Three episodes each of the ORF/ARD miniseries directed by David Schalko at 8:15 p.m
Vienna (OTS) – On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his death in June this year, ORF 1 will be bringing back “Kafka”, who is considered one of the most important writers of the 20th century thanks to works such as “The Trial”, “The Metamorphosis” and “The Castle”, on Sunday 24th ., and Monday, March 25, 2024, at 8:15 p.m. on the TV screen in three episodes each. The six episodes will also be available for streaming on ORF ON and in the TVthek app once they are broadcast on TV. The mini-series, directed by David Schalko and co-produced by ORF and all ARD state broadcasters (NDR, WDR, SWR, BR, MDR, RBB, HR, SR and Radio Bremen) together with Superfilm, is dedicated to the life and work of the author . Further information about the content is available at presse.ORF.at. A top-class ensemble has been formed around Joel Basman as Franz Kafka as well as David Kross, Nicholas Ofczarek, Liv Lisa Fries, Lia von Blarer and Tamara Romera Ginés, including Robert Stadlober, Verena Altenberger, Charly Hübner, Lars Eidinger, Katharina Thalbach, Marie-Lou Sellem, Christian Friedel, Michael Maertens, Jan Bülow, Laurence Rupp, Marie-Luise Stockinger, Robert Palfrader, Johannes Silberschneider, André Pohl, Thomas Maurer, Alexander Pschill, Gerhard Liebmann, Raimund Wallisch and Tobias Bamborschke. Daniel Kehlmann is responsible for the scripts in collaboration with director David Schalko. Reiner Stach, on whose monumental Kafka biography the scripts are also based, was hired as an expert advisor for the project, which was filmed in Vienna and Salzburg from February to June 2023.
Joel Basman: “This person has become very close to me”
“I only really started to get to know Kafka when I was working on this series. I knew who Kafka was, or rather I learned through my preparation that it’s not so easy to say: ‘I know who Kafka is.’ I wish every person this Kafka journey that I have had behind me. His relationships were crucial for me. Those with his father, his sisters and, above all, his mother.” He built “his Kafka” with different “tools” “and tried to look behind this facade that he sold to us all too well, but behind it who is an incredibly fascinating, honest, hungry, funny, polite, realistic, poetic and intelligent person. This person has become very close to me.”
Nicholas Ofczarek: “The common thread through Kafka’s entire work”
“Hermann Kafka, who worked his way up from a poor background and became an independent entrepreneur through his own efforts, was a rude, self-righteous and despotic merchant. The overarching tyrannical father, who has no understanding of his son’s artistic ambitions and who cannot be pleased, runs like a common thread through Kafka’s entire work. In order to convincingly portray this conflict-ridden relationship, director David Schalko and author Daniel Kehlmann created exaggerated characters.”
More about the content
“Kafka: Max” (Sunday, March 24th, 8:15 p.m., ORF 1)
Kafka’s (Joel Basman) friend Max Brod (David Kross) is a renowned writer, full of energy and ideas, but his biggest project is to achieve fame for his friend Franz. This is a kind of reverse Amadeus constellation: Brod tries with all his might to help his difficult friend, who never returns artistic recognition or support to his most loyal supporter. Brod is a manic womanizer, always involved in multiple affairs. He is a warm-hearted person and the energy and power center of the story. Unfortunately, he is not a good writer – a fact that Kafka is well aware of.
“Kafka: Felice” (Sunday, March 24th, 9 p.m., ORF 1)
The second episode focuses on Kafka’s long-time fiancée Felice Bauer (Lia von Blarer). She is Max Brod’s cousin, who only gets to know Kafka superficially but is then bombarded with letters for weeks and months. Without really knowing each other, they get engaged. The relationship is long, complicated and painful. The engagement is broken off, then renewed, only to be ended again.
“Kafka: Family” (Sunday, March 24th, 9:50 p.m., ORF 1)
Kafka writes a merciless letter of accusation of more than 100 pages to his domineering father Hermann (Nicholas Ofczarek), which he ultimately never sends. Little by little, the focus shifts to Kafka’s relationship with Zionism and his friendship with Yitzhak Löwy (Konstantin Frank), an actor in a traditional Yiddish theater troupe. The confrontation between his father and his friend Löwy led Kafka to write “The Metamorphosis,” the story of a man who turns into an insect, arguably the most influential literary work of the 20th century.
“Kafka: Bureau” (Monday, March 25, 8:15 p.m., ORF 1)
Kafka is an insurance lawyer and a well-known expert in this field. He wins almost every court case on behalf of the insurance company and is highly respected by his superiors – an honor he does not reciprocate. For him, the rather comfortable workplace is a hell on earth from which he just wants to escape. At the height of the First World War, his superiors go so far as to save Kafka’s life by officially declaring him indispensable, thus saving him from being drafted. This episode highlights the reversal of Kafka’s nightmarish fear of an overwhelming bureaucratic force that he highlights so well in his works, for Kafka’s superiors are by no means unreachable: they are friendly and helpful – a fact that Kafka never acknowledges or admits.
“Kafka: Milena” (Monday, March 25, 9:05 p.m., ORF 1)
Kafka begins a short but intense relationship with the writer Milena Jesenská (Liv Lisa Fries), who recognizes his genius in a way that only Max Brod has ever done. During a long afternoon in the Vienna woods, they go through all the phases of a passionate love affair.
“Kafka: Dora” (Monday, March 25, 9:55 p.m., ORF 1)
Kafka’s vacation spot, already ravaged by tuberculosis, is transformed in his imagination into the dark and mythical village of his last and most famous novel, “The Castle.” But he also meets his last great love, Dora Diamant (Tamara Romera Ginés). The two lived in Berlin for a few months and spent Kafka’s last days together in the Kierling sanatorium outside Vienna.
“Kafka” is a co-production by all ARD state broadcasters, ORF and Superfilm in collaboration with ORF-Enterprise and support from FISA+, TV Fund Austria and Film Fund Vienna.