Synopsis

Dr Rajko Doleček is a man with two faces. Since the 1970s, most Czech people know him from television where, with tireless dedication, he tried to help people turn their lives around, and adopting healthier lifestyles with his nutrition and diet tips. Meanwhile less known to the public is the now 91-year-old professor’s closeness to Serbian nationalism and his tight friendship to the accused war criminal General Ratko Mladić. Doleček, however, never was cagey about his extreme opinions. For the medical doctor with Serbian origins, the genocide of Srebrenica is still nothing but fiction created by the Western World. Kristýna Bartošová is a young talented filmmaker of Bosnian descent. She convinces the old man to join her in visiting the site of the horrendous massacre. The young woman wants to get to know Doleček better and hence make him eventually acknowledge the genocide. Over the two-years of production the distinctions between black and white seem to blur. The filmmaker soon finds herself shifting between a deep-rooted political rejection of the Doctor and personal sympathy for him. An ambitious didactic film about prejudice and manipulation, as well as a prime example of the challenges of keeping one’s required distance in the role of a documentary filmmaker.

Guests

KRISTYNA BARTOSOVA

Kristýna Bartošová
Director and Scriptwriter The Dangerous World of Doctor Doleček
In Vienna: March 24-27