Gavagai screens as part of this year’s 2026 HSBC German Film Festival, more information about the festival is available here: The 2026 HSBC German Film Festival returns to cinemas in May
Read the Glam Adelaide story about the festival here: 2026 HSBC German Film Festival begins 6 May to 27 May at Palace Nova Cinemas – Glam Adelaide
Director Ulrich Köhler has crafted an extraordinary piece of work in his latest feature Gavagai, (not to be confused with Rob Tregenza’s 2016 German/Norwegian film of the same name).
Working around the trope of film-within-film, Köhler first takes us to Senegal where French director Caroline is making a modern interpretation of the classic Medea, starring German actor Maja and French-Senegalese actor Nourou. Maja has separated from her partner and is deeply involved in a relationship with Nourou. The second part takes us to Berlin for the Festival opening.
Gavagai explores discrimination, identity, oppression, and the infinitely varied dynamics of power. In this way it echoes Medea. The film within turns the Greek tragedy somewhat on its head, playing out the mother-child tensions quite differently to Euripides’ original. Maja herself has a child, and her anxieties around their separation feed into her role as the ultimate female child-killer. It also doesn’t shy away from examining the artistic and thematic tensions that exist within the filmmaking process itself. And yet it manages to avoid self-righteous heaviness. For example the opening shot is a breath-taking stunner, which then descends into a very funny scene, allowing us to relax into the drama to come.
Jean-Christophe Folly is resplendent as Nourou, taking us with him through every nuanced emotion around micro-aggressions and constant, often well-meaning, othering. Maren Eggert gives us a Maja who is conflicted, hyper-vigilant, and passionately in love. Together they are a masterclass in on-screen chemistry. The main cast is rounded out by Nathalie Richard as Caroline, a director frustrated by the misunderstanding of her work, but also questioning herself. She is a woman who comes across as though control has somewhat got away from her.
Cinematographer Patrick Orth has made the most of both Senegal and Germany, allowing his cameras to sweep over the Atlantic coast and home in on the smaller details of middle-class Berlin. Yet the visuals work in perfect harmony with what is going on in front of them: they never pull focus.
Gavagai has come to us as part of the German Film Festival, having originally been released in Europe a year ago. It is surely one of the highlights of this year’s festival, and deserving of a theatrical release here in Australia. This is audacious, brave, luscious, film-making.
Reviewed by Tracey Korsten
Rating 4.5 out 5
Distributor: Luxbox
Audacious, brave, lush, and passionate.
