For more than fifty years now, film director and screenwriter Costa-Gavras (b. 1933) has been one of French cinema’s most internationally feted writer-directors and one of the most prolific filmmakers of his generation to have worked on both sides of the Atlantic—with much success, appreciation and critical acclaim. His early and formative years in his native Greece though, when he was exposed to mostly Westerns and Errol Flynn movies, were very rough. After the German occupation of Greece during World War II, his father, a resistance fighter suspected of communism, was imprisoned during the country’s civil war, which lasted up until 1949, and as a result, Costa-Gavras was denied the right to higher education.

An avid moviegoer in his native country, he attempted to go to the U.S. but in the climate of the McCarthy era was denied a visa, so then he left for Paris in 1953, where he enrolled at the Sorbonne to study literature. After seeing Erich von Stroheim’s screen classic “Greed” (1924) at the Cinémathèque française, he realized that film was not just entertainment, it was also a way to say something substantially, and he switched to the French film school IDHEC (Institut des hautes études cinématographiques).

A French resident ever since and filmmaker since the mid-1960s who from time to time was lured to Hollywood and so far made six English-language films—working with actors such as Jack Lemmon, Dustin Hoffman, John Travolta, Debra Winger, Jessica Lange—he gained international recognition and worldwide fame with his second feature, the fast-paced political thriller “Z” (1969) which, among others, earned two Academy Awards (editing and Best Foreign Language Film). His career was launched, and over the years, Mr. Gavras became one of the screen’s most prominent filmmakers, making films that were often associated with political subjects.

His first English-language film, “Missing” (1982), earned him an Academy Award in the category Best Writing—Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium (book written by Thomas Hauser). Jack Lemmon starred as a father in search of his missing son in a Latin American country.

“Missing” (1982, trailer)

His other—all highly acclaimed—English-language films are “Hanna K.” (1983), “Betrayed” (1988), “Music Box” (1989), “Mad City” (1997), and “Amen” (2002).

In 1968, Mr. Gavras married Michèle Ray, a former Chanel model who became a war correspondent and spent three weeks in Vietcong captivity during the Vietnam War; Julie Gavras and Romain Gavras, two of their three children, are also filmmakers. Since the mid-1970s, Mrs. Gavras has co-produced several of her husband’s films.

Only recently, Mr. Gavras was the guest of honor at the 35th edition of the Festival International du Film de Mons in Belgium, where I got to sit down with him and talk about his incredible body of work. Everybody took into consideration all the safety precautions such as practicing social distancing, no handshakes, etc.

This interview took place on March 9, four days before the nationwide stay-at-home orders and restrictions of non-essential travel, among others, were implemented in Belgium on March 13, to slow the spread of the coronavirus outbreak.

Mr. Gavras, you put yourself on the map with “Z” over fifty years ago. How do you look back to that film now?

It was kind of a miracle. All of us—the crew, all the actors, the co-screenwriter —did it with passion because we were all against dictatorship. Of course, we didn’t have enough money to make the movie, but everybody agreed to do it for very little money. So we all were very passionate about the idea of doing this film, although we never believed it would become a success. We just thought we had to make it; none of us liked the idea of dictators. When the film was first released, it didn’t do any business at all, and we even thought that the theater owners would cancel the film, but little by little, it became better. People started applauding at the end—that was a big surprise to us because the audience usually didn’t do that. So it went on and on, people started talking about it and discussing the film. But behind the miracle to get the film made, it was most of all a project of passion—our passion for making that movie that way.

Is passion perhaps the best word to describe you and your work as a filmmaker? Because people often refer to you as a political filmmaker, but you are much more than that.

I never said I was a political filmmaker or that I only make political movies. I make movies about people and their relationship with power and politicians. That relationship can make our life nice and easy, and it can also be terrible and tragic. But we need power, and we all have power: you have power over someone, I have power over someone, and people have power over you and me. How we use that exchange of power, that’s essential in the relationship between human beings in society. So I try to explain that in the films I make. I also believe that a film is not an academic speech or a lecture; it’s a show, like the Greek tragedies that were so good that you can still see them today. People are also still interested in Molière and Shakespeare. That has always been a very important lesson for me: their plays were here long before there were movies, they wrote their plays so long ago, and we still worship them. And why is that? Because there are about people, society, and power.

What gave you as a young man the passion or the inspiration to become a filmmaker?

It didn’t really work like that for me. I have a different cultural background—I left my country, I escaped from my country. Back then, a lot of people from my social class didn’t have any future there. The best place for me to go to was France because there was a lot of support for students my age, so I first studied literature and then cinema. They immediately allowed me to work as an assistant director [to Jean Giono, René Clair, Henri Verneuil, Jacques Demy, René Clément, Jean Becker, from 1960-1965] and as a director [first feature “Compartiments tueurs” in 1965, starring Yves Montand and Simone Signoret]. France gave me what my own country should have given to every young man, but they didn’t. That taught me a lot about how society functions. It also shaped me as a person—thinking and being able to make choices.

You used the word power, but you are also a powerful filmmaker, aren’t you? You are one of the few European film directors who can make films in America, and you still work with your own crew, like your own cinematographer, your own editor,… You can make your own choices.

Yes, but that’s more like a relationship. After my first movie, the Americans asked me to make movies in the United States. I didn’t feel very comfortable, but after “Z” they insisted. So I agreed on one condition: I had to be free. I would collaborate with them when writing the script or casting the roles, but in the end, I wanted to make the final decisions—that’s how we do it in France. I also insisted on doing the post-production in France and not in Hollywood. And they accepted it—otherwise, I wouldn’t have made any movies in America. You know, the director always needs to spend money, or he wants more money, while the producer feels he has to control the budget. But he can’t control the rest of the movie; that work is done by the cast and by the crew. So if the producer sticks to his work and keeps an eye on the budget, and he lets me do my work on the set, then we have a perfect relationship. And of course, he can come up with his own ideas, and I would be more than happy to listen to them, but I need to control my work. If not, there is no movie.

The final scenes of your movies are often very interesting. Take “Music Box” [1989], with Jessica Lange as a criminal attorney defending her father accused of war crimes. When she finds out the truth, you only need a few images to show her emotions and what will happen next. Is that something you’re aware of when you’re writing the script?

Yes, because the final scene is always very important. In that scene—directly or indirectly—you have to put together your own story, your own movie. It also allows the audience to talk about the film—or not—but it’s essential. A film creates a direct relationship with the audience for an hour and a half or two hours, so the audience is in a different universe, and they live with the characters. I wouldn’t like to leave a theater, thinking, ‘Okay, you go your way, I go my way.’ No, I would like to stay in their universe for a while, and that’s why a final scene is very important for me.

“Missing Box” (1989, trailer)

Is there any film of yours that you would consider your proudest achievement?

Every movie I did has been important to me, and some of those movies are quite unknown. It goes back to when I first arrived in France: I understood that cinema was something different after I had seen “Greed” [1924]. I saw it at the French cinematheque, after a speech by Henri Langlois. He explained what the movie was about, and he was furious because he only had three hours instead of the four-hour version. But there I discovered that in cinema you could do tragedies, just like in theater. I didn’t know that before because the films I grew up with in Greece were action movies or Westerns. So “Greed” was an enlightenment for me, to see that it was possible to do that. The film was set in the desert, it was about money, about society,… I thought, ‘This is great, this is cinema.’

Film director Fred Zinnemann once told me, ‘I like people to be entertained, but I don’t want it to be empty. I like to give some nourishment.’ That’s also what you do with your films.

If I do a film, it has to tell a story that interests me deeply, otherwise, I can’t or won’t do it. I have been proposed to do great films, but I wasn’t interested in their stories, so I didn’t do them.

When did you first realize that you were bankable?

Me bankable? [Laughs.] That’s always a problem because it’s very difficult if you try to do something different from what most people do. That was also the problem with “Z.” We had no money, so we did everything very quickly. But because the film was very successful, I kept doing more movies, although that doesn’t necessarily mean that it became easier for me to get my films financed. If I decide tomorrow to do a thriller or a comedy, I will immediately be able to raise the budget. But when I did my latest film, “Adults in the Room” [2019], that was something entirely different.

You have worked several times with Yves Montand. How instrumental has he been in your career?

He was very important. Thanks to him and Simone Signoret, I was able to make my first four movies. We created a sort of interest in each other, a kind of friendship. In “Z” he played a new sort of character, he wasn’t repeating himself one way or the other, and he liked that very much. He didn’t have to smoke a cigarette like Humphrey Bogart or try to walk like Gary Cooper. He said to me, ‘Now it really comes from inside,’ and that appealed to him. I had also asked him to play with his southern French accent. He hesitated in the beginning, but it was very comforting, and he liked it. We connected, and it was the beginning of a friendship. The movies did well, that’s also very important because failure separates people and success brings them together. As an actor, he was a friend, but he was also a great family friend. We had confidence in each other.

Did you ever consider to pursue an American career? Live there, work there all the time?

No, absolutely not, because I was feeling very good in France. Although the Americans spent a lot of money on the films I did there, and as I said, I was able to make my films without being controlled by them, which was very important to me. I went to America if they had an interesting project for me, but I couldn’t stay in Hollywood. Of course, life is very nice and easy there, it’s always warm, you’d live in a beautiful house, and you don’t have all of that in France. But I think Jacques Prévert once said, ‘I don’t want to be the richest, the biggest, or the strongest. I like to be different.’ And that is very true, that’s one of the most important lessons I learned in France. I don’t need all those big things. The idea is to be different.

If you would have won your Oscar now instead of almost forty years ago, do you think you would have been able to do more with it, career-wise?

Winning an Oscar opens a lot of doors—and also the banks, where the money is. But basically, I don’t think it would have made any difference. I would still be doing the same thing if I would win it today. The strange thing about an Oscar—and other awards, too—is that they are important as long as you actually don’t have them. Once you get one of those, you might lose some of the passion in your work because you already won one [laughs].

When you talk to film directors who also write their own screenplays, they often tell you that writing a screenplay is the most difficult thing in the whole process of filmmaking. Do you recognize that?

Yes, it is the most difficult thing, because you try to tell a story with images, not with words. That’s what you do when you write a book—which doesn’t mean that writing a book would be easy, of course. Also, in a film, you replace the words with images. And there’s another problem when you make a movie: when you’re shooting, you stop, you start again an hour later, or you continue the next day. It’s very important to keep in mind the structure of your story that you want to tell within the time frame of let’s say two hours.

And when you’re shooting, are you also editing in your mind?

No, you’re already editing when you’re writing the screenplay. What sequence will follow the previous one? How do you keep your continuity going from one scene to another… And when you’re shooting, you continue editing, with the choices you make for every shot. Finally, when you’re editing, you rewrite the whole story in the editing room, but you need to have all the material—the vision you had at the very beginning.

Do you usually stay with a project until post-production is over?

I usually do, because I want to make sure the construction is strong enough. Problems occur very easily during the editing, for example. And you deal with the actors, with exteriors, interiors—sometimes they are not what you expected them to be like or to look like at the beginning. And then you have to rearrange everything, but essentially you have to stay in the same line.

Is that also why you tend to work with the same crew?

Yes, they understand you immediately. That makes it a lot easier. The same with actors, you only have to say two words, and they know what you’re talking about. Like with Yves Montand. That also happened with Jack Lemmon; working with him was very easy. I like to discuss everything before we start shooting, explain to them how I see the movie, and they do the same. If we have different ideas, then we try to find a solution that plays out well for all of us and that I’m most comfortable with.

Festival International du Film de Mons, Mons
March 9, 2020

“Z” (1969, trailer)

FILMS

CRÉSUS (1960) DIR – SCR Jean Giono ASST DIR Costa-Gavras, Bernard Paul PROD Andrée Debar CAM Roger Hubert ED Monique Isnardon, Robert Isnardon MUS Joseph Kosma CAST Fernandel, Marcelle Ranson-Hervé, Rellys, René Génin, Miguel Gamy, Edouard Hemme, Paul Préboist, Jeanne Pérez

TOUT L’OR DU MONDE, a.k.a. ALL THE GOLD IN THE WORLD (1961) DIR René Clair ASST DIR Costa-Gavras, Claude Pinoteau PROD René Clair, Guido Giambartolomei, Georges Lourau, Angelo Rizzoli SCR René Clair (adaptation by René Clair, Jean Marsan, Jacques Rémy) CAM Pierre Petit ED Louisette Hautecoeur MUS Georges Van Parys CAST Bourvil, Alfred Adam, Philippe Noiret, Claude Rich, Colette Castel, Annie Fratellini, Nicole Chollet, Max Elloy, Françoise Dorléac

UN SINGE EN HIVER, a.k.a. A MONKEY IN WINTER (1962) DIR Henri Verneuil ASST DIR Costa-Gavras, Claude Pinoteau PROD Jacques Bar SCR Henri Verneuil (dialogue by Michel Audiard; adaptation by François Boyer; novel by Antoine Blondin) CAM Louis Page ED Françoise Bonnot, Monique Bonnot MUS Michel Magne CAST Jean Gabin, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Suzanne Flon, Gabrielle Dorziat, Hella Petri, Marcelle Arnold, Charles Bouillaud, Henri Verneuil

LA BAIE DES ANGES, a.k.a. BAY OF ANGELS (1963) DIR – SCR Jacques Demy ASST DIR Costa-Gavras, Gérald Duduyer PROD Paul-Edmond Decharme CAM Jean Rabier ED Anne-Marie Cotret MUS Michel Legrand CAST Jeanne Moreau, Claude Mann, Paul Guers, Henri Nassiet, André Certes, Nicole Chollet, Georges Alban, Conchita Parodi

LE JOUR ET L’HEURE, a.k.a. THE DAY AND THE HOUR and TODAY WE LIVE (1963) DIR René Clément ASST DIR Costa-Gavras, Claude Pinoteau PROD Jacques Bar SCR André Barret (adaptation by René Clément, Roger Vailland) CAM Henri Decaë ED Fedora Zincone MUS Claude Bolling CAST Simone Signoret, Stuart Whitman, Geneviève Page, Michel Piccoli, Reggie Nadler, Pierre Dux

ÉCHAPPEMENT LIBRE, a.k.a. BACKFIRE (1964) DIR Jean Becker ASST DIR Costa-Gavras, Emilio Martos SCR (adaptation by Jean Becker, Didier Goulard, Maurice Fabre; novel by Clet Coroner) CAM Edmond Séchan ED Monique Kirsanoff MUS Martial Solal CAST Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg, Enrico Maria Salerno, Renate Ewert, Jean-Pierre Marielle, Wolfgang Preiss, Fernando Rey, Gert Fröbe

LES FÉLINS, a.k.a. JOY HOUSE and THE LOVE CAGE (1964) DIR René Clément ASST DIR Costa-Gavras, Bernard Paul PROD Jacques Bar SCR René Clément, Pascal Jardin CAM Henri Decaë ED Fedora Zincone MUS Lalo Schifrin CAST Alain Delon, Jane Fonda, Lola Albright, Sorrell Brooke, Carl Studer, André Oumansky

COMPARTIMENT TUEURS, a.k.a. THE SLEEPING CAR MURDER (1965) DIR Costa-Gavras PROD Julien Derode SCR Costa-Gavras, Sébastien Japrisot (adaptation by Costa-Gavras; novel by Sébastien Japrisot) CAM Jean Tournier ED Christian Gaudin MUS Michel Magne CAST Catherine Allégret, Jacques Perrin, Simone Signoret, Michel Piccoli, Pascale Roberts, Yves Montand, Claude Mann, Pierre Mondy, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Charles Drenner, Claude Berri

1 HOMME DE TROP, a.k.a. ONE MAN TOO MANY (1967) DIR – PROD Costa-Gavras SCR Costa-Gavras (novel by Jean-Pierre Chabrol) CAM Jean Tournier ED Christian Gaudin MUS Michel Magne CAST Jean-Claude Brialy, Bruno Cremer, Jacques Perrin, Gerard Blain, Claude Brasseur, Michel Piccoli, Jacques Perrier, Charles Vanel

Z (1969) DIR Costa-Gavras SCR Costa-Gavras, Ben Barzman [uncredited] (dialogue by Jorge Semprún; novel by Vasilis Vasilikos) CAM Raoul Coutard ED Françoise Bonnot MUS Mikis Theodorakis CAST Yves Montand, Irene Papas, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Charles Drenner, Georges Geret, Jacques Perrin, François Perier, Bernard Fresson, Marcel Bozzufi, Renato Salvatori, Raoul Coutard

L’AVEU, a.k.a. THE CONFESSION (1970) DIR Costa-Gavras PROD Bertrand Javal, Robert Dorfmann SCR Jorge Semprún (book by Lise London, Artur London) CAM Raoul Coutard ED Françoise Bonnot MUS Giovanni Fusco CAST Yves Montand, Simone Signoret, Gabrielle Ferzetti, Michel Vitold, Jean Bouise, László Szabó, Monique Chaumette, Guy Mairesse

ÉTAT DE SIÈGE, a.k.a. STATE OF SIEGE (1972) DIR Costa-Gavras SCR Franco Solinas (original screenplay by Costa-Gavras, Franco Solinas) CAM Pierre-William Glenn ED Françoise Bonnot MUS Mikis Theodorakis CAST Yves Montand, Renato Salvatori, O. E. Hasse, Jacques Weber, Jean-Luc Bideau, Maurice Teynac, Yvette Etiévant

SECTION SPÉCIALE, a.k.a. SPECIAL SECTION (1975) DIR Costa-Gavras PROD Costa-Gavras [uncredited], Jacques Perrin, Giorgio Silvagni SCR Costa-Gavras, Jorge Semprún (book by Hervé Villeré) CAM Andréas Winding ED Françoise Bonnot MUS Éric Demarsan CAST Louis Seigner, Michel Lonsdale, Ivo Garrani, François Maistre, Jacques Spiesser, Henri Serre, Heinz Bennent, Michel Galabru, Bruno Cremer, Costa-Gavras, Yves Montand

CLAIR DE FEMME, a.k.a. WOMANLIGHT (1979) DIR Costa-Gavras PROD Georges Alain-Vuille, Mauro Berardi SCR Costa-Gavras (novel by Romain Gary) CAM Ricardo Aronovich ED Françoise Bonnot MUS Jean Musy CAST Yves Montand, Romy Schneider, Romolo Valli, Lila Kedrova, Heinz Bennent, Roberto Begnini, Catherine Allégret, Jean Reno

MISSING (1982) DIR Costa-Gavras PROD Mildred Lewis SCR Costa-Gavras, Donald Stewart (book by Thomas Hauser) CAM Ricardo Aronovich ED Françoise Bonnot MUS Vangelis CAST Jack Lemmon, Sissy Spacek, Melanie Mayron, John Shea, Charles Cioffi, David Clennon, Richard Venture, Jerry Hardin

HANNA K. (1983) DIR Costa-Gavras EXEC PROD Michèle Costa-Gavras, Robert Cortes SCR Franco Salinas (orginal screenplay by Costa-Gavras, Franco Salinas) CAM Ricardo Aronovich ED Françoise Bonnot MUS Gabriel Yared CAST Jill Clayburgh, Jean Yanne, Gabriel Byrne, Mohammad Bakri, David Clennon, Shimon Finkel, Oded Kotler, Michal Bat-Adam

LE THÉ AU HAREM D’ARCHIMÈDE, a.k.a. TEA IN THE HAREM (1985) DIR Mehdi Charef PROD Costa-Gavras, Michèle Costa-Gavras SCR Mehdi Charef (also novel) CAM Dominique Chapuis ED Kenout Peltier MUS Karim Kacel CAST Rémi Martin, Kader Boukhanef, Laure Duthilleul, Saïda Bekkouche, Nicole Hiss, Brahim Ghemain, Nathalie Jadot

SPIES LIKE US (1985) DIR John Landis PROD George Folsey Jr., Brian Glazer SCR Dan Aykroyd, Babaloo Mandel, Lowell Ganz (story by Dan Aykroyd, Dave Thomas) CAM Robert Paynter ED Malcolm Campbell MUS Elmer Bernstein CAST Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Steve Forrest, Donna Dixon, Bruce Davison, Bernie Casey, William Prince, Tom Hatten, Frank Oz, Terry Gilliam, Costa-Gavras (Highway Patrol Officer), Ray Harryhausen, Bob Hope, Joel Coen, Sam Raimi, Michael Apted, Martin Brest, Bob Swaim

CONSEIL DE FAMILLE, a.k.a. FAMILY COUNCIL and FAMILY BUSINESS (1986) DIR Costa-Gavras PROD Michèle Costa-Gavras SCR Costa-Gavras (novel by Francis Ryck) CAM Robert Azalraki ED Marie-Sophie Dubus MUS Georges Delerue CAST Johnny Hallyday, Fanny Ardant, Guy Marchand, Laurent Romer, Rémi Martin, Juliette Rennes, Caroline Pochon, Ann-Gisel Glass, Fabrice Lichini

BETRAYED (1988) DIR Costa-Gavras PROD Irwin Winkler SCR Joe Eszterhas CAM Patrick Blossier ED Joële Van Effenterre MUS Bill Conti CAST Debra Winger, Tom Berenger, John Heard, Betsy Blair, John Mahoney, Ted Levine, Jeffrey DeMunn, David Clennon, Timothy Hutton

MUSIC BOX (1989) DIR Costa-Gavras PROD Irwin Winkler SCR Joe Eszterhas CAM Patrick Blossier ED Joële Van Effenterre MUS Philippe Sarde CAST Jessica Lange, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Frederic Forrest, Donald Moffat, Lukas Haas, Cheryl Lynn Bruce, Mari Töröcsik, J. S. Block

PLEURE PAS MY LOVE (1989) DIR Tony Gatlif PROD Costa-Gavras SCR Tony Gatlif, Marie-Hélène Rudel CAM Jacques Loiseleux ED Claudine Bouché MUS Raymond Alessandrini CAST Fanny Ardant, Jean-Pierre Sentier, Rémi Martin, László Szabó, Mylène, Ysabelle Lacamp, Henru Déus, Fred Personne

LA PETITE APOCALYPSE, a.k.a. THE LITTLE APOCALYPSE (1993) DIR Costa-Gavras PROD Michèle Costa-Gavras SCR Costa-Gavras, Jean-Claude Grumberg (novel by Tadeusz Konwicki) CAM Patrick Blossier ED Joële Van Effenterre MUS Philippe Sarde CAST André Dussollier, Pierre Arditi, Jiri Menzel, Anna Romantowska, Maurice Bénichou, Carlo Brandt, Henryk Bista, Jean-Claude Grumberg, Julie Gayet

THE STUPIDS (1996) DIR John Landis PROD Leslie Belzberg SCR Brent Forrester (characters created by James Marshall, Harry Allard) CAM Manfred Guthe ED Dale Beldin MUS Christopher L. Stone CAST Tom Arnold, Jessica Lundy, Bug Hall, Alex McKenna, Mark Metcalf, Matt Keeslar, Scott Kraft, Max Landis, David Cronenberg, Costa-Gavras (Gas Station Guy), Robert Wise, Christopher Lee, Norman Jewison

MAD CITY (1997) DIR Costa-Gavras PROD Anne Kopelson, Arnold Kopelson SCR Tom Matthews (story by Tom Matthews, Eric Williams) CAM Patrick Blossier ED Françoise Bonnot MUS Thomas Newman CAST Dustin Hoffman, John Travolta, Mia Kirshner, Alan Alda, Robert Prosky, Blythe Danner, William Atherton, Ted Levine, Tammy Lauren

AMEN., a.k.a. EYEWITNESS (2002) DIR Costa-Gavras PROD Andrei Boncea EXEC PROD Michèle Costa-Gavras SCR Costa-Gavras, Jean-Claude Grumberg (play by Rolf Hochhuth) CAM Patrick Blossier ED Yannick Kergoat MUS Armand Amar CAST Ulrich Tukur, Mathieu Kassovitz, Ulriche Mühe, Michel Duchaussoy, Ion Caramitru, Marcel Iures, Friedrich von Thun

LE COUPERET, a.k.a. THE AX (2005) DIR Costa-Gavras PROD Michèle Ray-Gavras SCR Costa-Gavras, Jean-Claude Grumberg (novel by Donald E. Westlake) CAM Patrick Blossier ED Yannick Kergoat MUS Armand Amar CAST José Garcia, Karin Viard, Geordy Monfils, Christa Théret, Ulrich Tukur, Olivier Gourmet, Yvon Back, Thierry Hancisse, Yolande Moreau, John Landis, Julie Gavras, Nabil Ben Yadir, Romain Gavras

MON COLONEL, a.k.a. THE COLONEL (2006) DIR Laurent Herbiet PROD Costa Gavras, Michèle Ray-Gavras, Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne, Salem Brahimi SCR Laurent Herbiet, Jean-Claude Grumberg (story by Costa-Gravras; novel by Francis Zamponi) CAM Patrick Blossier ED Nicole Berckmans MUS Armand Amar CAST Olivier Gourmet, Robinson Stévenin, Cécile de France, Charles Aznavour, Guillaume Gallienne, Bruno Solo, Éric Caravaca, Georges Siatidis

EDEN À L’OUEST, a.k.a. EDEN IS WEST (2009) DIR Costa-Gavras PROD Costa-Gavras, Manos Krezias, Jérôme Seydoux SCR Costa-Gavras, Jean-Claude Grumberg CAM Patrick Blossier ED Yannick Kergoat MUS Armand Amar CAST Riccardo Scamarcio, Odysseas Papaspiliopoulos, Léa Wiazemsky, Tess Spentzos, Kristen Ross, Stella-Melina Vasilaki, Jean-Claude Grumberg, Julie Gavras

BURKE AND HARE (2010) DIR John Landis PROD Barnaby Thompson SCR Nick Moorcroft, Piers Ashworth CAM John Mathieson ED Mark Everson MUS Joby Talbot CAST Simon Pegg, Andy Serkis, Isla Fisher, Tom Wilkinson, Tim Curry, Christian Brassington, Gabrielle Downey, Christopher Lee, Ronnie Corbett, Ray Harryhausen, Jenny Agutter, Max Landis, Costa-Gavras, Romain Gavras

LE CAPITAL, a.k.a. CAPITAL (2012) DIR Costa-Gavras PROD Michèle Costa-Gavras SCR Costa-Gavras, Jean-Claude Grumberg, Karim Boukercha (novel by Stéphane Osmont) CAM Eric Gautier ED Yannick Kergoat, Yorgos Lamprinos MUS Armand Amar CAST Gad Elmaleh, Gabriel Byrne, Natacha Régnier, Céline Sallette, Liya Kebede, Hippolyte Girardot, Daniel Mesguich, Olga Grumberg

ADULTS IN THE ROOM (2019) DIR Costa-Gavras PROD Michèle Costa-Gavras, Alexandre Gavras, Manos Krezias SCR (adaptation by Costa-Gavras; book by Yanis Varoufakis) CAM Giorgos Arvanitis ED Costa-Gavras, Lambis Haralambidis MUS Alexandre Desplat CAST Christios Loulis, Alexandros Bourdoumis, Ulrich Tukur, Daan Schuurmans, Valeria Golino, Christos Stergioglou