented the project, and they loved it,” Abdala said. “But we’re not Christopher Nolan. So they wouldn’t approve right away that we were gonna make the first Brazilian IMAX film. But they said if the film is good enough, there’s a chance.”
As it so happened, the camera lens the brothers needed to shoot 2DIE4 was one of two in the world. One was in use by the aforementioned Christopher Nolan, among the most esteemed and acclaimed directors in cinematic history, to shoot his upcoming epic The Odyssey. Seasoned directors may have erred against asking IMAX for that second lens. The Abdalas chose not to tell themselves no. They obtained it, and the result is a visual product that’s wholly unparalleled within the genre of sports film-making.
To finance 2DIE4, the Abdalas shouldered much of the burden themselves. The brothers sold their own car to create some budget, and relied on the ingenuity and talents of their eight-person crew to make up for the lack of a fully-staffed film production. On-screen, their sacrifices very clearly paid off. As for the distribution process, there’s still a long way to go.
2DIE4 is still viewable only at its ongoing single-city theatrical runs. That means those who missed the Daytona run won’t be able to turn straight to a streaming service to check it out. The reception of 2DIE4 at subsequent screenings in Miami, New York City, Atlanta, and Los Angeles will dictate the scope of a nationwide release in late February. After that, the brothers say it will eventually find its way to streaming.
