El Padre Medico follows the footsteps of Alexander Bendoraitis (1919-1998), a Lithuanian aristocrat, doctor and a priest who arrived to the remote Amazon jungle in the 1960‘s driven by grand visions of saving the locals. There he established a boat-clinic network, stopped the outbreak of the Bolivian Ebola virus and built the most modern hospital in the Amazon. People would walk a thousand kilometres to be healed by the famous Padre Medico and the outside world compared him to Mother Theresa.
After investigation, it emerges that he had struggled to deal with the sudden power he achieved in the jungle. As his power grew, the dark sides of his activities began to appear. The surviving archive gives a hint of his godlike status with the Amazonian tribes and his abuse of the locals.
On a journey to explore Bendoraitis’ roots in Eastern Europe it appears that such a man never really existed. He was neither an aristocrat nor a doctor. The film deepens the enigmatic portrait of this fascinating character.
The film is the first coproduction between Lithuania and Brazil. It is produced by Paulius Juoceris‘ production company Iron Cat and coproduced by Lente Viva Films. The documentary is supported by the Lithuanian Film Centre.
The theatrical release is planned for April 2017.
Production Information:
Iron Cat
A.Jakšto g. 3-14, LT-01105 Vilnius,
Phone: +370 614 36696
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www.ironcat.lt
