New miniseries “Kafka”: Joel Basman plays writer Franz Kafka

New miniseries “Kafka”
Joel Basman plays writer Franz Kafka

Joel Basman plays writer Franz Kafka in new miniseries Kafka.

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To mark the 100th anniversary of the writer’s death, the mini-series “Kafka” is being created with Joel Basman, Daniel Brühl, Nicholas Ofczarek and Liv Lisa Fries.

To mark the 100th anniversary of the death of Franz Kafka (1883-1924, “The Trial”, “The Castle”, “The Lost One”), the world’s most widely read German-language writer, the new mini-series “Kafka” is currently being created. The joint project was announced by ARD, ORF and Superfilm on Wednesday (October 5th).

The six-part miniseries sheds light on the life of Kafka, “one of the greatest and most celebrated writers of the twentieth century,” according to the announcement. Accordingly, the difficult relationship with his tyrannical father Hermann Kafka (1852-1931), his fascinating love affairs with Felice Bauer (1887-1960), Milena Jesenská (1896-1944) and Dora Diamant (1898-1952) and the close friendship with him are discussed Writer Max Brod (1884-1968) – who betrayed his terminally ill friend in the end and thus secured him world fame.

Award-winning professionals in front of and behind the camera

The screenplays are based on the three-volume Kafka biography by the Saxon literary scholar Reiner Stach (born 1951), who will also act as a consultant for the film adaptation. The script itself is written by the Munich writer Daniel Kehlmann (47, “Measuring the World”) in collaboration with the award-winning Austrian director David Schalko (49, “Schlapper”, “Braunschlag”, “M – Eine Stadt sucht ein Mörder”) .

“Daniel Kehlmann and David Schalko bring the partially still puzzling work of Kafka to the audience in an entertaining – but never superficial – way. I’m looking forward to the result, which can certainly also be seen internationally,” said Jörg Schönenborn (58), the ARD coordinator fiction.

Director Schalko also promises that the biopic genre should be re-explored. And screenwriter Kehlmann reveals: “Franz Kafka’s nightmares are our daily reality: in his dark and yet funny visions he sensed the world in which we all live now. These visions did not come out of nowhere, but formed out of his life, his family, his private environment”. He continues: “I am very much looking forward to [die Drehbücher] soon to be seen portrayed with these wonderful actors.”

The outstanding cast

By this Kehlmann means an actually outstanding cast that the makers have put together for their ambitious project: The Swiss Joel Basman (32, “We are young. We are strong.”) will embody the German-speaking writer Franz Kafka, who was born in Austria-Hungary. Daniel Brühl (44, “Good Bye, Lenin!”) slips into the role of Max Brod. Nicholas Ofczarek (51, “Der Pass”) will be seen as Hermann Kafka and Liv Lisa Fries (31, “Babylon Berlin”) as Milena Jesenská.

Filming is planned for spring 2023, the expected broadcast date in the ARD media library, in the first and in the ORF is in spring 2024.

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