Franz [screening]

An imaginative portrait of Franz Kafka, blending dreams and reality to reveal the writer behind modern anxiety.

Franz / dir. Agnieszka Holland / 2025 / mysterious biographical drama / Czechia, Germany, Poland / German and Czech with English subtitles / 127 min

In Franz, Holland crafts an intimate, visually rich portrait of Franz Kafka, drawing on fragments of memory, letters, and imagination. The film captures Kafka as a man of contradictions—introverted yet intense, longing for an ordinary life while creating some of the most extraordinary works of modern literature.

Tracing his path from childhood in Prague through strained family relationships, a deep friendship with Max Brod, and complex love affairs with Felice Bauer and Milena Jesenská, the film moves toward Kafka’s final years in Austria after World War I. Poetic, ironic, and occasionally darkly playful, Franz offers a human, resonant portrait of an artist who never stopped searching for himself.

Presented by the Czech Center New York with with the support of the Polish Cultural Institute New York, the German Film Office, EUNIC New York, and Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association.

Director: Agnieszka Holland / Screenplay: Marek Epstein, Agnieszka Holland / Cinematography: Tomasz Naumiuk / Editing: Pavel Hrdlička / Music: Mary Komasa, Antoni Komasa Łazarkiewicz / Producers: Šárka Cimbalová (Marlene Film Production), Agnieszka Holland

Cast: Idan Weiss, Jenovéfa Boková, Peter Kurth, Katharina Stark, Ivan Trojan, Josef Trojan, Sandra Korzeniak, Carol Schuler, Jan Budař, Emma Smetana, Sebastian Schwarz, Aaron Friesz, Gesa Schermuly, Václav Jiráček, Karel Dobrý, Vladimír Javorský, Stanislav Majer, Anita Krausová, Michal Isteník, Milan Šteindler, and others

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