ChaiFlicks, the prime streaming service for Jewish storytelling, has acquired the rights to premium Austrian limited series “Kafka” from ORF-Enterprise, the global distribution arm of Austrian pubcaster ORF.
The six-part series is due to launch June 6 in North America for ChaiFlicks, to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the death of the world celebrated Bohemian author Franz Kafka.
Lending his features to the Prague-born author of “The Metamorphosis” is Swish actor Joel Basman (“The Awakening of Motti Wolkenbruch”, “The Monuments Men”). The ARD/ORF series is helmed by David Schalko (“Braunschlag”) who co-wrote the script with German-Austrian novelist and playwright Daniel Kehmann, based on the definitive Kafka biography by Reiner Stach.
The show chronicles the life, love affairs, and friendships of the German-speaking Kafka viewed as one of the most influential writers of all time, whose name led to the familiar term ‘Kafkaesque,’ referring to the surreal, confusing and almost nightmarish situations described in Kafka’s novels.
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“Franz Kafka’s nightmares are our daily reality: in his dark yet comic visions, he divined the world in which we all now live. These visions did not come out of nowhere, but were formed by his life, his family, his private environment,” said Kehlmann in an earlier statement.
Neil Friedman, co-founder of ChaiFlicks, said his banner had been tracking the show from its inception “because of its special subject matter.”
“We were thrilled that the series lived up to everything we had hoped it would,” he said, before adding: “It’s beautifully written, produced and the cast is truly world-class. Launching it this June is the perfect way for all of us to celebrate and honor Kafka on the 100th anniversary of his passing.”
ORF-Enterprise’s deal with ChaiFlicks comes on top of a raft of sales announced at the last MipTV in Cannes, including Channel 4/Walter Presents for the U.K., Polyband for Germany, SVT for Sweden, Yle for Finland, SRF for Switzerland, Ceska Televize for the Czech Republic RTVS for Slovakia, RTV Slovenjia for Slovenia and TV Unam for Mexico.
Launched in 2020, the streamer ChaiFlicks has over 3,000 hours of Jewish storytelling, across script and non-scripted, available to its customers in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand. Among its biggest recent hits is the Yes Studios original “Fire Dance.”
