Agnieszka Holland to direct ‘Kafka’ Biopic

Oscar-nominated Polish director Agnieszka Holland (Charlatan, In Darkness) is re-teaming with her Charlatan team, including Marek Epstein and producer Sarka Cimbalova, on Kafka, a biopic on legendary Jewish-Czech writer Franz Kafka, reports The Hollywood Reporter.

Cimbalova’s Marlene Film and Sam Taylor and Mike Downey’s Film and Music Entertainment (F&ME) will co-produce Kafka, which the producers describe as “a dazzling kaleidoscopic mosaic of a film that dramatizes the famous writer’s life and imagination in a series of standalone vignettes that span Kafka’s life from his birth in pre-war Prague, up to his tragic death in Berlin in 1924 and into scenes from the future he envisioned.”

Epstein is penning a script based on a story by Downey. The team will present the project to financiers online at the Berlinale Co-production Market on Saturday. Holland’s Charlatan premiered at the 2020 Berlin Film Festival and, as the official candidate of the Czech Republic, made the 2021 Oscar shortlist for best international feature.