From a story of winning True Team State to facing traumatic injuries, senior Isaac Tsai’s documentary “Men of Character” details the inspiring journey of Mounds View High School’s boys track team in spring of 2024 and their eventual win at True Team State. This entirely student-made film has received both local and international acclaim, with the dramatic lighting and inspiring story making its way across film festivals around the world.

Previously, Tsai had worked as a photographer and videographer for a few of Mounds View’s sports teams, such as cross country and basketball. However, taking and editing photos is a different story than making a full-length feature film. Inspired by his track friends, he decided to take the next step up, working on a movie. “As I grew up in middle and high school, most of my friends were involved in track. […] I really admired them as people and their character, and so that was sort of my spark, I guess, is to just discover what they were made of.”

The track team always emphasized the importance of certain values, like punctuality and positivity, and as the center of their program, Tsai hoped to be able to capture this commitment in his documentary.

Throughout the Mounds View boys track program, a longtime ambition had been winning the True Team State meet. Before last season, Mounds View went through a stretch of zero True Team State wins in 17 years. “Every single senior had experienced their previous captain saying and beating [it] into our souls,” said former senior track captain Noah Hammett-Divine, class of 2024.

Wayzata High School in particular was the team to beat, with seven previous True Team State wins, including most recently in 2023. “We call [Wayzata] the Death Star because it’s just huge. It blocks out the sun,” said Ross Fleming, Mounds View Boys Track Coach.

Over the course of the year, the track team had had an unusually high number of people training in the off-season, from doing different sports to putting in extra miles through the summer, fall and winter. “I knew we had some talent, but most importantly, I saw a dedicated group of guys who worked all winter,” said Fleming.

According to him, this year seemed like it could be the one.

However, even though his documentary focused on the team’s journey to winning, that was not what had initially drawn Tsai to make this film. “It was more what kind of story can I tell about this track team,” said Tsai.

He points back to his prevailing goal of highlighting their character, rather than the success of the team.

Tsai shot the entire movie on his Sony A7C2 over the course of the March-June track season. He filmed around 50 hours of practices, pep talks and meets. Time spent working on the movie had to fit around his own busy schedule, including practices and games for ultimate frisbee. At the events themselves, it wasn’t any less hectic. “I certainly got my own exercise and steps in running around trying to capture the different [athletes],” said Tsai.

As often as he could be, Tsai would be with the team, getting footage. “Isaac is very assertive…eventually he embedded himself in the program…[soon] I didn’t even know he was there,” said Fleming.

With feedback from his parents and Coach Fleming and support from the team, Tsai cut the 50 hours of film down to a one hour-long feature film on Adobe Premiere Pro. “​​It was mostly fun. Exciting. Exhilarating. But I would be dishonest to say there weren’t moments where I felt exhausted. Producing a film or documentary takes a lot of diligence, patience and humility. Interestingly, my own character was tested in these areas, but as I edited, I found inspiration and motivation in seeing the very subjects of my film conquer their obstacles with success,” said Tsai.

The film premiered in Mounds View’s auditorium on Aug. 22 to an audience of track team members and people from the community. “Some of my friends were sending me pictures of their parents watching it at home. It was really nice to see that I had an impact beyond the track team,” said Tsai.

After the preview, Tsai’s next goal was submitting his finished documentary to film festivals. Across the world, there are countless film festivals that creators will submit their work to for awards. “Most filmmakers make it big at these film festivals if they aren’t known before,” said Tsai.

There are typically three categories for which a film can be awarded: selection, nomination, and the best of all, awarding best of the category in which the film was submitted.

“Men of Character” was submitted in total to 13 different film festivals, 11 of which have been judged already. The film won awards for Best Student Film, was a top five finalist for Best Documentary at the Atlantis Awards, Best Student Film for the American Golden Picture International Film Festival and was selected by both the indie-centered film festival focused on giving opportunities to upcoming filmmakers, Los Angeles Lift-Off and the Twin Cities Film Festival.

The level of competition varies greatly between film festivals, from first-time filmmakers like Tsai to top film directors. At the Atlantis Awards for category Best Documentary, the first place winner was Escape from Extinction, narrated by three time Oscar winner Meryl Streep. “When I found that out, I was like, ‘Dang…top five isn’t too bad,’” said Tsai.

The film also had a showing on Oct. 26 at the Twin Cities Film Festival. Beyond that, Tsai’s plans for the film quiet down. He admitted that he does not think that the movie has much of a chance to get produced in Hollywood, due to its relatively low production value and it being a first-time film.

Tsai learned a lot through this process, creating a film for the first time. This experience was influential in shaping how he thinks about videography, as well as in giving him a new perspective on what he might want to do in college. Though grateful, he remains humble about the accomplishments of the movie. “I’m not disappointed that it didn’t do better. I’m surprised every time I get an award. I’m always surprised, but in terms of my own film making, I definitely learned a ton.”

This story was originally published on Viewer on November 6, 2024.