In the middle of a mountain forest above Sarajevo, an Olympic luge track lies abandoned and neglected since the 1984 Winter Games, covered with graffiti and riddled with bullet holes from the Yugoslav Wars. It’s here that three teenage boys — Hamza, Mirza, and Zlatan — dream of competing in luge as a way out of a country still suffering from old wounds. Their devoted coach, Senad, volunteers his time to maintain the track and train the boys, but the pursuit of their Olympic dreams is challenged by a lack of institutional and financial support, and as time passes, the boys’ lives begin to diverge.
Centred on a struggle for purpose and meaning, director Ryan Sidhoo’s documentary digs into the boys’ lives and aspirations, revealing a depth of personal emotional responses amidst sociopolitical issues in Bosnia and Herzegovina. An ambitious, clear-eyed, and hopeful look at the next generation striving to clear out the rubble from the past and overcome the sins of their fathers.
Oct 3 & 5: Q&A
Presented by
Supported by
Media Partner
Mirza Nikolajev, Zlatan Jakić, Hamza Pleho, Coach Senad Omanović
Canada/Bosnia
2025
In English and Bosnian with English subtitles
Coarse language, violence
Open to youth!
Book Tickets
Credits & Director
Executive Producer
Ryan Sidhoo, Graham Withers
Producer
Ryan Sidhoo
Screenwriter
Ryan Sidhoo, Graham Withers
Cinematography
Jesse McCracken, Alen Alilović, Almir Djikoli, Ervin Golubović, Leigh Lisbão Underwood, Will Pugh
Editor
Graham Withers
Original Music
Edo Van Breemen, Johannes Winkler
Ryan Sidhoo
Ryan Sidhoo is an award-winning documentary director and producer whose projects focus on the intersection of identity and culture. Sidhoo produced the feature film Handle with Care, which won the Audience Award at VIFF 2021 and was nominated for three Canadian Screen Awards, including Best Documentary Feature. He won a Webby Award for his directorial work on the series True North and has created short form content for various VICE platforms, along with contributing his skills to industry-leading companies such as Pulse Films, Participant Media, Blowback Productions, Viacom, and NBCUniversal.
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Best Boy
Sibling rivalry is the name of the game in Jesse Noah Klein's pitch black comedy. Eli, Lawrence and Phillip (who's a woman) reunite after the passing of their father and, in accordance with his last wishes, compete for the prized title of "Best Boy".
The End of the Internet + Installation & Talk
Forget the cloud. "The net" is a far more accurate metaphor for the www. Filmmaker Dylan Reibling meets the hacktavists around the world fighting for the independent flow of information free from censorship and exploitation.
Lucid
Art student Mia is struggling with a make-or-break assignment, a self-portrait. It's only when grandma lets slip that her mom used to hypnotize her as a child to blank out the bad bits that she realizes the severity of the challenge...
Two Pianos
Once promising concert pianist Mathias (François Civil) returns to his native Lyon after a long absence. He's here to pay homage to his mentor, Elena (Charlotte Rampling). But a chance encounter with an old flame sends him spiraling.
The Richest Woman in the World
Isabelle Huppert plays cosmetics CEO Marianne in this teasingly ambivalent satire inspired by the Bettancourt Affair, when L'Oreal heir Francoise Bettancourt scandalized France by frittering away her fortune on a notorious celebrity photographer.