Spul (2015)

Most often, after a positive doping test comes a dead silence. Or a non-sincere confession. Stuff starts when the hysterical news cameras left the scene, and explores the strange logic of lies and excesses that sports athletes experience once they have crossed the doping line. A contemplative journey told from the point of view of so-called doping sinners that expose their forbidden but often daily habits in the microworld of sports. It tells twelve intriguing stories, involving both world class athletes (with testimonies from Ben Johnson, Michael Rasmussen, or Yulia Stepanova, whistleblower in the recent doping scandal in Russian athletics), but also less known people from amateur level and paralympic sports (alpinism, biathlon), two dubious doping control officers and a doping dealer. All of them discuss in a surprisingly intimate way how it is to live in a parallel world that abides by its own shady codes and unwritten rules. Without prejudice, Stuff penetrates right into the moral ambiguity of these alleged cheaters and liars.