Costa-Gavras is honoured with Stockholm Lifetime Achievement Award 2024

The Stockholm International Film Festival awards director Costa-Gavras the Stockholm Lifetime Achievement Award. The director receives the Bronze Horse during an exclusive Face2Face in connection with the screening of his film “Last Breath” on Saturday November 9, 16:15 at Bio Mauritz.

The justification reads : As one of Europe’s great directors, he laid the foundation for the modern political thriller and his contribution to the art of cinema has given us invaluable insights. With a big heart, commitment and keen eye, he has created films for over 50 years to communicate about justice and human oppression. His films have awakened our empathy and taught us more about life. This year’s Stockholm Lifetime Achievement Award is awarded to Costa-Gavras.

91-year-old Costa-Gavras was born in Greece and has lived in France since the early 1950s. During this year’s festival, he presents his latest film, “Last Breath”, which with striking clarity asks questions about old age and coming to terms with the finitude of life – this in a time that fears to be reminded that there will come a time when we cease to exist .

Costa-Gavras extensive filmography consists of 22 feature films, most of which he wrote. Two of the film directors who influenced Costa-Gavras are Soviet Sergej Eisenstein (“Battleship Potemkin”, 1925) and Swedish Ingmar Bergman. Among his films, “Z – he lives” (1969), “The Missing” (1982) and “Hostage” (1972) should be mentioned. During his successful career, Costa-Gavras has won, among other things, the Palme d’Or in Cannes, the Oscar for best foreign film and the Golden Bear in Berlin. It is no exaggeration to say that Costa-Gavras has created a film genre of his own – one where the crucial ideological and political issues of social construction are made accessible with the pulsating heart of the thriller film.

The Stockholm Lifetime Achievement Award is awarded to a person active in film whose life’s work the Stockholm Film Festival wishes to highlight and honor. The prestigious award in the form of the 7.3 kilogram Bronze Horse – the world’s heaviest film award – is a paraphrase of the Swedish Dala horse and was created by designer Fredrik Swärd. The award has previously been awarded to greats such as Sir Anthony Hopkins, Lauren Bacall, David Lynch, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Susan Sarandon and Paul Schrader and others.