Konopa's Kashpirovskiy Documentary Screens at Ji.hlava
The film, completed with HBO funding, draws on archives from Ukraine, Poland, Georgia and the Czech Republic.
Lukasz Konopa's documentary "Kashpirovskiy. Under the Spell" screened in the Testimonies section of the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival, according to Variety. The film examines Anatoly Kashpirovskiy, the Soviet-era mass hypnosis performer.
HBO joined the production in 2025 and provided what Konopa described as essential completion funding. The director said the deal allowed the film to be finished.
Konopa researched archives in Ukraine, Poland, Georgia and the Czech Republic, gathering hundreds of hours of material. Among the footage is an item dating to 1971 showing Kashpirovskiy in a doctor's uniform, riding a bike and hypnotizing a kolkhoz audience.
A television phenomenon revisited
Kashpirovskiy became a cult phenomenon once Soviet state television channels began carrying his appearances; Konopa said the "television medicine" experiment reached a Soviet audience of 300 million people. The director also cites practices such as operating on women without anaesthetics and persuading Chechen leader Shamil Basayev to release 1,500 prisoners.
Konopa says he first saw Kashpirovskiy on television at age seven, in a small village in communist Poland, and remembered the experience during the first lockdown in 2020.
Quick answers
What is "Kashpirovskiy. Under the Spell" about?
It is Lukasz Konopa's documentary about Anatoly Kashpirovskiy, the Soviet-era mass hypnosis performer whose television appearances made him a cult figure.
Where did the film screen?
It screened in the Testimonies section of the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival, according to Variety.
Was HBO involved in the documentary?
Yes. Konopa said HBO joined the production in 2025 with essential completion funding.