Anyone who knows me knows how much I love documentaries that revolve around the theme of competition, and I’ve lost count of how many I’ve seen in the 20 or so years I’ve been attending Hot Docs. This year, I added four more to my “seen it!” list!
Saints and Warriors (6/8)
Here’s something super-cool about director Patrick Shannon’s film: it’s a fascinating history lesson wrapped in a solid sports doc. On the surface, it’s a look at the annual All Native Basketball Tournament in Prince Rupert, B.C. — a competition so revered that courtside seats are passed down through generations in wills — and several members of the reigning-champ team, the Skidegate Saints, as they attempt to retain their title. As the team preps for the event and tries to persuade homegrown superstar Jesse Barns to suit up with them, the typical sports-film fare gives way to a deeper exploration of the history and importance of basketball for the Haida Gwaii Nation. Through interviews with players, coaches, residents and area historians, Shannon creates a documentary that’s equal parts entertaining and educational, and one that reveals how something as seemingly ordinary as a basketball game can be so deeply woven into a community’s culture, identity, and connection with the past.
Spreadsheet Champions (5/8)
One challenge in making a documentary about young people competing in the Excel division of the 2023 Microsoft Office Specialist World Championships: watching a bunch of people sit at computers doesn’t necessarily make for exciting viewing. Thankfully, much of the focus of director Kristina Kraskov’s fun but not completely satisfying film is on the eclectic group of competitors, not the competition. Tracking a half-dozen national-champion hopefuls from around the globe — including 15-year-old American Mason (who’s documentary gold!), 16-year-old Carmina from Guatemala (who’s as engaging as she is brilliant), and 22-year-old Vietnam champ Nam (whose anxiety was making me anxious) — the film examines the hows and whys of their participation in the event. But the complexities of the competition and the judging, and the criteria for being crowned the best, are all kind of lost in the shuffle. And without any way for the audience to gauge what separates the winners from the losers, or what constitutes a championship-worthy spreadsheet, it was challenging to be as invested in the outcome as the subjects onscreen.
The Track (7/8)
At Hot Docs 2022, producer Ryan Sidhoo brought Handle With Care: The Legend of the Notic Streetball Crew to the festival, and it was one of my must-see films of that fest. Now, he’s back as the director of this multi-layered look at how the decommissioned Olympic bobsleigh-and-luge track in Sarajevo, which was used at the 1984 Winter Games, becomes a symbol of possibility for Hamza, Zlatan and Mirza, three Bosnian athletes who dream of competing for their country. Led by their devoted coach, former Olympian Senad Omanović (who repairs the crumbling, graffiti-riddled track himself, one meter at a time), the trio practice using homemade sleds and tattered luge suits, squeezing in training runs between looky-loo tourists. Shot over four years, and with a beautiful score from composers Edo Van Breemen and Johannes Winkler (the latter of whom was a key figure in Ari’s Theme, one of my 2024 Hot Docs must-see films), the doc juxtaposes archival footage of 1984 Sarajevo with that of present day, chronicling the team’s struggles and setbacks. Poignant, and packed with as much heart as its subjects, it’s got “Hollywood adaptation to come!” written all over it, and is not so much a “sports movie” as it is a celebration of brotherhood and determination set against the backdrop of sport.
Ultras (7/8)
There aren’t a whole lot of documentaries that I think truly demand to be seen on a big screen, but this energetic and fabulously immersive dive into the world of soccer (football, to anyone outside of North America) super-supporters from director Ragnhild Ekner is definitely one I’d put into that category. Criss-crossing the globe from Italy to Egypt and Indonesia to England, Ekner’s film puts the audience pitchside, squarely in the bleachers, alongside the “ultras” — the sport’s most devoted, diehard team supporters — for dazzling pre-match tifos and traditions, full-throated chants and songs, and enormous meticulously sewn banners. Through recollections, anecdotes, observations and deeply personal revelations from assorted ultras around the world (none of whom appear on camera because being an ultra is about a collective, not the individual), the doc probes the depths of the ultra subculture, the sense of purpose and belonging it provides, and how quickly and easily jubilance can give way to violence. Packed to the hilt with information and insight without ever losing its momentum or spirit, the film is a wild and wonderful ride that, I’m sure, will have audiences (especially soccer fans) cheering.
Check out more of our Hot Docs 2025 coverage here!
