Franz Kafka in 1906

‘Franz’: new Kafka biopic from Agnieszka Holland to shoot in Prague later this year

Franz Kafka, one of Prague’s most famous residents, will be getting a new biopic thanks to Oscar-nominated filmmaker Agnieszka Holland. The life and work of the famed writer will be charted in Franz, which is set to film in Prague and Germany later this year and into 2024.

The feature-length Franz is a co-production between the Czech Republic, Germany, France, and Poland. It’s being produced by Prague-based Marlene Film Production, who also produced Holland’s previous film Charlatan, which was the Czech Republic’s official submission to the 2021 Academy Awards.

Marek Epstein, who wrote the script for Charlatan and received a Czech Lion for 2012’s In the Shadow (Ve stínu), is currently working on the screenplay for Franz.

According to Franz producer Šárka Cimbalová, speaking to Czech News Agency, Holland chose the project due to her long relationship with the city of Prague, thanks to which she got to know Kafka and his work.

Holland studied at Prague’s famed FAMU film academy before embarking on her successful career that has spanned a number of countries and languages. She earned an Oscar nomination for her screenplay for 1990’s Europa, Europa, and later went on to direct 1993’s The Secret Garden and 1995’s Total Eclipse, starring a young Leonardo DiCaprio.

In 2013, Holland directed the HBO miniseries Burning Bush (Hořící keř), which charted the aftermath of the self-immolation of Jan Palach in Prague following the 1968 Soviet invasion. She has directed for numerous high-profile TV series, including The Wire and House of Cards.

Casting for Franz is currently underway in both the Czech Republic and Germany. According to Holland, both German and Czech will be spoken throughout the film, as it was during Kafka’s lifetime; while Czech was the primary language in Prague a century ago, the city had a large German population, and Kafka himself spoke and wrote in German.

According to the producers, Franz will be shot in the center of Prague, where Kafka spent much of his life. He was born in a house adjacent to Old Town Square, worked at an insurance office on Na Poříčí street, and lived at a number of other locations in the city center.

“We will shoot in the Czech Republic and, thanks to German funds, also in Germany. But the script is still being worked on,” Cimbalová told Czech News Agency.

Franz has a budget of around 140 million crowns (roughly $6.5 million) according to the producer, and is supported by both Czech Television and the Czech Film Fund, which has contributed 22 million crowns ($1 million) towards its budget.

Franz will be the second major Kafka-themed movie to film in the center of Prague, after Steven Soderbergh‘s 1991 movie Kafka, which starred Jeremy Irons as the writer. One of the most impressive films to ever shoot in Prague from a locations point of view, Soderbergh’s film has never received a high-definition release on home video, but was re-edited by the director and screened under the title Mr. Kneff at the Toronto International Film Festival two years ago.

July 3, 2023, will mark 140 years since the birth of Franz Kafka in Prague. He lived in the Czech capital his entire life, and his legacy is felt throughout the city nearly a century after his passing through statues, museums, and memorials. June 4, 2024 will mark exactly 100 years since Kafka’s passing.

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Jason Pirodsky

Jason Pirodsky has been writing about the Prague film scene and reviewing films in print and online media since 2005. A member of the Online Film Critics Society, you can also catch his musings on life in Prague at expats.cz and tips on mindfulness sourced from ancient principles at MaArtial.com.

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