View source for Costa-Gavras

{{Short description|Greek-French film director (born 1933)}}
{{use dmy dates|date=November 2025}}
{{Infobox person
|name        = Costa-Gavras
|image       = Costa-Gavras Césars 2017.jpg
|caption     = Costa-Gavras in 2017
|alt         = 
|native_name = {{lang|el|Κώστας Γαβράς}}
|birth_name  = Konstantinos Gavras (Κωνσταντίνος Γαβράς)
|birth_date  = {{birth date and age|1933|2|12|df=y}}
|birth_place = [[Iraia|Loutra Iraias]], Greece
|occupation  = Filmmaker
|works      = [[Costa-Gavras filmography|Full list]]
|awards           = [[List of awards and nominations received by Costa-Gavras|Full list]]
|spouse      = [[Michèle Ray]]
|children   = {{ubl|[[Alexandre Gavras]]|[[Julie Gavras]]|[[Romain Gavras]]}}
|alma_mater  = [[Institut des hautes études cinématographiques|Institute for Advanced Cinematographic Studies]]
}}

'''Konstantinos''' "'''Kostas'''" '''Gavras''' ({{langx|el|Κωνσταντίνος "Κώστας" Γαβράς}}; born 12 February 1933), known professionally as '''Costa-Gavras''', is a Greek-French film director, screenwriter, and producer who lives and works in France. He is known for political films, such as the political thriller ''[[Z (1969 film)|Z]]'' (1969), which won an [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]] for [[Academy Award for Best International Feature Film|Best Foreign Language Film]], and ''[[Missing (1982 film)|Missing]]'' (1982), for which he won the [[Palme d'Or]] and an [[Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay]]. Most of his films have been made in French, but six have been in English, including ''[[Hanna K.]]''.

==Early life==
Costa-Gavras was born in [[Iraia|Loutra Iraias]], [[Arcadia (regional unit)|Arcadia]]. His family spent the Second World War in a village in the [[Peloponnese]], and moved to Athens after the war. His father had been a member of the [[National Liberation Front (Greece)|Pro-Soviet branch]] of the [[Greek Resistance]], and was imprisoned during the [[Greek Civil War]]. His father's [[Communist Party of Greece|Communist Party]] membership made it impossible for Costa-Gavras to attend university in Greece or to be granted a visa to the United States, so after high school, he settled in France, where he began studying literature at the [[University of Paris|Sorbonne]] in 1951.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.kgproductions.fr/cg |title=COSTA-GAVRAS &#124; maquette-kg-nov2014 |access-date=30 September 2019 |archive-date=28 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728232005/https://www.kgproductions.fr/cg |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Early career==
In 1956, he abandoned his university studies to study film at the French national film school, [[Institut des hautes études cinématographiques|IDHEC]]. After film school, he apprenticed under [[Yves Allégret]], and became an assistant director for [[Jean Giono]] and [[René Clair]]. After several further appointments as first assistant director, he directed his first feature film, ''[[The Sleeping Car Murders|Compartiment Tueurs]]'', in 1965.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cinemapassion.com/filmographie-realisateur-%20COSTA-GAVRAS-738.html |title=Biographie et Filmographie de COSTA-GAVRAS - Ciné Passion |publisher=Cinemapassion.com |access-date=28 October 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111001041604/http://www.cinemapassion.com/filmographie-realisateur-%20COSTA-GAVRAS-738.html |archive-date=1 October 2011 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

==Selected films==
His 1967 film ''[[Shock Troops (film)|Shock Troops]]'' (''Un homme de trop'') was entered into the [[5th Moscow International Film Festival]].<ref name="Moscow1967">{{cite web|url=http://www.moscowfilmfestival.ru/miff34/eng/archives/?year=1967 |title=5th Moscow International Film Festival (1967) |access-date=15 December 2012 |work=MIFF |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116194759/http://www.moscowfilmfestival.ru/miff34/eng/archives/?year=1967 |archive-date=16 January 2013 }}</ref>

In ''[[Z (1969 film)|Z]]'' (1969), an investigating judge, played by [[Jean-Louis Trintignant]], tries to uncover the truth about the murder of a prominent leftist politician, played by [[Yves Montand]], while government officials and the military attempt to cover up their roles. The film is a fictionalised account of the events surrounding the assassination of the Greek politician [[Grigoris Lambrakis]] in 1963. It had additional resonance because, at the time of its release, Greece had been ruled for two years by [[Greek junta|the "Regime of the Colonels"]]. ''Z'' won the [[Academy Awards|Oscar]] for [[Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film|Best Foreign Language Film]].<ref name="Oscars1970">{{Cite web|url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1970 |title=The 42nd Academy Awards (1970) Nominees and Winners |access-date=16 November 2011 |work=oscars.org}}</ref> Costa-Gavras and co-writer [[Jorge Semprún]] won an [[Edgar Award]] from the [[Mystery Writers of America]] for Best Film Screenplay.

''[[L'Aveu]]'' (''The Confession'', 1970) follows the path of [[Artur London]], a Czechoslovakian communist minister falsely arrested and tried for treason and espionage in the [[Slánský trial|Slánský 'show trial']] in 1952.

''[[State of Siege]]'' (1972) takes place in [[Uruguay]] under the [[civic-military dictatorship of Uruguay]] in the early 1970s. In a plot loosely based on the case of US police official and alleged torture expert [[Dan Mitrione]], an American embassy official (played by [[Yves Montand]]) is kidnapped by the [[Tupamaros]], a radical leftist urban guerilla group, which interrogates him in order to reveal the details of secret American support for repressive regimes in [[Latin America]].

''[[Missing (1982 film)|Missing]],'' originally released in 1982 and based on the book ''The Execution Of Charles Horman'', concerns an American journalist, [[Charles Horman]] (played by [[John Shea]] in the film), who disappeared in the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup d'état]] led by General [[Augusto Pinochet]] in [[Chile]]. Horman's father, played by [[Jack Lemmon]], and wife, played by [[Sissy Spacek]], search in vain to determine his fate. Nathaniel Davis, US ambassador to Chile from 1971 to 1973, a version of whose character had been portrayed in the movie (under a different name), filed a US$150 million [[Slander and libel|libel suit]], ''Davis v. Costa-Gavras'', 619 F. Supp. 1372 (1985), against the studio and the director, which was eventually dismissed. The film won an Oscar for [[Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay|Best Screenplay Adaptation]] and the [[Palme d'Or]] at the [[Cannes Film Festival]] (with [[Yılmaz Güney]]'s movie ''[[Yol (film)|Yol]]''). 

''[[Betrayed (1988 film)|Betrayed]]'' (1988) is roughly based upon the terrorist activities of American [[neo-Nazi]] and [[White supremacy|white supremacist]] [[Robert Jay Mathews|Robert Mathews]] and his group [[The Order (white supremacist group)|The Order]].

In ''[[Music Box (film)|Music Box]]'' (1989), a respected [[Hungarian-American|Hungarian immigrant]] ([[Armin Mueller-Stahl]]) is accused of having commanded an [[Anti-Semitic]] [[death squad]] during [[World War II]]. His daughter, a Chicago defence attorney played by [[Jessica Lange]], agrees to defend him at his [[denaturalization]] hearing. The film is inspired by the arrest and trial of Ukrainian immigrant [[John Demjanjuk]] and screenwriter [[Joe Eszterhas]]' realisation that his father had been a member of the Hungarian [[Arrow Cross Party]]. The film won the [[Golden Bear]] at the [[40th Berlin International Film Festival]].<ref name="Berlinale 1990">{{cite web |url=http://www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/jahresarchive/1990/03_preistr_ger_1990/03_Preistraeger_1990.html |title=Berlinale: 1990 Prize Winners |access-date=20 March 2011 |work=berlinale.de}}</ref>

''[[The Little Apocalypse (1993 film)|La Petite Apocalypse]]'' (1993) was entered into the [[43rd Berlin International Film Festival]].<ref name="Berlinale 1993">{{cite web |url=http://www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/jahresarchive/1993/02_programm_1993/02_Programm_1993.html |title=Berlinale: 1993 Programme |access-date=5 June 2011 |work=berlinale.de}}</ref> ''[[Amen.]]'' (2003), was based in part on the highly controversial 1963 play, ''[[The Deputy|Der Stellvertreter. Ein christliches Trauerspiel]]'' (''The Deputy, a Christian Tragedy''), by [[Rolf Hochhuth]]. The film plot alleges that [[Pope Pius XII]] was aware of the plight of the [[Jew]]s in Nazi [[concentration camp]]s during [[World War II]], but failed to take public action to publicise or condemn the Holocaust. Gavras won [[César Award for Best Original Screenplay or Adaptation]] for this film.

He was president of the [[Cinémathèque Française]] from 1982 to 1987, and again since 2007.

==Political-commercial film==

Costa-Gavras is known for merging controversial political issues with the entertainment value of commercial cinema. Law and justice, oppression, legal/illegal violence, and torture are common subjects in his work, especially relevant to his earlier films. Costa-Gavras is an expert in the "statement" picture. In most cases, the targets of Costa-Gavras's work have been right wing or far right movements and regimes, including the Greek   military in ''[[Z (1969 film)|Z]]'', and right-wing dictatorships that ruled much of Latin America during the height of the Cold War, as in ''[[State of Siege]]'' and ''[[Missing (1982 film)|Missing]]''.{{Citation needed|date=April 2020}}

In a broader sense, this emphasis continues with ''[[Amen.]]'' given its focus on the conservative leadership of the Catholic Church during the 1940s. In this political context, ''[[L'Aveu]]'' (''The Confession'') provides the exception, dealing as it does with oppression on the part of a Communist regime during the Stalinist period.{{Citation needed|date=April 2020}}

==Issues and style==
{{Npov|date=April 2025}}
Costa-Gavras has brought attention to international issues, some urgent, others merely problematic, and he has done this in the tradition of cinematic storytelling. ''[[Z (1969 film)|Z]]'' (1969), one of his most well-known works, is an account of the undermining in the 1960s of democratic government in Greece, his homeland and place of birth. The format, however, is a mystery-thriller combination that transforms an uncomfortable history into a fast-paced story. This is a clear example of how he pours politics into plot, "bringing epic conflicts into the sort of personal conflicts we are accustomed to seeing on screen."{{Citation needed|date=April 2020}}

His accounts of corruption propagated, in their essence, by European and American powers (''[[Z (1969 film)|Z]]'', ''[[State of Siege]]'' and ''[[Missing (1982 film)|Missing]]'') highlight problems buried deep in the structures of these societies, problems which he deems not everyone is comfortable addressing. The approach he adopted in ''[[L'Aveu]]'' also "subtly invited the audience to a critical look focused on structural issues, delving this time into the opposite Communist bloc."{{Citation needed|date=April 2020}}

Until 2019's ''[[Adults in the Room]]'', Costa-Gavras had never worked in Greece or made a film in the Greek language.{{Citation needed|date=April 2020}}

==Influences==
When Costa-Gavras asked about some of his biggest cinematic influences, he replied: 
{{Quotation|The first movie I saw at the Cinematheque was [[Erich von Stroheim]]'s [[Greed (1924 film)|Greed]], and I was astonished to see you could do long movies with no happy ending. [[Akira Kurosawa|Kurosawa]], no doubt, was a big influence. Movies sometimes more than directors have influenced me: [[The Grapes of Wrath (film)|The Grapes of Wrath]], by [[John Ford]], was an extraordinary discovery. [[Sergei Eisenstein]], of course. Later on, [Ingmar] [[Ingmar Bergman|Bergman]].<ref>{{cite web |author1=Ed Rampell |title=Costa-Gavras |url=https://progressive.org/magazine/costa-gavras/ |website=The Progressive Magazine |publisher=The Progressive Inc. |access-date=5 March 2023 |date=August 29, 2013 |quote=Q: "Who are some of your biggest cinematic influences?"  Costa-Gavras: "The first movie I saw at the Cinematheque was [Erich von Stroheim's] Greed, and I was astonished to see you could do long movies with no happy ending.  Kurosawa, no doubt, was a big influence. Movies sometimes more than directors have influenced me: The Grapes of Wrath, by John Ford, was an extraordinary discovery. Sergei Eisenstein, of course. Later on, [Ingmar] Bergman."}}</ref>}}

He also listed [[René Clément]],<ref name="Michalczyk">{{cite book |author1=John J. Michalczyk |title=Costa-Gavras, the Political Fiction Film |date=1984 |publisher=Art Alliance Press |isbn=9780879820299 |page=33 |quote=In light of his international fame stemming from Z, Costa-Gavras was questioned as to which of the directors for whom he worked as assistant had the most influence on him. He replied: For me it was surely René Clément and Jacques Demy.}}</ref> [[Jacques Demy]],<ref name="Michalczyk" /> and [[Gillo Pontecorvo]]'s film ''[[The Battle of Algiers]]'' as an influence on his filmmaking.<ref>{{cite web |author1=LaCinetek |title=Costa-Gavras à propos de "La Bataille d'Alger" de Gillo Pontecorvo |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bL4Hme1_1HM |website=YouTube |date=16 January 2019 |publisher=LaCinetek |access-date=11 April 2023}}</ref>

==Legacy and influence==
Costa-Gavras' films have been a significant influence on [[political cinema]]. Wade Major of the [[Directors Guild of America]] mentioned that, "With films like Z and Missing, Costa-Gavras almost single-handedly created the modern political thriller".<ref>{{cite web |author1=Wade Major |title=World Class |url=https://www.dga.org/Craft/DGAQ/All-Articles/0903-Fall-2009/Profile-Costa-Gavras.aspx |website=DGA |publisher=Directors Guild of America |access-date=15 October 2021 |date=Fall 2009}}</ref> When German Director [[Wim Wenders]] paid tribute to him in 2018 at the 31st [[European Film Awards]] in Seville, Spain, Wenders called him "One of the greatest filmmakers of our time."<ref>{{cite web |author1=European Film Academy |title=Costa-Gavras - Honorary Award of the EFA President and Board |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlCXO2hdTQk |website=YouTube |date=26 September 2019 |access-date=9 April 2023}}</ref> 

He has influenced directors such as [[Oliver Stone]], [[William Friedkin]], [[Steven Soderbergh]], [[Rachid Bouchareb]], [[Mathieu Kassovitz]], and [[Ben Affleck]]. 

Stone mentioned that Costa-Gavras "was certainly one of my earliest role models,&nbsp;... I was a film student at NYU when ''Z'' came out, which we studied. Costa actually came over with Yves Montand for a screening and was such a hero to us. He was in the tradition of [[Gillo Pontecorvo]]'s ''[[The Battle of Algiers]]'' and was the man in that moment&nbsp;... it was a European moment."<ref>{{cite web|last=Major|first=Wade|title=World Class |url=https://www.dga.org/Craft/DGAQ/All-Articles/0903-Fall-2009/Profile-Costa-Gavras.aspx |website=DGA |publisher=Directors Guild of America |access-date=15 October 2021 |date=Fall 2009}}</ref>

The American filmmaker [[William Friedkin]] listed ''Z'' as one of his favourite films and mentioned the film's influence on him when directing his film ''[[The French Connection (film)|The French Connection]]'': "After I saw ''Z'', I realized how I could shoot ''The French Connection''. Because he [Costa-Gavras] shot 'Z' like a documentary. It was a fiction film, but it was made like it was actually happening. Like the camera didn't know what was gonna happen next. And that is an induced technique. It looks like he happened upon the scene and captured what was going on as you do in a documentary. My first films were documentaries too. So I understood what he was doing but I never thought you could do that in a feature at that time until I saw ''Z''."<ref>{{cite web |title=William Friedkin's Favorite Films of all Time |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-APzEjrklc  |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/p-APzEjrklc| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live|website=YouTube | date=12 June 2013 |publisher=Fade In Magazine |access-date=29 June 2021}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

The American filmmaker [[Steven Soderbergh]] listed ''Z'' as an inspiration on his film ''[[Traffic (2000 film)|Traffic]]'' and even stated that he "wanted to make it like [Costa-Gavras's] ''Z''".<ref>{{cite book |author1=Steven Soderbergh |editor1-last=Kaufman |editor1-first=Anthony |title=Steven Soderbergh - Interviews |date=2002 |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |isbn=9781578064298 |page=107 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t2y9xsq0gUMC&dq=Steven+Soderbergh+Costa-Gavras+Z&pg=PA107 |access-date=12 July 2021 |chapter=Ed Kelleher/1998}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Kaufman |editor1-first=Anthony |title=Steven Soderbergh - Interviews, Revised and Updated |date=2015 |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |isbn=9781626745407 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ho3dBwAAQBAJ&dq=Steven+Soderbergh+Costa-Gavras+Z&pg=PT128 |access-date=12 July 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Palmer |editor1-first=R. Barton |editor2-last=Sanders |editor2-first=Steven M. |title=The Philosophy of Steven Soderbergh |date=28 January 2011 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |isbn=9780813139890 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8z6ikCJ4wAgC&dq=Steven+Soderbergh+Costa-Gavras+Z&pg=PT190 |access-date=12 July 2021 |quote=Soderbergh called Traffic his “$47 million Dogme film” and used hand-held camera, available light, and (ostensibly) improvisational performance in an attempt to present a realistic story about illegal drugs. He prepared by analyzing two political films made in a realist style: ''Battle of Algiers'' (Gillo Pontecorvo, 1966) and ''Z'' (Constantin Costa-Gavras, 1969), both of which he described as having “that great feeling of things that are caught, instead of staged, which is what we were after.”}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=Mark Gallagher |title=Another Steven Soderbergh Experience - Authorship and Contemporary Hollywood |date=April 4, 2013 |publisher=University of Texas Press |isbn=9780292748811 |page=55 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ucfjPQRtZDQC&dq=Steven+Soderbergh+Costa-Gavras+Z&pg=PA55 |access-date=12 July 2021 |chapter=Hollywood Authorship and Transhistorical Taste Cultures}}</ref> In 2020, Costa Gavras wrote the preface to the book ''Opération Condor'', by French writer and journalist [[Pablo Daniel Magee]].

The French filmmaker [[Mathieu Kassovitz]] listed Costa-Gavras films (such as ''Z'' and ''[[The Confession (1970 film)|The Confession]]'') as influential to his work.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Will Higbee |title=Mathieu Kassovitz |date=2006 |publisher=Manchester University Press |isbn=9780719071461 |page=11 |quote=One final and important influence from 1970s French Cinema is Costa-Gavras. A regular visitor to the apartment block where Kassovitz grew up – his son lived in the same building – Costa-Gavras was another of the filmmakers Kassovitz discovered through his parents: ‘Môme, mon père m’a montré ses films et ce que j’ai fait a été influencé par des films comme Z ou L’Aveu. Des films forts, profonds, où l’on touch à des sujets importants, primordiaux’ (Kassovitz 1998).}}</ref>

The French filmmaker [[Rachid Bouchareb]] listed ''Z'' as an influence on his film ''[[Outside the Law (2010 film)|Outside the Law]]''.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Michael Gott |author2=Leslie Kealhofer-Kemp |title=ReFocus: The Films of Rachid Bouchareb |date=September 21, 2020 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=9781474466530 |page=107 |quote=When Bouchareb was asked specifically about the titles that influenced his controversial film Outside the Law (2010), he said: “It was a mix. A lot of political movies like Z by Costa-Gavras and Gillo Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers.”}}</ref>

The American actor and filmmaker [[Ben Affleck]] listed Costa-Gavras's films as influences for his film ''[[Argo (2012 film)|Argo]]''.<ref>{{cite web |author1=Jennifer Vineyard |title=Ben Affleck on Why He Got to Look Hot in Argo |url=https://www.vulture.com/2012/10/ben-affleck-argo-interview.html |website=Vulture |publisher=Vox Media, LLC. |access-date=11 April 2023 |date=October 10, 2012 |quote=Affleck: "I haven’t done a movie that I haven’t ripped off from another one! [Laughs.] This movie, we ripped off All the President’s Men, for the CIA stuff, a John Cassavetes movie called The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, which we really used as a reference for the California stuff, and then there was kind of a Battle of Algiers, Z/Missing/Costa-Gavras soup of movies, that we used for the rest of it."}}</ref>

In the television show “Chuck”, season 3 episode 3 “[[Chuck Versus the Angel de la Muerte]]” featured the fictional leader Alejandro Goya, who was looking to convert his nation of “Costa Gravis” from communism to democracy.  Alejandro’s wife and one of his bodyguards attempt to undermine this effort, seemingly a reference to Costa-Gavras’ movie “Z”.

==Accolades==
{{main|List of awards and nominations received by Costa-Gavras}}

Costa-Gavras's debut film, ''[[The Sleeping Car Murders|Compartiment Tueurs]]'', won [[National Board of Review Award for Best Foreign Language Film]] and was nominated for the [[Edgar Allan Poe Awards|Edgar Award for Best Screenplay]] in 1967.

The film ''Z'' was the first film to be nominated for both the [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Best Picture]] and [[Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film|Best Foreign Language Film]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/oscars-parasite-becomes-sixth-movie-be-nominated-best-picture-international-feature-1267963|title=Oscars: 'Parasite' Becomes Sixth Movie to Be Nominated for Both Best Picture, International Feature|work=[[The Hollywood Reporter]]|date=13 January 2020|access-date=21 September 2020|first=Mia|last=Galuppo}}</ref> It won the latter, as well as the [[Jury Prize (Cannes Film Festival)|Jury Prize]] at the [[Cannes Film Festival]], and the [[Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film|Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film]]. ''Z'' was also the first foreign-language film to win the [[New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Film|Best Film]] award from the [[New York Film Critics Circle]]. Gavras won the [[New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director|Best Director]] award as well.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/1327-z-and-the-new-york-film-critics-circle|title=Z and the New York Film Critics Circle|publisher=[[The Criterion Collection]]|date=10 December 2009|access-date=21 September 2020|first=Armond|last=White}}</ref>

Costa-Gavras received an honorary doctorate from the [[Film School of the Aristotle University]] in 2013.

He was interviewed extensively by ''[[The Times]]'' cultural correspondent [[Melinda Camber Porter]] and was featured prominently in her book ''Through Parisian Eyes: Reflections on Contemporary French Arts and Culture'' (1993, Da Capo Press).

Costa-Gavras received the [[Magritte Award|Magritte Honorary Award]] in 2013.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.lesoir.be/155308/article/culture/cinema/2013-01-10/magritte-f%C3%AAteront-yolande-moreau-et-costa-gavras|title=Les Magritte fêteront Yolande Moreau et Costa-Gavras|first=Nicolas|last=Crousse|work=[[Le Soir]]|date=10 January 2013|access-date=10 January 2013|language=fr}}</ref> He was the first filmmaker to receive the [[Catalonia International Prize]] (2017).<ref>{{cite web |title=Costa-Gavras, primer cineasta que gana el Premio Internacional Catalunya|url=https://www.lavanguardia.com/politica/20170705/423907890291/costa-gavras-primer-cineasta-que-gana-el-premio-internacional-catalunya.html|work=[[La Vanguardia]] |date=5 July 2017|access-date=2 October 2020 |language=es}}</ref>

==Personal life==
His wife [[Michèle Ray-Gavras]] is a film producer and journalist, and his daughter [[Julie Gavras]] and his sons [[Romain Gavras]] and [[Alexandre Gavras]] are also directors. He is the first cousin of [[Penelope Spheeris]], [[Jimmie Spheeris]] and [[Chris Spheeris]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.biographicon.com/view/9qzvs|title=Costa Gavras|publisher=Biographicon.com|access-date=22 February 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119080811/http://www.biographicon.com/view/9qzvs|archive-date=19 January 2012}}</ref>

In 2009, Costa-Gavras signed a petition in support of film director [[Roman Polanski]], calling for his release after Polanski was arrested in Switzerland in relation to his [[Roman Polanski sexual abuse case|1977 charge]] for drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sacd.fr/Le-cinema-soutient-Roman-Polanski-Petition-for-Roman-Polanski.1340.0.html|title=Le cinéma soutient Roman Polanski / Petition for Roman Polanski|date=28 September 2009|website=[[Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques]]|language=fr|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120604100742/http://www.sacd.fr/Le-cinema-soutient-Roman-Polanski-Petition-for-Roman-Polanski.1340.0.html|archive-date=4 June 2012|access-date=29 August 2021}}</ref> He argued that "the crime could not be considered rape because the teenage girl was 13 years old but looked 25".<ref>{{Cite news |title=Polanski : "Y'a pas de viol", dit Costa-Gavras |url=https://www.europe1.fr/culture/Polanski-Y-a-pas-de-viol-dit-Costa-Gavras-258186 |access-date=19 August 2024 |work=Europe 1 |language=fr}}</ref>

==Filmography==
{{Main|Costa-Gavras filmography}}

===Films===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Year
!English title
!width=65|Director
!width=65|Writer
!width=65|Producer
!Original title
|-
| 1965
| ''[[The Sleeping Car Murders]]''
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{n/a|No}}
| ''Compartiment tueurs''
|-
| 1967
| ''[[Shock Troops (film)|Shock Troops]]''
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| ''Un homme de trop''
|-
| 1969
| ''[[Z (1969 film)|Z]]''
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{n/a|No}}
| ''Z''
|-
| 1970
| ''[[The Confession (1970 film)|The Confession]]''
| {{yes}}
| {{n/a|No}}
| {{n/a|No}}
| ''L'Aveu''
|-
| 1972
| ''[[State of Siege]]'' 
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{n/a|No}}
| ''État de siège''
|-
| 1975
| ''[[Section spéciale|Special Section]]'' 
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| ''Section spéciale''
|-
| 1979
| ''[[Womanlight]]''
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{n/a|No}}
| ''Clair de femme''
|-
| 1982
| ''[[Missing (1982 film)|Missing]]'' 
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{n/a|No}}
| ''Missing.''
|-
| 1983
| ''[[Hanna K.]]''
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{n/a|No}}
| ''Hanna K.'' 
|-
| 1986
| ''[[Family Business (1986 film)|Family Business]]''
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{n/a|No}}
| ''Conseil de famille''
|-
| 1988
| ''[[Betrayed (1988 film)|Betrayed]]'' 
| {{yes}}
| {{n/a|No}}
| {{n/a|No}}
| ''Betrayed''
|-
| 1989
| ''[[Music Box (film)|Music Box]]''
| {{yes}}
| {{n/a|No}}
| {{n/a|No}}
| ''Music Box'' 
|-
| 1993
| ''[[The Little Apocalypse (1993 film)|The Little Apocalypse]]'' 
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{n/a|No}}
| ''La Petite Apocalypse''
|-
| 1997
| ''[[Mad City (film)|Mad City]]'' 
| {{yes}}
| {{n/a|No}}
| {{n/a|No}}
| ''Mad City''
|-
| 2002
| ''[[Amen.]]''
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{n/a|No}}
| ''Amen.''
|-
| 2005
| ''[[The Axe (film)|The Axe]]'' 
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{n/a|No}}
| ''Le Couperet'' 
|-
| 2006
| ''[[The Colonel (2006 film)|The Colonel]]''
| {{n/a|No}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| ''Mon colonel''
|-
| 2009
| ''[[Eden Is West]]''
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| ''Eden à l'ouest''
|-
| 2012
| ''[[Capital (film)|Capital]]''
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{n/a|No}}
| ''Le Capital''
|-
| 2019
| ''[[Adults in the Room]]''
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{n/a|No}}
| ''Ενήλικοι στην Αίθουσα''
|-
| 2024
| ''[[Last Breath (2024 film)|Last Breath]]''
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{n/a|No}}
| ''Le dernier souffle''
|-
|}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book | author=Costa-Gavras | title=Va où il est impossible d'aller: Mémoires | location=Paris | publisher=Éditions du Seuil | year=2018 | isbn=978-2-02-139389-7 | language=fr }}
* {{cite book | author=Michalczyk, John J. | title=Costa-Gavras: The Political Fiction Film | location=Philadelphia | publisher=Art Alliance Press | year=1984 | isbn=0-87982-029-2 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/costagavraspolit0000mich }}
* {{cite book | author=Riambau, Esteve | title=De traidores y héroes: El cine de Costa-Gavras | location=Valladolid | publisher=48 Semana Internacional de Cine | year=2003 | isbn=84-87737-49-8 | language=es }}
* {{cite book |editor=Rizza, Gabriele |editor2=Rossi, Giovanni Maria |editor3=Tassone, Aldo | title=Il cinema di Costa-Gavras: Processo alla storia | location=Firenze | publisher=Aida Edizioni | year=2002 | isbn=88-8329-097-6 | language=it }}

==External links==
{{commons category|Costa-Gavras}}

* {{IMDb name|2020}}

{{Costa-Gavras}}
{{Navboxes
| title = Awards for Costa-Gavras
| list = 
{{AcademyAwardBestForeignLanguageFilm 1961–1980}}
{{AcademyAwardBestAdaptedScreenplay 1981-2000}}
{{BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay}}
{{Prix de la mise en scene 1960-1979}}
{{Donostia Award}}
{{Honorary César}}
{{European Film Academy Lifetime Achievement Award}}
{{London Film Critics Circle Award for Director of the Year}}
{{London Film Critics Circle Award for Screenwriter of the Year}}
{{New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director}}
{{Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay}}
{{Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay}}
}}
{{Berlin International Film Festival jury presidents}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Costa-Gavras}}
[[Category:1933 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award winners]]
[[Category:Best Screenplay BAFTA Award winners]]
[[Category:Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Director winners]]
[[Category:Directors of Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award winners]]
[[Category:Directors of Palme d'Or winners]]
[[Category:Directors of Golden Bear winners]]
[[Category:Edgar Award winners]]
[[Category:English-language film directors]]
[[Category:French film directors]]
[[Category:French people of Greek descent]]
[[Category:Greek communists]]
[[Category:Greek film directors]]
[[Category:Greek political artists]]
[[Category:Greek emigrants to France]]
[[Category:Magritte Award winners]]
[[Category:Writers Guild of America Award winners]]
[[Category:Officers of the Ordre national du Mérite]]
[[Category:Commanders of the Legion of Honour]]
[[Category:People from Iraia]]
[[Category:Institut des hautes études cinématographiques alumni]]
[[Category:Best Original Screenplay or Adaptation César Award winners]]
[[Category:European Film Academy Lifetime Achievement Award recipients]]