Esko Aho

With the Soviet Union’s dissolution dragging down the economy of neighboring Finland, the Scandinavian country was plunged in a period of protracted recession. And with no recovery in sight, a soap opera offered Finns a respite from the grim reality; the debut of The Bold and the Beautiful on television quickly amassed a vast and dedicated following, whereas the arrival of American idols in the country, on tour, elicited unprecedented frenzy.

A huge doping scandal erupted at the 2001 cross-country skiing world championship in Lahti, Finland, leading to large numbers of disqualifications. Athletes from the host country in particular had made generous use of illegal performance-enhancing drugs. It was to be the precursor of more drug cases at the Winter Olympics a year later in Salt Lake City. When Heroes Lie analyzes the history of doping from the 1970s to the present day, using archive footage and interviews with skiers, coaches and experts.

In the beginning of 1990s Finland was faced with the most serious financial crisis of its history; recession. Over 400,000 unemployed persons, almost 200 000 bankruptcies and a whole national offspring of insecurity were born in a country with around 5 million in population, all within a few years. How does the childhood during depression look like from adulthood?