The Franco-Greek filmmaker, guest of honor at the War On Screen festival in Châlons-en-Champagne (Marne), looks back on his immense career, soon to be rewarded with an honorary César during the 50th edition of the Césars, which will take place on the 28th. February 2025.
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His name is closely linked to French cinema. Winner of an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film for “Z“in 1980, a Palme d’Or and an Oscar for best adapted screenplay for “Missing“in 1982, a Golden Bear for “Music Box” in 1990 and a César for best original screenplay for “Amen” in 2003, Costa-Gavras’ work is based on a cinema deeply rooted in reality.
At 91 years old, the Franco-Greek filmmaker will also receive, alongside Julia Roberts, an honorary César at the next Césars ceremony, on February 28, 2025 at the Olympia in Paris. But before this deadline, we met him at the War On Screen festival, which takes place from October 7 to 13 and of which he is the guest of honor.
The festival’s slogan, “Make films, not war”, echoing “Make love, not war”, what does that mean in your opinion?
That means taking care of the pleasure of our citizens by making films, rather than the displeasure. What a horror is war! And we know something about it at the moment.
Exactly, why transcribe the war on screen?
This is to show his horror. It’s to show that this is the thing not to do, and to teach young people that the worst thing is war. Behind the war, there is speech, there is negotiation, there is an exchange. And we must always start with that, rather than waging war.
“Journey to Gaza”, “The Perfume of Iraq” are films which are a direct reference to current events in the Middle East. Representing in cinema the horror that we already see on social networks and on television, isn’t that anxiety-provoking?
No, I don’t think so. On the contrary, it is important, because showing war means showing that, conversely, peace is a much better choice. Making war films also shows that being in a peaceful situation is much better than having war around us. Cinema tells the story of life. The life we have, the life we love, the life as it should be. But it also tells of the life that is not. And at the same time we understand that in what is told in the cinema, there is positive, and there is negative.
Cinema has an enormous responsibility, because it is the most viewed media, the one that most easily reaches the vast majority of our citizens, and the entire world for that matter.
When you make a war film, do you always have to take sides? And isn’t it dangerous to do so?
You have to take sides, obviously. In any case, we cannot accept war, whatever the reasons. Even to defend oneself in fact, but before defending oneself, one must do everything not to end up waging war. It is a philosophical, and almost social, problem. The principle is to be against (the war). I cannot better summarize the problem of war, which we currently have, but which we have always had, and which we will still have in the future.
What is the role of cinema today, in the face of all these conflicts?
Cinema has changed the world. For the first time, we were able to show how others live, how they are, how they kill each other, and how they “help each other”. And therefore cinema has an important responsibility, even if filmmakers remain free to show what they want to show, and react based on their own feelings.
On the representation of conflicts, has cinema changed in 50 years?
It has fundamentally changed. First, it has changed technically, which allows many people, especially young people, to make films whenever they want. But it has also changed in a negative way: with the rise of series, and large companies making a lot of films, we get a little lost.
Besides, I’m going to speak as a spectator, but the best way to go see a film is to go to the cinema, to be in a large room with other people. It’s having common feelings, and then we can talk about it or not talk about it, whatever, but it’s better than watching a film in your slippers in front of your television set.
