Cinema Screening with Introduction
Hanns Zischler’s humerous essay film about Kafka’s fascination with cinema is not only a portrait of Kafka and his time through the lens of cinema, but also a tribute to the early days of the medium itself. We are showing the film together with three of the early silent films mentioned by Kafka. The film will be introduced by Helen Hughes.
Kafka not only inspired countless films with his work, he himself was also fascinated by cinema. He watched films, loved looking through film announcements, had films narrated to him, reminded others to go to the cinema, identified with actors, even if the film was bad. “Been to the movies. Cried”, is probably Kafka's most famous statement about a visit to the movies. His relationship with film was emotional, and he saw popular, emotional films. Traces of his cinema experiences can be found in his diaries and letters.
It took a cinephile like Hanns Zischler, known to many as an actor in films by Wim Wenders or Jean-Luc Godard, to systematically track these references down. He first came across them while preparing a film about the Kafka in 1978. Zischler began years of meticulous research for the films mentioned in archives in various countries. This first resulted in an article and finally in a book entitled
Kafka Goes to the Movies, which was published in 1996. This was followed in 2002 by the film, which literally sets the collected material in motion and turns it into an almost immersive film experience.
Here we can now see excerpts from films that Kafka himself saw. In an artful, often playful montage, they are interspersed with new footage of the places where Kafka saw the films, often together with his friend Max Brod. They fill the window of a train compartment or the windshield of a car. Postcards and posters float by, Kafka's handwriting appears in the picture. Something of the magic and curiosity of early silent films is revealed. Zischler's film is not only a portrait of Kafka and his time through the lens of cinema, but also a declaration of love to the early days of the medium itself.
Film Programme:
Jízda Prahou otevřenou tramvají (A Tram Ride through Prague). Czech 1908. Directed, written, photographed and produced by Jan Kříenecký. 2 mins.
Nick Winter et le vol de la joconde (Nick Winter and the Theft of the Mona Lisa). France 1911. Directed by Paul Garbagni. 10 mins.
Primo Circuito Aereo Internazionale di Aeroplane in Brescia (First International Competition for Airplanes in Brescia). Italy 1909. Produced by Manifatture Cinematografiche Adolfo Croce, Milano. 13 mins.
Kafka va au cinéma (Kafka goes to the movies), France 2002. Director and screenplay: Hanns Zischler. Cinematography: Hanns Zischler, Ute Adamczewski, Miriam Fassbender. Production: Movimento Production, Paris. 55 mins, English Version.
Please note that we do not show any advertising and that the programme starts on time.
Helen Hughes is recently retired having lectured in German and Film Studies at the University of Surrey for thirty years. Her writing on Kafka began with her PhD,
The Bureaucratic Muse, completed in 1994, which included a chapter on Kafka’s
In der Strafkolonie [in the penal colony]. She has co-authored chapters with Martin Brady on Kafka adapted to film for the
Cambridge Companion to Kafka (2006) and
Mediamorphosis: Kafka and the Moving Image (2016) and most recently contributed an essay on
Schakale und Araber for
The Cinema of Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub (2023).
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