Konstandínos Gavrás, known as Costa-Gavras (born Loutra-Iraias, Greece, February 13, 1933), is a Greco-French film director. Each of his films is a testament to his commitment to his ideas and contains a message regarding power. He is known as the director of films such as Z, Missing and Amen.
He moved to Paris, where he studied at the Institute for Higher Cinematographic Studies (IDHEC) and worked as an assistant to Henri Verneuil, Jacques Demy and René Clément. He is also friends with Simone Signoret and Yves Montand, who he met when he was an assistant on the shooting of the film Le Jour et l’Heure.
During a stay in Greece, he discovered Z, a book by Vasilis Vasilikós that describes the murder of a left-wing leader organised by the police and made to look like a trivial accident. He wrote the script with Jorge Semprún. This film was a global hit, and received the Jury Prize at Cannes Film Festival, the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and the Academy Award for Best Film Editing.
The script for the film Missing (1982) was an adaptation of Thomas Hauser’s book The Execution of Charles Horman, which was based on a true story. The film recounts the disappearance of a young American journalist during General Augusto Pinochet’s coup d’état in 1973. It was very controversial in the United States, as it placed the spotlight on the actions of American government agents and their part in the coup. Following the premiere, people from the American far-right asked: “what’s this European Communist doing here?” However, the film was awarded the Palme d’Or and the Prize for the Best Male Performance at the Cannes Festival in 1982, and the Academy Award for the Best Adapted Screenplay, and it has always been featured as a great movie in American universities. The music was created by another famous Greek, Vangelis.