Poland has selected Agnieszka Holland’s Franz Kafka biopic Franz as its candidate for the Best International Feature Film at the 98th Academy awards.
News of the selection follows in the wake of the feature’s recent world premiere as a special presentation at TIFF>
Idan Weiss stars as Kafka, a young man trapped in a nightmare of bureaucratic daily life, reminiscent of today’s reality of employees of large corporations.
Plunged into an existential crisis long before loneliness became a side effect of social media, he escapes into a world of irony, absurdity and imagination, creating works that will make him one of the greatest writers of the 20th century.
The selection process overseen by the Polish Film Institute was made by a committee chaired by Ewa Puszczynska.
The shortlist of seven films also featured Michal Kwiecinski’s Chopin, Chopin!, Wojciech Smarzowski’s Good House, Lukasz Karwowski’s Two Sisters, Arjun Talwar’s Letters from the Wolf, Maciej J. Drygas’ Trains and Juliusz Machulski’s VINCI 2.
Holland previously gained a nomination for Poland with her World War Two drama In The Darkness at the 84th Academy Awards, and also represented the country in 2017 with the drama Spoor.
There was upset in 2023 after her migrant drama The Green Border was reportedly sidelined in the selection process to be the candidate for the 2024 Oscars following the pushback against the film by the then far-right government, although the entry that year, The Peasants, was also a perfectly worthy submission.
The committee also featured Agatha Dominik, Kamila Dorbach, Bartosz Konopka, Joanna Kos-Krauze, Hanna Raniszewska, Krzysztof Spór, Krzysztof Terej and Grażyna Torbicka.
Franz is lead produced by Šárka Cimbalová under the banner of the Czech Republic’s Marlene Film Production, with Holland. Co-producers are Uwe Schott, Jorgo Narjes, Marcin Wierzchosławski and Alicja Jagodzińska.
