"Kafkaesque" is a half-hour documentary Sven Berkemeier and I co-produced about Egon Kafka, collector of vintage transit busses, urban philosopher, and distant cousin of legendary existentialist Franz Kafka. Completed in 2001, it went on to tour twelve film festivals worldwide, earning critical acclaim and special recognition at several venues (see The Festivals, opposite).

Sven and I had the opportunity to visit several of the festivals:

At the Santa Cruz Film Festival, our film was presented in a classic restored movie palace. Egon Kafka joined us to answer questions from an enthusiastic crowd.

In September, 2002, we had the pleasure of visiting three festivals in the Los Angeles area, all of which featured Kafkaesque. Doctober, a festival conducted by the International Documentary Association, presented our film on a pristine 35mm print, the only festival to have the opportunity to do so. Egon brought one of his busses to the opening night party, and to the festival itself (see photo below). The Silver Lake Film Festival, a truly grass-roots affair in a community near downtown Los Angeles, presented films in a variety of community venues. We were part of an eclectic program projected in an auditorium in a local elementary school.  The Big Bear Lake International Film Festival was easily t he most picturesque festival, highlighted by numerous opportunities for filmmakers and the public to interact. 

The lest festival we attended was  Globalfest, the  Inland Empire Film Festival.  The film won Best Documentary here, helped in part by some fantastic press.

First, the "Press Enterprise," in the Inland Empire (in Southern California), featured an article by Mark Muckenfuss  on the occasion of our showing at the Globalfest Film Festival.  They seem to have removed the article from the website, but I'll send a copy if anyone's interested.  My favorite part of the article, of course, was a quote from yours truly: 

It begged for an off-the-wall approach," Samuels said. During the editing process we had a lot of discussions about 'What are we going to do with this thing?' We realized in telling Egon's story, it's really anyone's story who struggles to fulfill a dream. We're all, in some ways, Don Quixotes tilting at windmills."

Or maybe just individuals struggling against the absurdities of the world.

Also related to Egon Kafka and our film, an in-depth article in the Washington Post by William Booth, which has been syndicated in newspapers nationwide.

During Doctober, Film Threat.Com, one of the webs most independent sources of film criticism, declared:  "Kafkaesque Rules Doctober!"