Ryan Sidhoo's The Track is a coming-of-age documentary told from the perspective of three teenagers with Olympic dreams. The film spans five years in Sarajevo, following three boys - Hamza Pleho, Zlatan Jakic and Mirza Nikolajev - as they train in luge with hopes of representing Bosnia and Herzegovina at the Olympics.
True/False Film Fest is The Track's world premiere and Sidhoo's directorial debut. Previously, he produced Handle with Care: The Legend of the Notic Streetball Crew (2021) and created the docuseries True North (2017-2020), both award-winning.
The film's title refers to Sarajevo's luge track, which used to be one of the now 16 working luge tracks in the world. After the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, gunshots left the track's concrete split, mirroring the state of the country it resides in. The track is the main setting of the film as the boys train with their coach, Senad Omanovic. Though the war is not ongoing, their lives are impacted by it decades afterward, reflected by the tense ethnic and political divides and economic struggle. Sidhoo clues the audience into the three teenagers' lives, and through that, unearths difficult and painful pieces of history of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Against this historical backdrop, Sidhoo highlights the importance of close relationships, ones we see between the boys, their coach and their loved ones. The storytelling is close and honest, and the filmmaking is crafted with care. Love is major in this film: for luge, for coaching, for Sarajevo and for filmmaking. In the Q&A after the screening, Nikolajev mentioned that Sidhoo learned Bosnian while working on the project. It's clear that the experience was as impactful to the young men and their coach as it was to the crew.
The subjects of The Track were chosen to receive the True Life Fund, a donation-based fund that acknowledges and honors what the subjects of documentaries do. The young men and their coach show immense dedication to their passions, which is where the funds will go.
In an interview before the premiere, Sidhoo expressed the meaning of the fund. "(As a filmmaker), you're like, okay, hopefully people watch this movie. They learn about this team. People care about Bosnia. People care about these boys. People care about this track that needs to get rehabilitated and do good," Sidhoo says. "Then it's like the ultimate kind of dream to then actually see direct monetary correlation, that, not only are people going to learn about it, that money's being raised to make a difference in their life."
Like its subject matter, the visuals are both intimate and sweeping. At different points in the movie, there's heart-hammering footage of the athletes on the luge track, whooshing past the camera at over 100 kilometers an hour. In others, they're quietly making coffee, gaming or playing cards with family.
Despite these changes in pace, the film is never shocking or difficult to follow. It feels natural and balanced - as balanced as you can feel while growing older. Among the pains of the past and concerns for the future, one can do nothing but live. Going out with friends, biking with no hands, devouring an entire jar of Nutella or training for the Olympics. It's an unusual and special sight to see young adults trying to make a sport their own while also experiencing the joys and mundanities of growing up.
In The Track, dreams are made. Though the setting is fractured in some ways, the spirit is whole, and strong as ever.
