FIRST LOOK: First trailers and stills for highly-anticipated Kafka biopic released

Acclaimed director Agnieszka Holland unveiled the trailer for Franz, her long-awaited biographical film about Franz Kafka, at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival on Sunday. The Czech-German-Polish co-production is set to hit Czech cinemas on Sept. 25, with both a Czech-dubbed and a German-Czech subtitled version.

Scripted by Marek Epstein, Franz portrays Kafka’s life as a fragmented mosaic rather than a traditional biopic. It follows the author from his 1883 birth in Prague to his death in Berlin in 1924.

“Kafka was very close to me, not just as a writer but as a person,” said Holland, who studied film in Prague and walked in Kafka’s footsteps as a student. “We didn’t want clichés. I think that comes through in the film.”

Filming took place over 40 days, primarily in Prague and Berlin. German actor Idan Weiss plays Kafka, while Jenovéfa Boková takes on the role of Milena Jesenská, Kafka’s translator and lover. The Czech and German ensemble cast includes Ivan Trojan, Vladimír Javorský, Karel Dobrý, and Stanislav Majer. Trojan’s son Josef appears in a triple role and voices Kafka in the Czech version.

At the trailer’s debut, Epstein said he initially knew little about Kafka. “Agnieszka threw the first version of the script at me and said, ‘We have to go more punk,’” he recalled. “Then I understood; this couldn’t be a dry biopic.”

Returning actors from Holland’s earlier works, including Burning Bush and The Charlatan, also appear in Franz. “I love working with them,” said Holland, referring to Boková and the Trojans. Stanislav Majer added humor to the panel, noting his agent warned him about a nude scene lasting three days: “But when I heard it was with Agnieszka and in Berlin, I was in.”

Producer Šárka Cimbalová described location scouting in historic Prague as a “nightmare,” but believes the result will resonate internationally. Executive producer Mike Downey, president of the European Film Academy, supports the film’s global ambitions.

Weiss, meanwhile, said leaving Kafka behind after filming felt “empty and sad.” Filming began in Prague in April 2024.