Two Men: A Kafka Inspired Short Film

Two Men, a short film direct­ed by Dominic Allen, takes an old philo­soph­i­cal sto­ry by Franz Kaf­ka, one set in Europe of course, and adapts it to a con­tem­po­rary Abo­rig­i­nal Aus­tralian con­text, using indige­nous “non actors.” In rework­ing Kafka’s tale (read the orig­i­nal text here), Allen hoped to “affirm an ele­ment of human­i­ty’s com­mon­al­i­ty” … and “rein­force Kafka’s point that it’s impos­si­ble to ever tru­ly know anoth­er’s moti­va­tions.” Made in 2009, the film has since been screened at film fes­ti­vals in New York, Prague, Lon­don, and Syd­ney, and the film earned Allen the “Emerg­ing Aus­tralian Film­mak­er Prize” at the Mel­bourne Inter­na­tion­al Film Fes­ti­val last year.

Relat­ed Con­tent:

Franz Kaf­ka: The Ani­mat­ed Short Film

Prague’s Franz Kaf­ka Inter­na­tion­al Named World’s Most Alien­at­ing Air­port