FRANZ

Directed by

Agnieszka Holland

Czech Republic, Germany, Poland 2025 127 MIN

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Synopsis

Franz Kafka grows up in Prague under the powerful influence of his demanding father, surrounded by the linguistic, religious, and political tensions of early twentieth-century Central Europe. As he struggles with family expectations, work, fragile health, love affairs, friendships, and his obsessive need to write, a literary voice emerges that will transform modern culture. Rather than following a conventional chronological biography, the film moves through different periods, perspectives, and images, connecting Kafka’s private experiences with the enormous legacy his work acquired after his death. The result is a kaleidoscopic portrait of the vulnerable, contradictory, humorous, and deeply human figure behind one of literature’s most enduring myths.

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Agnieszka Holland

Agnieszka Holland is a Polish director and screenwriter, born in Warsaw in 1948. She studied directing at FAMU in Prague and began her career working with filmmakers including Krzysztof Zanussi and Andrzej Wajda. Her early feature Provincial Actors (1978) received the FIPRESCI Prize at Cannes. She gained worldwide recognition with films including Europa Europa (1990), The Secret Garden (1993), In Darkness (2011), Spoor (2017), and Green Border (2023). Across film and television, Holland has repeatedly examined the individual caught within powerful historical and political forces, combining intimate character studies with an enduring interest in memory, morality, freedom, and European history.

Credits

Director: Agnieszka Holland
Screenplay: Marek Epstein, Agnieszka Holland
Cinematography: Tomasz Naumiuk
Editing: Pavel Hrdlička
Music: Mary Komasa, Antoni Komasa-Łazarkiewicz
Sound Design: Marek Hart, Michaela Patríková
Cast: Idan Weiss, Jenovéfa Boková, Peter Kurth, Katharina Stark, Sebastian Schwarz, Sandra Korzeniak, Josef Trojan, Ivan Trojan
Producers: Šárka Cimbalová, Agnieszka Holland (Marlene Film Production; Metro Films, X Filme Creative Pool)