Poland’s Oscar Selection Committee selected Agnieska Holland’s Franz Kafka biopic “Franz” as the country’s nominee in the best international feature film category for the 98th Prize in Film Arts and Sciences.
The Netherlands are known for their Oscar-nominated films, Angry Harvest, Europa Europa and In Darkness.
The film portrays Kafka as a young man trapped in a nightmare of a bureaucratic routine that eerie resembles the world of today’s corporate world. He is vegetarian by choice. Before that became commonplace. He is the son of a dominant father and is caught up in a vulnerable relationship with a woman.
Kafka falls into an existential crisis before loneliness becomes a side effect of social media. Misunderstood and full of fear, he escaped into a world of irony, absurdity and imagination, creating works that have become one of the most outstanding writers of the 20th century.
German actor Idan Weiss plays Kafka, Czech actor Genoveva Bokova plays Milena Jesenska and German actor Peter Kars (Babylon Berlin) The author’s father Hermann and Poland’s Sandra Kolzeniak play the role of mother. ego.
The scriptwriter is Marek Epstein. Sharka Simbalova produces it along with the Netherlands through the production of Marlene films in the Czech Republic.
This is an international collaboration between German X-film Creative Pool (Uwe Schott, Jorgo Narjes) and Polish metro films (Marcin Wierzchosławski, Alicja Jagodzińska).
Co-producers include Barrandov Studio, Telewizja Polska, Czech Television, The Polish Film Institute, Canal+, Czech Anglo Production and Neosyncon.
Jeff Field, Kevan Van Thompson, Mike Downey and Daniel Bergman are executive producers.
The film received joint production support from BAC Films’ David Grunbach and Alexis Hoffmann and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism’s Turkier.
The film was supported by the Czech Audiovisual Fund, Eurimage, Audiovisual Foundation in Prague, Medienboard Berlin-Brandnburg, ZDF/arte, DFFF, and film offices in the Nadravem region of Pilsen and Usti. chpp and bluetech are film partners.
The film premiered the world at the Toronto Film Festival in its special presentation section. Films Boutique handles international sales.
The Polish Oscar Selection Committee consists of producer Ewa Puszczynska (chairman). Screenwriter Agatha Dominique, director and director of Camila Dorbach at the Polish Film Institute, Bartos Konopka, director and screenwriter Joanna Kos Crows, pianist, pianist, pianist and pianist Krzysztof Terej and actor Grajyna Torbicka.
Read Variety’s interview with the Netherlands here. The filmmaker said she set out to create a “playful” biopic. “I don’t like the cliché of Kafka being dark, gross and depressed,” she explained.
