Kashpirovsky died ten days before the documentary premiered at the Warsaw International Film Festival. The film, titled Kashpirovsky, is showing in cinemas across Poland and is due to become available on HBO Max on 18 December.
The film's director, Łukasz Konopa, said he first contacted Kashpirovsky about the project in 2020. The former psychiatrist was initially reluctant, but gradually became more receptive to the idea after several conversations. They met in person for the first time four years after their initial discussion.
The director described Kashpirovsky as a warm but difficult person, saying he was stubborn and did not always have a sense of distance from himself.
Konopa praised him for never withdrawing his consent to appear in the film or trying to influence its content after agreeing to take part.
“I regret that the film was not made earlier. We managed to begin filming at virtually the last moment, because with each passing year of working on the project, I became increasingly aware that Anatoly Kashpirovsky’s age was beginning to affect him,” said Konopa.
Kashpirovsky worked for many years at a hospital in Vinnytsia, Ukraine, where he assisted with and performed hundreds or thousands of autopsies.
He initially complained about the work but later came to appreciate the experience. The documentary presents this period as influential in his decision to pursue hypnosis as a way of treating people on a wider scale, seeking to trigger what he believed was the body's capacity for self-healing.
His televised sessions made him widely known across the Soviet Union and its satellite states, including Poland.
Konopa does not attempt to determine whether Kashpirovsky's methods were effective or whether his intentions were entirely altruistic. Instead, the film explores how he became a figure admired by millions while others dismissed him as a charlatan.
(sp)
Source: PAP