SYNOPSIS
A coming-of-age story of three friends in post-war Bosnia pursuing seemingly impossible Olympic dreams. They train on a luge track filled with bullet holes, remnants from the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics. The project's core lies in capturing sincere efforts of friends striving for better lives amid resurgent nationalism, political instability, and uncertain economic future. Their journey demonstrates friendship, resilience, and youthful determination enduring through systemic fractures. Against the backdrop of global conflict and chaos, this film poses a question: After destruction, where does a generation head?
REVIEW
On the slopes of Mount Trebević in Sarajevo stands a massive concrete structure: the bobsled and luge track, once the marvel of the 1984 Winter Olympics and a symbol of Yugoslav pride. Today, it is draped in graffiti, scarred by bullet holes, and weathered by decades—its crumbling form a monument to a glorious past destroyed by war.
The Track is a sports documentary that uses this iconic site to explore the legacy of broken dreams. Director Ryan Sidhoo intercuts thrilling archival footage from the Olympic heyday with scenes of the track’s present-day decay. More powerfully, he weaves together the stories of two generations: the former Bosnian luge team who once raced here for Olympic glory, and the teenage boys who now hurtle down its ruined curves on street luges, chasing dreams of their own.
The result defies simple categorization: it is at once a historical reflection on loss, a sports drama about underdogs and their devoted coach, and a coming-of-age story about young men striving to escape the shadow of their nation’s past. Like the track itself, their stories bend, twist, and ultimately push forward into the future.
DIRECTOR'S NOTE
In 2016, a chance encounter while walking along Sarajevo’s abandoned luge track led me to meeting the National Luge Team of Bosnia. What moved me most was the enthusiasm from both the athletes and their families about telling a different kind of story--one of resilience, ambition, and hope. Together, we set out to make a film not just about the past, but about the future these young men are determined to build despite the lasting consequences of conflict.
