''Racing Dreams'' is a 2009 American documentary film directed by

Marshall Curry Marshall Curry (born ) is an Oscar-winning American documentary film, documentary director, producer, cinematographer and editor. His films include ''Street Fight (film), Street Fight'', ''Racing Dreams'', ''If a Tree Falls, If a Tree Falls: A ...

following two boys and a girl through a season of

World Karting Association The World Karting Association, or WKA, is the largest sanctioning body for kart racing in North America. The WKA was founded in 1971 and is located directly behind Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. The WKA is believed to current ...

(WKA) racing as they compete and aspire to become professional

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

drivers. ''Racing Dreams'' was produced by Bristol Baughan and

, and executive produced by

Dwayne Johnson Dwayne Douglas Johnson (born May 2, 1972), also known by his ring name The Rock, is an American actor and former professional wrestler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, he was integral to the developm ...

, Jack Turner, Dany Garcia (White Buffalo Entertainment) and Ben Goldhirsh (Good Inc.). The film opened in theaters in select cities May 2010, with marketing support by NASCAR Entertainment. ''Racing Dreams'' is also being developed into a feature film by

DreamWorks DreamWorks may refer to: * DreamWorks Pictures, an American film production company of Amblin ** DreamWorks Television, an American television production company and division of the film studio ** DreamWorks Records, an American record label and f ...

Producers

Alex Kurtzman Alexander Hilary Kurtzman (born September 7, 1973) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for his work on the ''Star Trek'' franchise since 2009, co-writing the scripts to ''Transformers (film), Transformers'' (2007), ''Transformers: Revenge ...

and

Roberto Orci Roberto Gaston Orcí (born July 20, 1973) is a Mexican-American film and television screenwriter and producer. He began his longtime collaboration with Alex Kurtzman while at school in California. Together they have been employed on television s ...

Synopsis

The film centers on racers Annabeth Barnes (11 years old), Josh Hobson (12), and Brandon Warren (13) during a single season of WKA racing, where success can lead to sponsorships and a NASCAR career. All three face challenges off the track as well as on as they come of age in the surprisingly high-pressure world of go-kart racing.

Reception

''Racing Dreams'' won Best Documentary at the 2009

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by TriBeCa Productions, Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive progra ...

, where it was also runner up for the Audience Award. The film has a 100% fresh rating from

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

based on 26 reviews, with a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

of 7.38/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "''Racing Dreams'' offers an absorbing peek at the lives of young NASCAR hopefuls that should resonate with racing enthusiasts as well as viewers with no connection to the sport." The film was called "The best film of the year," by the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' ("The Envelope") and "Absorbing… one of the rare documentaries you leave wishing it was a little longer, " by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''.

Awards

*Tribeca Film Festival, Best Documentary (winner) *Nashville Film Festival, Best Documentary (winner) *Florida Film Festival, Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature (winner) *Indianapolis Film Festival, Audience Award (winner) *

Chicago International Film Festival The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964 by Michael Kutza, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America. Its logo is a stark, black and white close up of the comp ...

, Silver Hugo Award (winner) *

Jacksonville Film Festival The Jacksonville Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Jacksonville, Florida. Founded in 2002, the festival screens in competition and out-of-competition American and international independent films. According to the '' Daily Record'', ...

, Best Documentary (winner)

References

External links

* * * * * * {{Marshall Curry American sports documentary films American auto racing films Documentary films about auto racing 2009 films 2009 documentary films Films directed by Marshall Curry Kart racing 2000s English-language films 2000s American films