Home / Arts and Entertainment / Filmmaker's "Medea" Remake in Senegal Sparks Racial Tensions
Filmmaker's "Medea" Remake in Senegal Sparks Racial Tensions
26 Sep, 2025
Summary
- Filmmaker Ulrich Köhler's "Gavagai" explores racial issues in filmmaking
- Actress Maren Eggert plays a white woman ostracized by a Black African community
- Racial profiling incident occurs at the Berlin Film Festival premiere
In September 2025, filmmaker Ulrich Köhler's "Gavagai" premiered at the New York Film Festival, exploring racial issues in the filmmaking industry. The movie centers around a filmmaker, Caroline Lescot (played by Nathalie Richard), who directs a reverse-engineered version of the Greek tragedy "Medea" in Senegal. The lead actress, Maren Eggert, portrays a white woman who is ostracized by the local Black African community.
Meanwhile, at the Berlin Film Festival premiere of the film-within-the-film, its star, Nourou (Jean-Christophe Folly), experiences a racially troubling incident with a Polish hotel security guard. This echoes a real-life experience Köhler had during the premiere of his previous film, "Sleeping Sickness," where the film's star was subjected to racial profiling.
Köhler, whose partner is acclaimed filmmaker Maren Ade, uses "Gavagai" to explore the charged landscape of who gets to direct what in the film industry, as well as the privileges and pressures faced by filmmakers. The movie is not quite a comedy, drama, or industry satire, but rather a nuanced exploration of these complex issues.
