Z (1969)

Z (1969) / Director: Costa-Gavras / Length: 125 min. / Language: French / Subtitles: English / Entrance: FREE

In a country ruled by a fragile democracy where the police and the military are set on eradicating all threats from the political left, a member of the parliamentary opposition is murdered in the street right after leading a pacifist meeting. The official inquiry into the case is entrusted to a young judge who becomes aware that this was a political crime committed by two hired killers. To entangle things further, an ambitious journalist resorts to unorthodox means to pile up evidence against several members of an extreme right-wing party, while these in turn accuse police and army high officials.

Costa-Gavras (born 1933 in Iraia, Greece) is a renowned Greek-French film director and producer who is known for making films with overt political themes. During the World War II, his father, a tax official in Athens, worked for the left wing resistance movement and became marked as a communist. Later with the defeat of the communists in the civil war, he was jailed. It not only affected the family financially, but closed the door for higher studies for young Gavras. Consequently, he was forced to move to France, where he graduated from Institute for Advanced Cinematographic Studies in Paris. Thereafter, he started working as assistant to various reputed directors and had his directorial debut in mid-1960s with a French thriller film called ‘Compartiment tueurs’. However, his later films began to carry an overt political message, especially ‘Z’, ’État de Siège’, ‘Missing’, and ‘Hamma K’, etc. Today he is a naturalized French citizen and lives in Paris.

This film is screened in partnership with Alliance Française de Pristina, French Embassy in Kosovo and IF Cinema.