Sarajevo Luger Documentary ‘The Track’ Barrels From Bosnia To San Francisco Film Festival And Toronto’s Hot Docs

deadline.com:

EXCLUSIVE: Ryan Sidhoo’s documentary The Track has lined up its next two festival appearances – and they’re major.

The film, about aspiring Bosnian Olympic lugers who train on a track in Sarajevo damaged during the war in the former Yugoslavia, will screen at the San Francisco International Film Festival on Wednesday, April 23. “Sarajevo’s luge track, built for the 1984 Winter Games, is now a bullet-holed, graffitied tourist attraction,” Bedatri Choudhury writes in the SFFILM program. “But where outsiders see war-scarred history, luge coach Senad Omanović and his team see possibilities for a brighter future.” After San Francisco, the film zips to Hot Docs in Toronto, where it is set to screen on Sunday, April 27 and Wednesday, April 30. “For young Olympic hopefuls Hamza, Zlatan and Mirza, however, the track is more than a relic—it’s their training ground,” Hot Docs’ Aisha Jamal writes. “Despite chronic government underfunding for the sport, the boys are buoyed by the steadfast guidance of their seasoned Olympic coach Senad Omanović, and they dedicate years to refining their technique and turns on the decaying track, which stands as a powerful visual reminder of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s ongoing post-war political struggles.” We have your first look at the documentary in the clip below.

It’s the debut feature for Vancouver-based Sidhoo, whose previous credits include directing the 2018 docuseries True North – Inside the Rise of Toronto Basketball. “Having The Track at both of these festivals is really special for different reasons,” the filmmaker tells Deadline. “SFFILM supported us at a critical moment with their 2023 Documentary Film Fund, so it feels like a celebration to screen with them.