Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life

1993 British short comedy film

BBC Scotland
The Scottish Film Production Fund
Conundrum Films

Release date

1993 (1993)

Running time

23 minutesCountryUnited KingdomLanguageEnglish

Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life is a 1993 British short comedy film written and directed by Peter Capaldi. It stars Richard E. Grant as Franz Kafka and co-stars Ken Stott. The title refers to the name of the writer Franz Kafka and the 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life, directed by Frank Capra, and the plot takes the concept of the two to absurd depths.

The film features a rendition of "Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life" from the 1910 operetta Naughty Marietta.

In 1994, the short won the BAFTA Award for Best Short Film. The following year it won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film, tying with Trevor.

Synopsis

The great writer Franz Kafka is about to write his famous 1915 work, The Metamorphosis, but inspiration is lacking, and he suffers continual interruptions.

Cast

Richard E. Grant – Franz Kafka
Crispin Letts – Gregor Samsa
Ken Stott – Woland the Knifeman
Elaine Collins – Miss Cicely
Phyllis Logan – Frau Bunofsky
Julie Cox – Party Girl
Jessie Doyle – Party Girl
Samantha Howarth – Party Girl
Justine Luxton – Party Girl
Laura Reiss – Party Girl
Thea Tait – Party Girl
Lucy Woodhouse – Party Girl

Accolades

Year	Award	Category	Recipient(s)	Result	Ref.
1993	BAFTA Scotland Award	Best Short Film	Peter Capaldi	Won	^[1]
	Atlantic Film Festival Award	Best Live Action Film	Peter Capaldi	Won	^[2]
		Best Short Film	Peter Capaldi	Won	^[2]
		Best Set Design	John Beard	Won	^[2]
1994	Angers European First Film Festival Audience Award	Short Film	Peter Capaldi	Won	^[3]
	BAFTA Film Award	Best Short Film	Peter Capaldi, Ruth Kenley-Letts	Won	^[4]
	Celtic Media Festival Award	Best New Director	Peter Capaldi	Won	^[2]
	Vevey International Funny Film Festival Award	Prix Schwartz Best Short Film	Peter Capaldi	Won	^[2]
1995	Academy Award	Live Action Short Film	Peter Capaldi, Ruth Kenley-Letts	Won	^[5]

References

^ "Latin for a dark room". The Herald. 22 March 1994. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "FRANZ KAFKA'S IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE". National Library of Scotland. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
^ "Premiers Plans Festival d'Angers" (PDF). Premiers Plans. 1994. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
^ Kenley-Letts, Ruth (2011). "Franz Kafka's "It's a Wonderful Life" (1993)". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Baseline & All Movie Guide. Archived from the original on 20 May 2011. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
^ "The 67th Academy Awards (1995) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. AMPAS. Retrieved 20 November 2011.

External links

Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life at IMDb
Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life (1993) at AllMovie
Full record for Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life at the National Library of Scotland

Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film

Short subject
1931–1935

Comedy	The Music Box (1932) So This Is Harris (1933) La Cucaracha (1934) How to Sleep (1935)
Novelty	Wrestling Swordfish (1932) Krakatoa (1933) City of Wax (1934) Wings Over Everest (1935)

Short subject
1936–1956

Color	Give Me Liberty (1936) Penny Wisdom (1937)
One-reel	Bored of Education (1936) The Private Life of the Gannets (1937) That Mothers Might Live (1938) Busy Little Bears (1939) Quicker'n a Wink (1940) Of Pups and Puzzles (1941) Speaking of Animals and Their Families (1942) Amphibious Fighters (1943) Who's Who in Animal Land (1944) Stairway to Light (1945) Facing Your Danger (1946) Goodbye, Miss Turlock (1947) Symphony of a City (1948) Aquatic House Party (1949) Grandad of Races (1950) World of Kids (1951) Light in the Window (1952) Overture to The Merry Wives of Windsor (1953) This Mechanical Age (1954) Survival City (1955) Crashing the Water Barrier (1956)
Two-reel	The Public Pays (1936) Torture Money (1937) Declaration of Independence (1938) Sons of Liberty (1939) Teddy, the Rough Rider (1940) Main Street on the March! (1941) Beyond the Line of Duty (1942) Heavenly Music (1943) I Won't Play (1944) Star in the Night (1945) A Boy and His Dog (1946) Climbing the Matterhorn (1947) Seal Island (1948) Van Gogh (1949) In Beaver Valley (1950) Nature's Half Acre (1951) Water Birds (1952) Bear Country (1953) A Time Out of War (1954) The Face of Lincoln (1955) The Bespoke Overcoat (1956)

Short subject
(live action)
1957–1973

The Wetback Hound (1957)
Grand Canyon (1958)
The Golden Fish (1959)
Day of the Painter (1960)
Seawards the Great Ships (1961)
Heureux Anniversaire (1962)
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (1963)
Casals Conducts: 1964 (1964)
The Chicken (1965)
Wild Wings (1966)
A Place to Stand (1967)
Robert Kennedy Remembered (1968)
The Magic Machines (1969)
The Resurrection of Broncho Billy (1970)
Sentinels of Silence (1971)
Norman Rockwell's World... An American Dream (1972)
The Bolero (1973)

Short film
(live action)
1974–present

One-Eyed Men Are Kings (1974)
Angel and Big Joe (1975)
In the Region of Ice (1976)
I'll Find a Way (1977)
Teenage Father (1978)
Board and Care (1979)
The Dollar Bottom (1980)
Violet (1981)
A Shocking Accident (1982)
Boys and Girls (1983)
Up (1984)
Molly's Pilgrim (1985)
Precious Images (1986)
Ray's Male Heterosexual Dance Hall (1987)
The Appointments of Dennis Jennings (1988)
Work Experience (1989)
The Lunch Date (1990)
Session Man (1991)
Omnibus (1992)
Schwarzfahrer (1993)
Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life / Trevor (1994)
Lieberman in Love (1995)
Dear Diary (1996)
Visas and Virtue (1997)
Election Night (1998)
My Mother Dreams the Satan's Disciples in New York (1999)
Quiero ser (I want to be...) (2000)
The Accountant (2001)
This Charming Man (2002)
Two Soldiers (2003)
Wasp (2004)
Six Shooter (2005)
West Bank Story (2006)
Le Mozart des Pickpockets (2007)
Toyland (2008)
The New Tenants (2009)
God of Love (2010)
The Shore (2011)
Curfew (2012)
Helium (2013)
The Phone Call (2014)
Stutterer (2015)
Sing (2016)
The Silent Child (2017)
Skin (2018)
The Neighbors' Window (2019)
Two Distant Strangers (2020)
The Long Goodbye (2021)
An Irish Goodbye (2022)
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (2023)

v t e Adaptations of works by Franz Kafka
Films	The Trial (1962) The Castle (1968) The Penal Colony (1970) Klassenverhältnisse (1984) The Loves of Kafka (1988) Kafka (1991) The Trial (1993) Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life (1993) The Castle (1994) The Castle (1997) K (2002) Metamorphosis (2012)
Literature	Kafka Americana
Comics	Give It Up! The Metamorphosis Introducing Kafka

v t e Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis
In popular culture
Film adaptations	Metamorphosis (2012)
Film variations	Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life (1993) Rat (2000) Kuthiraivaal (2021)
Novel variations	Insect Dreams: The Half Life of Gregor Samsa (2002) Kockroach (2007) Anxious Pleasures (2007) Samsa in Love (2014 short story)
Video game variations	Bad Mojo (1996) Metamorphosis (2020)
Other	Solo Piano (album)

Franz Kafka (works)

Novels

The Trial
The Castle
Amerika

Short stories

1902–1912	"Shamefaced Lanky and Impure in Heart" "Description of a Struggle" "Wedding Preparations in the Country" "The Judgment" "The Stoker" The Metamorphosis "The Aeroplanes at Brescia"
1914–1917	"In the Penal Colony" "The Village Schoolmaster" "Before the Law" "Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor" "A Country Doctor" "The Hunter Gracchus" "The Great Wall of China" "A Message from the Emperor" "A Report to an Academy" "A Dream" "Up in the Gallery" "A Fratricide" "The Next Village" "A Visit to a Mine" "Jackals and Arabs" "The Bridge" "The Bucket Rider" "The New Advocate" "An Old Manuscript" "The Knock at the Manor Gate" "Eleven Sons" "My Neighbor" "A Crossbreed" "The Cares of a Family Man"
1917–1923	"The Refusal" "A Hunger Artist" "Investigations of a Dog" "A Little Woman" "The Burrow" "Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk" "A Common Confusion" "The Truth about Sancho Panza" "The Silence of the Sirens" "Prometheus" "The City Coat of Arms" "Poseidon" "Fellowship" "At Night" "The Problem of Our Laws" "The Conscription of Troops" "The Test" "The Vulture" "The Helmsman" "The Top" "A Little Fable" "Homecoming" "First Sorrow" "The Departure" "Advocates" "The Married Couple" "Give It Up!" "On Parables"