Gavagai

Germany, France | 2025 | 90 min

Language: French, English, German, Wolof

Subtitles: English

Not for persons under 12

Director(s): Ulrich Köhler

Script: Ulrich Köhler

Cast: Maren Eggert, Jean-Christophe Folly, Homa Faghiri, Darja Mahotkin, Maj-Britt Klenke, Demet Gül, Stacy Thunes Krieger, Caelian del‘Mare, Felix Maria Zeppenfeld, Mélanie Fouché, Leonardo Mancuso

Production: Sutor Kolonko, Good Fortune Films

Distribution: Luxbox

Dark Comedy

Afro-European Society Love Identity At Work Artists (Mis)use of Power Outsiders

Horizons

Screenings:

In Greek mythology, Medea is presented as a strong feminist character, yet also as a foreigner and a witch who threatens the patriarchal order and civilization. Gavagai is a film about the re-imagining of the myth in the 2020s in the hands of a French white arthouse director. In this version, Medea has been cast as white, and the rest of the cast, representing the Greek civilization, are Black. The film is shot in Senegal and premieres at a major film festival in Berlin. In the midst of the filmmaking process, Medea’s actress Maja (Maren Eggert) and Medea’s husband Jason’s actor Nourou (Jean-Christophe Folly) develop a romance ridden with racialised assumptions.

As a metafilm, Gavagai examines the tensions and moral dilemmas that arise during the making and premiere of the controversial film. The name of the film refers to a thought experiment in the philosophy of language that suggests no objective, universal translation can be reached. In the spirit of the Gavagai problem, the film and its meta layers examine the power structures of the film industry from its European, white perspective without declaring any truths nor solutions.

Saara Tuusa

Updated 2026-07-30 17:30:10 UTC