by COSTA-GAVRAS
Written by Jorge Semprún, Vasilīs Vasilikos / From the novel by Vasilīs Vasilikos / Photography Raoul Coutard / Editing Françoise Bonnot / Starring Yves Montand, Irene Papas, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Jacques Perrin, Pierre Dux / Produced by Jacques Perrin, Hamed Rachedi per Reggane/ONCIC/Valoria
Algeria, France 1969 / 127’
V.O. sub. ITA
restored version
14.11.2021
20:30
Cinema De Seta
Efebo d'Oro Lifetime Achievement
FREE
Z, a physician and left-wing activist, dies in unusual circumstances. Investigations conducted by the appointed detective reveal responsibilities and attempts to cover them up by the Government and police. Awarded with two prizes at the Cannes Film Festival and an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, Z is a political and engaged film, which nonetheless employs the technical and narrative devices of more ‘spectacular’ films.
Pontecorvo had done the same a few years
earlier with the Algerian story.

DIRECTOR

Costa-Gavras, born in 1933 in Greece in the province of Iraia, he began his career directing detective films and then devoted himself almost permanently to the crime story. He went into exile due to the dramatic socio-political situation in his country and received French citizenship in 1965. Here he shot The Sleeping Car Murders starring Yves Montand who would become his ‘muse’ and star of many of the films he shot in Europe. In 1969 he received an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival for the film Z for which he took inspiration from the assassination of Lambrakis. In 1982, he won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival for Missing, a portrait of Chile under the Pinochet dictatorship. In 1989, he triumphed also in Berlin where Music Box won the Golden Bear. Adults in the Room is his first feature film shot in Greek. Adults in the Room is his first feature film shot in Greek.

© KG Productions