EXCLUSIVE: Luxbox has boarded German filmmaker Ulrich Köhler’s Gavagai which is set to world premiere at the upcoming New York Film Festival (NYFF).
The German-French co-production is about two co-stars who have a love affair during the turbulent shoot of an adaptation of ancient Greek tragedy Medea in Senegal, then meet again months later at the film’s premiere in Berlin where a racist incident unsettles their reunion.
The French, English and German-language film stars Jean-Christophe Folly, Maren Eggert, Nathalie Richard and Anna Diakhere Thiandoum. Gavagai is produced by Germany’s Sutor Kolonko and France’s Good Fortune Films.
Köhler’s Sleeping Sickness won the Silver Bear for best director at the 2011 Berlin Film Festival and In My Room premiered at Cannes in Un Certain Regard in 2018. He has also directed features Bungalow (2002) and Montag Kommen Die Fenster (2006), and his latest A Voluntary Year, co-directed with Henner Winckler, premiered at Locarno in 2019.
Luxbox president Fiorella Moretti said: “The film immediately impressed us with its ability to tackle complex societal issues – identity, power, and prejudice – blending humour with profound sensitivity in a way that can resonate with a wide audience.”