Doctor, visionary, legend – "Who Is Prof. Chirkov" will be screened in Berlin

On 16 January 2026 at 7:00 p.m., the Bulgarian Cultural Institute in Berlin will host a screening of a documentary film dedicated to Prof. Aleksandar Chirkov (1938–2020). Admission is free, with prior registration required. The event honors one of the most outstanding figures in contemporary Bulgarian medicine - a man who changed not only the fate of thousands of patients, but also the very way modern healthcare is understood in Bulgaria.

Following the screening of Who Is Prof. Chirkov, the audience will have the opportunity to meet the film’s director Elma Neykova and producer Tsveta Koeva, representatives of the Bulgarian Cultural Institute in the German capital announced.

The film tells the story of Prof. Dr. Aleksandar Chirkov, a physician with an international career and unquestioned authority. After building his professional reputation in leading hospitals in Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States, he remained an unwavering patriot with a clear mission: to establish world-class cardiac surgery in Bulgaria. This vision led to the creation of St. Ekaterina Hospital in Sofia - built without a single lev of state funding.

Prof. Chirkov personally financed the education of his students, sending them abroad to master the most advanced practices in cardiac surgery and related medical specialties— - an investment not only in knowledge, but in the future of Bulgarian medicine.

The film is presented in its original version with English subtitles. After its premiere at Lumière Cinema in Sofia, it was screened in Plovdiv, Lom, Varna, and Brussels. International recognition followed, including the First Prize for Film for Social Change at the Bucharest Documentary Film Festival, as well as selections for the Red Cross Festival in Varna and IN THE PALACE festival.

Prof. Aleksandar Chirkov is remembered not only as the first physician to perform a heart transplant in Eastern Europe, but also as an unyielding idealist - a man who worked for Bulgaria until his final breath and dreamed of building another hospital, this time in Varna.

A doctor, visionary, and enlightener who turned his profession into a mission - and that is why today he is a legend.

Edited by Veneta Nikolova
English version: R. Petkova