The Track

In Sarajevo, three teenage boys train with their coach on a luge track left over from the 1984 Winter Games, now bullet riddled, covered in graffiti and swarmed by tourists. Three decades after the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mirza, Zlatan, and Hamza are the next generation of athletes in a country facing an uncertain future. The tensions of the past still loom large in these young Muslims’ lives and their Olympic dreams are stunted by a lack of state support despite the efforts of their dedicated coach. Director Ryan Sidhoo takes a longitudinal approach in his directorial debut, intimately capturing the boys’ journey as they reckon with growing up under the shadow of the past. A deeply affecting coming of age underdog story, The Track is an ode to the power of hope, friendship and chasing your dreams against all odds. (CT)