Costa Gavras: Go where it is impossible to go
“… In their minds and hearts, young people should believe they can go, wherever they feel like going … that there is no limit”.
This is how Costa Gavras begins to narrate his journey in the world of cinema in an interview-tribute, shortly before the official presentation of his autobiography at the Greek Film Archive. He urges us to “go where it’s impossible to go”. The Greek-born, award-winning director and screenwriter of Z, Confession, the Missing, and Mad City created memorable political films, intense psychological thrillers and his own unique personal gaze at the most important historical events of the 20th century. Gavras describes art as an “act of resistance”. He discusses the beginning of his life’s journey, when he left turbulent Athens for Paris in the 1950s, his early desire to become a film director and how the first films he saw in the french Cinémathèque changed his whole perception about cinema. He talks about the power of the script, the decisive role of actors in shaping a film, the risks that arise at the editing suite and he ends up with the revelation that Chris’ Marker did the “making of” for the Confession.
Direction & Editing: Eirini Steirou
Director of Photography & CC: Antonis Katrakazis
Sound: Aris Pavlidis
Assistant Director: Stelios Halavazis
Coordination: Amalia Stathaki from Gutenberg Books
The interview took place at the Greek Film Archive
We warmly thank them
Costa Gavra, Michele Ray
Kostas Dardanos , Publisher, Gutenberg Books
Maria Komninou, General Secretary of the Greek Film Archive
Tassos Adamopoulos, Technical Manager of the Greek Film Archive
Phaedra Papadopoulou, Program Coordinator, Film Archive of Greece
Kostas Papapanagiotou & Dimitris Stamoulis – RentPhotoVideo
Archival material
We specially thank Costas Gavras for providing the interview. The photographic material was taken from the publication “Costas Gavras: Autobiography” and belongs to Costas Gavras.
Excerpts from Costas Gavras films included are:
Compartiment tueurs (1965) | Z (1967) | The Confession (1970) | State of Siege (1972) | Missing (1982) | Betrayed (1988) | Music Box (1989) | Mad City (1997) | Amen (2002) and segments from the promotional film for the “The Confession”
