---
name: "Costa-Gavras"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/costa-gavras"
roles: ["Director","Writer"]
born: "12 February 1933"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 3
average_fi1m_score: 82
average_as: "director"
average_over: 2
updated: "2026-09-20T06:20:00.468438+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Costa-Gavras

Director and writer. Born 12 February 1933 in Loutra-Iraias, Greece.

## Details

- **Work:** Director, Writer
- **Born:** 12 February 1933, Loutra-Iraias, Greece
- **Active:** 1969–1982
- **Also known as:** Costa Gavras, Κώστας Γαβράς, Constantin Costa-Gavras, Konstantínos Gavrás, 科斯塔·加夫拉斯, Kēsī tǎ·jiā fū lā sī, コスタ＝ガヴラス, Kosuta = gavurasu, Konstantinos Gavras, Κωνσταντίνος Γαβράς, 코스타 가브라스, 코스타-가브라스
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 3: 2 directing, 1 other
- **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar (1 won · 2 nominated)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 82, as director, over 2 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1960s 84 (1), 1980s 80 (1), 2020s 78 (1)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costa-Gavras, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q296698, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002020/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/27436

## Streaming the US now

- **HBO Max:** [*Z*](https://film.one/film/z.md) (84)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Costa-Gavras

> Costa-Gavras makes thrillers out of real abuses of power and cuts them so fast you have no time to argue. That speed is the strength and the limit: the films catch their villains, and they rarely stop to understand them.

A gendarmerie general stands before a hall of officers and warns them about mildew on the vines. By the end of the sentence the mildew is the left, and the officers are gardeners with spray cans. That is how *Z* (1969) opens, and it is how Costa-Gavras works: a joke that turns out to be the thesis, spoken by a man in uniform who has no idea he is being laughed at. Then the film starts running, and it does not stop for two hours.

He came to Paris from Greece in 1952, trained at IDHEC and assisted René Clair and Jacques Demy before making his first feature, *The Sleeping Car Murders*, in 1965. *Z*, a thriller built on the killing of the Greek deputy Grigoris Lambrakis, was the film that got him noticed everywhere, and he spent the next two decades on variations of it: *The Confession* (1970), on a show trial under a communist regime; *Missing* (1982), on Chile after the 1973 coup; *Music Box* (1989), on the prosecution of a Nazi war criminal in the United States. Later came *Amen.* (2002), on the Catholic Church during the Holocaust, then *Capital* (2012) and *Adults in the Room* (2019). Whoever holds the gun, he is on the other side of it. He has described his subject as people and their relationship with power and politicians, and for once a director's account of himself is accurate.

What works is the pace. In *Z*, Raoul Coutard's camera and Françoise Bonnot's cutting keep the assassination and the inquiry moving like a chase, so the film makes its case by never letting us sit back from it. Jorge Semprún, his screenwriter on *Z* and one other film, builds the plot as an investigation, which suits a director who thinks like a prosecutor. Yves Montand, who made three films with him, is the face these stories keep returning to. We came out of *Z* with our pulse up and our temper up, and the reason is plain: the film makes a cover-up feel like something happening to us, with the clock running and the wrong people winning.

What does not work is the same thing seen from the other side. The generals in *Z* bluster, contradict each other under questioning and never once seem clever; a subtler film would have handed them a good argument and let us watch it fail. Critics said much the same of *The Confession*, and the charge holds across the career. He is not trying to understand the men who give the orders, only to catch them. The English-language films are generally thought less focused than the early trilogy, *Mad City* (1997) most often, and we have seen nothing to make us argue.

Start with *Z*. If it takes you, *The Confession* and *Missing* are the obvious next stops. Do not go looking for a fair hearing for the other side; he has never been in the business of giving one, and at his best he moves too fast for you to notice you wanted it.

## Biography

Costa-Gavras (born Konstantinos Gavras) is a Greek-French film director, screenwriter and producer. Born on 12 February 1933 in Loutra-Iraias, Greece, he moved to Paris in the early 1950s, studied literature at the Sorbonne and film at the Institut des Hautes Études Cinématographiques, and worked as an assistant to directors including René Clair and Jacques Demy.

He is best known for his political thrillers. His breakthrough came with *Z* (1969), which he directed and co-wrote; the film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Later works include *Missing* (1982), for which he shared the Palme d’Or and an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, *Amen.* (2002) and *Capital* (2012). Most of his films are in French.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, britannica.com.*

## On Fi1m (3)

### Directed (2) — the average rests on these

- *Missing* (1982), Fi1m 80, Screenplay, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/missing-1982.md)
- *Z* (1969), Fi1m 84, Director, Writer — [page](https://film.one/film/z.md)

### Also credited (1) — thanks, archive footage, uncredited

- *No Other Choice* (2025), Fi1m 78, Thanks — [page](https://film.one/film/no-other-choice.md)

## Complete filmography (45)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Carolco, un rêve hollywoodien* (2026), Actor
- *La scripte* (2026), as Lui-même
- *No Other Choice* (2025), Thanks — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/film/no-other-choice.md)
- *Before What Comes After* (2025), Director, Screenplay, Producer, Editor
- *Morceaux de Cannes* (2021), Actor
- *Adults in the Room* (2019), Director, Writer, Editor
- *I Still Hide to Smoke* (2017), Producer
- *Henri Langlois vu par...* (2014), Director
- *Capital* (2012), Director, Screenplay
- *Burke & Hare* (2010), as French Family
- *Eden Is West* (2009), Director, Writer, Producer
- *The Colonel* (2006), Story, Producer
- *The Ax* (2005), Director, Screenplay
- *Parthénon* (2003), Director
- *Amen.* (2002), Director, Screenplay
- *Mad City* (1997), Director
- *The Stupids* (1996), as Gas Station Attendant
- *Lumière & Company* (1995), Director
- *Concerning Nice* (1995), Director
- *Et avec la Lumière et la Mort sans cesse* (1994), Director
- *The Little Apocalypse* (1993), Director, Writer
- *Lest We Forget* (1991), Director
- *Music Box* (1989), Director
- *Betrayed* (1988), Director
- *Family Business* (1986), Director, Screenplay
- *Spies Like Us* (1985), as Tadzhik Highway Patrolman
- *Tea in the Harem* (1985), Producer
- *Hanna K.* (1983), Director, Writer
- *Missing* (1982), Director, Screenplay — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/missing-1982.md)
- *Womanlight* (1979), Director, Writer
- *Madame Rosa* (1977), as Le docteur Ramon
- *Mr. Klein* (1976), Co-Writer
- *Special Section* (1975), Director, Writer, Producer
- *State of Siege* (1972), Director, Scenario Writer
- *The Confession* (1970), Director
- *Z* (1969), Director, Writer — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/z.md)
- *Shock Troops* (1967), Director, Writer
- *The Sleeping Car Murders* (1965), Director, Writer
- *Backfire* (1964), First Assistant Director
- *Joy House* (1964), Assistant Director
- *The Day and the Hour* (1963), Assistant Director
- *Bay of Angels* (1963), Assistant Director
- *A Monkey in Winter* (1962), Assistant Director
- *Croesus* (1960), Assistant Director
- *Les Ratés* (1958), Writer, Screenplay, Director

## Gallery

- ![Costa-Gavras](https://film.one/media/person/302274/gallery-4155dfb43d49.jpg) Costa-Gavras — Georges Biard, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/Costa-Gavras_C%C3%A9sar_2018.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Costa-Gavras (2005)](https://film.one/media/person/302274/gallery-ecac261056e6.jpg) Costa-Gavras (2005) — Jean-Marie DAVID, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/Costa-Gavras.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Costa-Gavras hosting Steven Spielberg's Masterclass at "La Cinémathèque Française" on January 9th 2012 in Paris.](https://film.one/media/person/302274/gallery-cf3703da6eaa.jpg) Costa-Gavras hosting Steven Spielberg's Masterclass at "La Cinémathèque Française" on January 9th 2012 in Paris. — Romain DUBOIS, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/45/Costa-Gavras_Masterclass_Spielberg.JPG/1280px-Costa-Gavras_Masterclass_Spielberg.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Costa-Gavras, au cours du tournage, à Paris, du film Eden à l'Ouest, le 22 avril 2008](https://film.one/media/person/302274/gallery-2704d755aa73.jpg) Costa-Gavras, au cours du tournage, à Paris, du film Eden à l'Ouest, le 22 avril 2008 — Perline, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/20080422CostaGavras_001.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Costa-Gavras](https://film.one/media/person/302274/gallery-fb9729e2fd2c.jpg) Costa-Gavras — Image via TMDB
- ![Costa-Gavras](https://film.one/media/person/302274/gallery-7678744db0b0.jpg) Costa-Gavras — Image via TMDB
- ![Costa-Gavras](https://film.one/media/person/302274/gallery-45dbadae9c4b.jpg) Costa-Gavras — Image via TMDB
- ![Costa-Gavras, au cours du tournage, à Paris, du film Eden à l'Ouest, le 22 avril 2008](https://film.one/media/person/302274/gallery-7597a9f5fde7.jpg) Costa-Gavras, au cours du tournage, à Paris, du film Eden à l'Ouest, le 22 avril 2008 — Perline, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7b/20080422CostaGavras_002.jpg/1280px-20080422CostaGavras_002.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Costa-Gavras in Vence, 2012.](https://film.one/media/person/302274/gallery-c4deeb91c07d.jpg) Costa-Gavras in Vence, 2012. — Frantogian, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7a/Costa-Gavras_-_Vence.JPG/1280px-Costa-Gavras_-_Vence.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Costa-Gavras](https://film.one/media/person/302274/gallery-4cd0f8e99235.jpg) Costa-Gavras — Image via TMDB
- ![Costa-Gavras](https://film.one/media/person/302274/gallery-79456d1a12f3.jpg) Costa-Gavras — Image via TMDB
- ![Costa-Gavras](https://film.one/media/person/302274/gallery-faf6e7866b1b.jpg) Costa-Gavras — Image via TMDB

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 1 won, 2 nominated

- 1983: Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (won), for *Missing*
- 1970: Best Director (nominated), for *Z*
- 1970: Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (nominated), for *Z*

### BAFTA Film Awards — 0 won, 2 nominated

- 1983: Best Direction (nominated), for *Missing*
- 1970: Best Film (nominated), for *Z*

### Golden Globes — 0 won, 2 nominated

- 1982: Best Director (nominated), for *Missing*
- 1982: Best Screenplay (nominated), for *Missing*

### Cannes Film Festival — 2 won

- 1982: Palme d'Or (won), for *Missing*
- 1975: Cannes Best Director Award (won), for *Section spéciale*

### Berlin International Film Festival — 1 won

- 1990: Golden Bear (won), for *Music Box*

### Other awards — 17 won, 8 nominated

- Honorary César 2025: Honorary César (won)
- European Film Award for Best Screenwriter 2020: European Film Award for Best Screenwriter (nominated), for *Adults in the Room*
- Honorary Lumière Award 2020: Honorary Lumière Award (won)
- European Film Academy Honorary Award 2018: European Film Academy Honorary Award (won)
- Catalonia International Prize 2017: Catalonia International Prize (won)
- honorary doctor of the University of Madrid Complutense 2016: honorary doctor of the University of Madrid Complutense (won)
- Officer of the Legion of Honour 2013: Officer of the Legion of Honour (won)
- César Award for Best Adaptation 2006: César Award for Best Adaptation (nominated), for *The Ax*
- César Award for Best Director 2003: César Award for Best Director (nominated), for *Amen.*
- César Award for Best Film 2003: César Award for Best Film (nominated), for *Amen.*
- César Award for Best Original Screenplay or Adaptation 2003: César Award for Best Original Screenplay or Adaptation (won), for *Amen.*
- Officer of the National Order of Merit 2000: Officer of the National Order of Merit (won)
- Writers Guild of America Award 1983: Writers Guild of America Award (won), for *Missing*
- London Film Critics Circle Award for Director of the Year 1982: London Film Critics Circle Award for Director of the Year (won), for *Missing*
- London Film Critics Circle Award for Film of the Year 1982: London Film Critics Circle Award for Film of the Year (won), for *Missing*
- César Award for Best Director 1980: César Award for Best Director (nominated), for *Womanlight*
- César Award for Best Film 1980: César Award for Best Film (nominated), for *Womanlight*
- United Nations Awards 1974: United Nations Awards (won), for *State of Siege*
- Louis Delluc Prize 1972: Louis Delluc Prize (won), for *State of Siege*
- Edgar Awards 1970: Edgar Awards (won), for *Z*
- Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Feature Film 1969: Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Feature Film (nominated), for *Z*
- Jury Prize 1969: Jury Prize (won), for *Z*
- National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Screenplay 1969: National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Screenplay (nominated), for *Z*
- New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director 1969: New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director (won), for *Z*
- National Board of Review Award for Best Foreign Language Film 1966: National Board of Review Award for Best Foreign Language Film (won), for *The Sleeping Car Murders*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/costa-gavras