A film by Kafka’s publisher Hans-Gerd Koch and filmmaker Clemens Schmiedbauer.

The film traces the final stages of Franz Kafka’s life, from Prague to the Wienerwald Sanatorium near Pernitz, then to the University Hospital in Vienna, and finally to his last stop, Dr. Hermann’s Sanatorium in Kierling near Klosterneuburg.

Letters and documents are shown, revealing the desperate search of the tuberculosis-stricken Kafka for relief. In interviews with Kafka researchers, the focus is on understanding the author during the last phase of his life. A medical historian explains Kafka’s illness and the helplessness of the doctors given the state of medicine at that time.

Hans-Gerd Koch & Clemens Schmiedbauer – 2024 – 65’ – Documentary

Language: German with English subtitles