True North: Inside the Rise of Toronto Basketball

True North provides an intimate look at the rise of the Toronto hoop dream through the stories of five young athletes, inspired by the wave of NBA talent coming from their city. In this nine part docu-series, director Ryan Sidhoo captures the raw emotion of navigating today’s youth basketball machine through the eyes of the city’s players, coaches and families at the centre of it.

Canada produces the most NBA talent outside of the United States, and Toronto is at the epicentre of this boom. More players from the city’s six boroughs are having their names called on draft night, fueling the belief that Toronto’s next wave can make it too. Thrust into the limelight in adolescence, hopefuls find their love of the game weighted with the added pressure of an increasingly professionalized and competitive amateur basketball scene.

The series follows contemporary coming-of-age stories as they unfold in an evolving city, sharing a unique Canadian experience that’s rooted in generational immigration. At its heart, True North is about ambition, the pursuit of full-ride scholarships, and the intersection of luck and opportunity.