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First Trailer for Ulrich Köhler’s ‘Gavagai’ Meta Film Premiering at NYFF

by Alex Billington
September 29, 2025
Source: YouTube

“I”m nervous about tonight…” Luxbox has revealed the first official trailer for the film Gavagai, the latest from German filmmaker Ulrich Köhler. He is a talented under-the-radar director best known for his post-apocalyptic film In My Room from a few years ago. Gavagai is premiering now at the 2025 New York and Zurich Film Festivals now, before showing at Hamburg and even more fests this fall. It’s a meta story about a filmmaker making a film then encountering racism during its premiere. On the set of a turbulent shoot of a Medea adaptation in Senegal, Africa, Maja seeks solace in a love affair with her co-star Nourou. Months later, they meet again at the film’s premiere in Berlin. Old feelings resurface, but a racist incident unsettles their reunion. Tensions rise as everyone tries to do the right thing. While the ancient tragedy plays out on screen, a contemporary drama unfolds. Gavagai stars Jean-Christophe Folly, Maren Eggert, Nathalie Richard, and Anna Diakhere Thiandoum. This looks quite good! I’m surprised it didn’t show up at any other fests like Venice or TIFF, but I’m glad it’s getting a chance to shine now. Keep an eye out for this one.

Here’s the first official trailer for Ulrich Köhler’s film Gavagai, direct from Luxbox’s YouTube:

Gavagai Trailer

Extended intro via NYFF: “In this charged, unexpected metacinematic drama from German director Ulrich Köhler, a radical new movie production of Medea, drastically altered from Euripides’s original play, becomes the center of a series of unresolvable contemporary tensions. Nourou (Jean-Christophe Folly) and Maja (Maren Eggert) embody Jason and Medea on-screen, tussling with the film’s high-anxiety director (Nathalie Richard) during the shoot in Senegal, all the while negotiating an adulterous romance off-set. Later, at the film’s premiere in Berlin, Nourou, unresolved in his personal and professional life, has a rattling run-in with a racist security guard, which throws his—and the film’s—world off its axis… Gavagai is [Köhler’s] most ambitious and expansive film yet—a pinpoint-accurate account of moral crises and social biases, modern and ancient, internal and external.“

Gavagai is written and directed by acclaimed German filmmaker Ulrich Köhler, of the films Bungalow, Windows on Monday, Sleeping Sickness, In My Room, and A Voluntary Year. Produced by Ingmar Trost, Clément Duboin. This is premiering at the 2025 New York & Zurich Film Festivals this fall. It will open in German cinemas in January 2026 early next year. No US release is set yet – stay tuned. How does it look?

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Ulrich Köhler’s “Gavagai” has debuted its trailer with Variety ahead of the film’s screening on Sunday at the Zurich Film Festival.

International sales for the film, which had its world premiere at New York Film Festival on Saturday, are being handled by LuxBox.

The film unspools during the turbulent shoot of a “Medea” adaptation in Senegal. On set, Maja seeks solace in a love affair with her co-star Nourou. Months later, they meet again at the film’s premiere in Berlin. Old feelings resurface, but a racist incident unsettles their reunion. Tensions rise as everyone tries to do the right thing. While the ancient tragedy plays out on screen, a contemporary drama unfolds.

Dennis Lim, artistic director of the New York Film Festival, commented: “Köhler specializes in cunning, tonally surprising films about cross-cultural disconnection, and ‘Gavagai’ is his most ambitious and expansive film yet—a pinpoint-accurate account of moral crises and social biases, modern and ancient, internal and external.”

The cast includes Jean-Christophe Folly (Nourou), Maren Eggert (Maja), Nathalie Richard (Caroline), Anna Diakhere Thiandoum (Aïta) and Mateusz Malecki (Kolakowski).

The producers are Ingmar Trost and Clement Duboin. The co-producer is Maren Ade. The lead production company is Sutor Kolonko, and the co-production partner is Good Fortune Films.

Köhler’s “Bungalow” (2002) and “Montag kommen die Fenster” (2006) were shown at numerous festivals and received several prizes. “Schlafkrankheit (2011) was awarded the Silver Bear for best director at the Berlinale. “In My Room” (2018) premiered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section. “A Voluntary Year” (2019), made in collaboration with Henner Winckler, screened in competition at Locarno.