Kafka. In Love
Zane Oborenko (2024) 10′

In production

Film Title: Kafka. In Love
Director: Zane Oborenko
Producer: Sabīne Andersone
Co-oproducer: Alena Vandasová, Martin Vandas (MAUR film, www.maurfilm.com)
Planned premiere: 2024
Planned length: 10′
Technique: Sand animation
Financially supported by National Film Centre of Latvia and Czech Film Fund

Synopsis

Franz and Milena – between them a distance, her husband and loads of letters – it is love that fills Kafka’s life with light and hope and at the same time illuminates the fears and darkness in him. The animated short “Kafka. In Love” is based on Kafka’s Letters to Milena. It explores less known, but nonetheless extraordinary and puzzling aspects of Kafka’s personality.

Directors statement

My primary interest and wish with this film was to show constant emotional shifts that the human mind goes through when dealing with strong and complicated emotions – from positive to negative ones and vice versa as they are constantly influenced by fantasy and intruding reality. It’s not only a film about love, but a film about its impossibility and ultimately about loneliness.
Although the film gets its inspiration from letters written between Franz Kafka and Czech journalist and translator Milena Jesenská almost 100 year ago, human nature and our emotional needs remain the same today. The need for connection and understanding are eagerly felt today with distances imposed on us, with distances we have chosen to keep, at distances we find ourselves despite all the possibilities technological advancements offer us today.