Gavagai

Gavagai

A film by Ulrich Köhler. Starts April 30th at the fsk . In French, English, German and Wolof with German subtitles.

[Credits] [Tickets & Termine] [Trailer]

Actors Maja and Nourou have an affair while shoo­ting a modern adapt­a­ti­on of Medea in Senegal, but things take a dark turn after the film’s pre­mie­re. An unflin­chin­gly com­plex look at racial ten­si­ons, film­ma­king and power dynamics.

In Dakar, during the making of a moder­nist take on the Medea myth, fel­low actors Maja and Nourou start an affair to ease the pres­su­res on set and the pier­cing fee­lings of loneli­ne­ss. Once the shoot is over, they meet again only for the pre­mie­re in Berlin – which turns into a dis­as­ter when the press ques­ti­ons the film pro­jec­ting a European nar­ra­ti­ve onto a for­mer colony.

The word ‘gava­gai’ ori­gi­na­tes from a thought expe­ri­ment by phi­lo­so­pher and logi­ci­an W.V. Quine, who sug­gested that trans­la­ti­on is inex­tri­ca­bly tied to con­text – wit­hout it, ever­y­thing can theo­re­ti­cal­ly mean ever­y­thing. Berlin School out­lier Ulrich Köhler (In My Room, IFFR 2019) turns this idea into an essay on our modern socie­ty in which appearance is ever­y­thing and all is ruled by the laws of click­bait. Köhler refu­ses to give into the lazi­ness, frus­tra­ti­on and anger that is so pre­va­lent in today’s media and art dis­cour­se. One of the most poli­ti­cal­ly per­ti­nent films of the year.

IFFR

Credits:

DE/FR 2025, 89 Min., Französisch, Englisch, Deutsch. Wolof OmU
Regie: Ulrich Köhler
Kamera: Patrick Orth
Schnitt: Lorna Hoefler Steffen
mit: Jean-Christophe Folly, Maren Eggert, Nathalie Richard, Anna Diakhere Thiandoum

Trailer:
GAVAGAI by Ulrich Köhler – Trailer

Im Kino mit deut­schen Untertiteln

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