Icarus

Truth is the new banned substance.

A tense, cerebral documentary that traces an unlikely friendship between a filmmaker and a Russian scientist caught in a state-sponsored doping conspiracy, building paranoia and moral complexity through intimate digital exchanges.

While investigating the furtive world of illegal doping in sports, director Bryan Fogel connects with renegade Russian scientist Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov—a pillar of his country’s “anti-doping” program. Over dozens of Skype calls, urine samples, and badly administered hormone injections, Fogel and Rodchenkov grow closer despite shocking allegations that place Rodchenkov at the center of Russia’s state-sponsored Olympic doping program.