Poland to Compete at the 2026 Oscars with Frantz
According to CinemaDrame News Agency, Poland has selected Frantz, directed by Agnieszka Holland, as its official entry for the 98th Academy Awards. The biographical drama about Franz Kafka was recently screened at the Toronto International Film Festival.
In the film, Eidan Weiss plays Kafka, a young man trapped in the nightmare of a bureaucratic daily existence—one that eerily mirrors the lives of today’s corporate workers. Long before the rise of social media, he wrestles with an existential crisis and seeks refuge in imagination, art, absurdity, and irony, eventually becoming celebrated as one of the greatest writers of the 20th century.
Holland’s latest film, following Green Border, received positive reviews after its Toronto premiere. A Hollywood Reporter critic wrote: “What people will remember from this film is Weiss’s affecting, playful, and endearing debut interpretation of Kafka—a portrait of a complex man who lived mostly in his head, yet was kind to friends and lovers.”
Other contenders for Poland’s Oscar submission included Chopin, Chopin! by Michał Kwieciński, Good House by Wojciech Smarzowski, Two Sisters by Łukasz Karkowski, Letters from the Wolf by Arjun Talwar, Trains by Maciej E. Drigas, and VINCI 2 by Juliusz Machulski.
