Monarchy of Bulgaria
Former Monarchy
Royal Coat of arms
Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
First monarch	Asparukh (as Khan)
Last monarch	Simeon II (as Tsar)
Style	His Majesty
Monarchy started	681
Monarchy ended	15 September 1946
Current pretender	Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha

The monarchs of Bulgaria ruled the country, with interruptions, from the establishment of the First Bulgarian Empire in 681 to the abolition of monarchy in a manipulated referendum held on 15 September 1946. The Bulgarian monarchy had two periods of foreign domination: one century and a half of Byzantine rule and almost five centuries of Ottoman rule. Early Bulgarian rulers possibly used the title khan, later knyaz for a brief period, and subsequently tsar.

The title tsar, the Slavic form of the Latin caesar, meaning emperor (the tsars of the Third Bulgarian State however are described as kings in international relations unlike the tsars of the First and Second Bulgarian Empires who are described as emperors) was first adopted and used in Bulgaria by Simeon I, following a decisive victory over the Byzantine Empire in 913. It was also used by all of Simeon I's successors until the fall of Bulgaria under Ottoman rule in 1396. After Bulgaria's liberation from the Ottomans in 1878, its first monarch Alexander I adopted the title knyaz. However, when de jure independence was proclaimed under his successor Ferdinand in 1908, the title was elevated to the customary tsar once more. The use of tsar continued under Ferdinand and later under his heir Boris III until the abolition of monarchy in 1946.

In the few surviving medieval Bulgarian royal charters, the monarchs of Bulgaria styled themselves as “In Christ the Lord Faithful Emperor and Autocrat of all Bulgarians” or similar variations, sometimes including “... and Greeks”.

List of Bulgarian monarchs[link]

This list does not include the mythical Bulgar rulers and the rulers of Old Great Bulgaria listed in the Nominalia of the Bulgarian khans as well as unsuccessful claimants to the throne who are not generally listed among the Bulgarian monarchs.

Image	Title	Name	Reign	Notes/Death
[edit] First Bulgarian Empire (681–1018)
Dulo dynasty (681–753)
	Khana[›]	Asparukh	681–700	Son of Khan Kubrat, ruler of Old Great Bulgaria. After the victory in the battle of Ongal in 680 he formed the modern country Bulgaria. Died in 700 in battle against the Khazars.[1]
	Khan	Tervel	700–721	Received the title Caesar in 705.[2][3] Tervel was called by his contemporaries the Saviour of Europe referring to the decisive Bulgarian blow against the Arabs in the siege of Constantinople (717–718). Died in 721.[4]
	Khan	Kormesiy	721–738	Unknown date of death.[5]
	Khan	Sevar	738–753	Last ruler of the Dulo dynasty. Died of natural death or was dethroned in 753.[6]
Vokil clan (753–762)
	Khan	Kormisosh	753–756	Beginning of a period of internal instability. Deposed in 756.[7]
	Khan	Vinekh	756–762	Murdered in 762.[8]
Ugain clan (762–765)
	Khan	Telets	762–765	Murdered in 765.[9]
Non-dynastic (765–766)
	Khan	Sabin	765–766	Might have been of Slavic origin. Deposed by a People's Council in 766, fled to the Byzantine Empire.[10]
Vokil clan (766)
	Khan	Umor	766	Ruled for only 40 days. Deposed in 766 and fled to the Byzantine Empire.[11]
Non-dynastic (766–803)
	Khan	Toktu	766–767	Killed in the forests of the Danube in 767 by the opposition.[12]
	Khan	Pagan	767–768	Murdered by his servants in the region of Varna.[13]
	Khan	Telerig	768–777	Fled to Constantinople in 777 and baptised.[14]
	Khan	Kardam	777–803	End of the internal crisis. Stabilization and consolidation of the country. Unknown date of death.[15]
Krum/Dulo dynasty (803–977)b[›]
	Khan	Krum	803–814	Famous for the battle of Pliska in which the Byzantine emperor Nikephoros I perished. Krum is also famous for introducing the first written laws into Bulgaria. Died of natural death (very likely from stroke) on 13 April 814. There are several theories on his death.[16]
	Great Khan (Kanasubigi)[17], Ruler of the many Bulgarians[18]	Omurtag	814–831	Known for his construction policy, the administrative reform and the persecution of the Christians.[19]
	Khan	Malamir	831–836	Third and youngest son of Omurtag. Died of natural death at early age.[20]
	Khan	Presian I	836–852	Almost the whole of Macedonia was included in Bulgaria.[21]
	Khan/Prince (Knyaz)c[›]	Boris Id[›]	852–889	Christianization of Bulgaria; adoption of Old Bulgarian as the official language of the State and the Church; recognition of an autocephalous Bulgarian Church.[22] Abdicated in 883, died on 2 May 902, aged around 80.[23] Proclaimed a Saint.
	Prince	Vladimir	889–893	Eldest son of Boris I. Tried to restore Tengriism. Deposed and blinded by his father in 893.[24]
	Prince/Emperor (Tsar) Emperor of the Bulgarians and the Romans (claimed)[25] Emperor of the Bulgarians (recognized)[26]	Simeon I	893–927	Third son of Boris I, prepared for a cleric but enthroned during the Council of Preslav. Bulgaria reached its apogee and greatest territorial extend. Golden age of the Bulgarian culture. Died of heart attack on 27 May 927, aged 63.[27]
	Emperor Emperor of the Bulgarians[28]	Peter I	927–969	Second son of Simeon I. His 42-year rule is the longest in Bulgarian history. Abdicated in 969 and died as a monk on 30 January 970.[29] Proclaimed a Saint.
100px	Emperor	Boris II	970–971	Eldest son of Peter I. Dethroned by the Byzantines in 971. Accidentally killed by the Bulgarian border guards in 977 when he tried to return to the country.[30]
	Emperor	Roman	977–991 (997)	Second son of Peter I. Castrated by the Byzantines but escaped to Bulgaria in 977. Captured in battle by the Byzantines in 991 and died in prison in Constantinople in 997.[31]
Cometopuli dynasty (997–1018)
	Emperor Emperor of the Bulgarians[32]	Samuel	997–1014	Co-ruler and general under Roman between 976 and 997. Officially proclaimed Emperor of Bulgaria in 997. Died of heart attack on 6 October 1014, aged 69–70.[33]
	Emperor	Gavril Radomir	1014–1015	Eldest son of Samuel, crowned on 15 October 1014. Murdered by his cousin Ivan Vladislav in August 1015.[34]
	Emperor	Ivan Vladislav	1015–1018	Son of Aron and nephew of Samuel. Killed in the siege of Drach.[35] His death brought the end of the First Bulgarian Empire which was annexed by the Byzantine Empire.
Proclaimed monarchs during the Byzantine rule (1018–1185)[link]
Cometopuli dynasty
	Emperor	Peter II Delyan	1040–1041	Claimed to have been descendent of Gavril Radomir. Led an unsuccessful uprising against Byzantine rule.[36]
	Emperor	Peter III	1072	Named Constantine Bodin and Descendent of Samuel, he was proclaimed Emperor of Bulgaria after the sainted emperor Peter I during the Uprising of Georgi Voiteh.[37] Between 1081 and 1101 he ruled as King of Duklja.
[edit] Second Bulgarian Empire (1185–1396)
Asen dynasty
	Emperor	Peter IV	1185–1190	Named Theodore, he was proclaimed Emperor of Bulgaria as Peter IV during the successful Uprising of Asen and Peter. In 1190 he gave the throne to his younger brother.[38]
	Emperor	Ivan Asen I	1190–1196	Younger brother of Peter IV. A successful general, he ruled until 1196 when he was murdered by his cousin Ivanko.[39]
	Emperor	Peter IV	1196–1197	Murdered in 1197.[38]
	Emperore[›] Emperor of Bulgarians and Vlachs	Kaloyan	1197–1207	Third brother of Asen and Peter. Expanded Bulgaria and concluded a Union with the Catholic Church. Murdered by plotters during the siege of Salonica.[40]
	Emperor	Boril	1207–1218	Son of a sister of Kaloyan. Deposed and blinded in 1218.[41]
	Emperor Emperor of the Bulgarians and the Greeks[42]	Ivan Asen II	1218–1241	Eldest son of Ivan Asen I. The Second Bulgarian Empire reached its apogee. Died of natural death on 24 June 1241, aged 46–47.[43]
	Emperor	Kaliman I Asen	1241–1246	Son of Ivan Asen II. Born in 1234, he died or was poisoned in 1246, aged 12.[44]
	Emperor	Michael II Asen	1246–1256	Son of Ivan Asen II. Murdered by his cousin Kaliman.[45]
	Emperor	Kaliman II Asen	1256	Murdered in 1256.[46]
	Emperor	Mitso Asen	1256–1257	Fled to the Nicaean Empire in 1261.[47]
	Emperor In Christ the Lord Faithful Emperor and Autocrat of the Bulgarians[48]	Constantine Tikh Asen	1257–1277	Bolyar of Skopie. Murdered in 1277 by the peasant leader Ivaylo.[49]
	Emperor	Ivan Asen III	1279–1280	Eldest son of Mitso Asen. Fled to Constantinople with the treasury.[50]
Non-dynastic
	Emperor	Ivaylo	1277–1280	Leader of a major peasant uprising. Fled to the Golden Horde but was murdered by the Mongol Khan Nogai.[51]
Terter dynasty (1280–1292)
100px	Emperor	George Terter I	1280–1292	Bolyar of Cherven. Fled to the Byzantine Empire in 1292, died Bulgaria in 1308-1309.[52]
Non-dynastic (1292–1300)
	Emperor	Smilets	1292–1298	Bolyar of Kopsis. Murdered or died of natural death in 1298.[53]
	Emperor	Chaka	1299–1300	Son of the Mongol Nogai Khan. Deposed and strangled in prison in 1300.[54]
Terter dynasty (1300–1322)
	Emperor	Theodore Svetoslav	1300–1321	Son of George Terter I. Spent his youth as a hostage in the Golden Horde. His rule marked a revival of Bulgaria. Died of natural death in the late 1321, aged 50-55.[55]
	Emperor	George Terter II	1321–1322	Son of Theodore Svetoslav. Died of natural death in the late 1322.[56]
Shishman dynasty (1323–1396)
	Emperor	Michael III Shishman	1323–1330	Bolyar of Vidin. Mortally wounded in the battle of Velbazhd on 28 July 1330 against the Serbs.[57]
	Emperor	Ivan Stephen	1330–1331	Son of Michael III Shishman. Deposed in March 1331 and fled to Serbia.[58] Might have died in 1373.
	Emperor In Christ the Lord Faithful Emperor and Autocrat of all Bulgarians[59] and Greeks[60]	Ivan Alexander	1331–1371	Bolyar of Lovech. Descended of the Asen, Terter and Shishman dynasties. Second Golden Age of Bulgarian culture. Died of natural death on 17 February 1371, leaving Bulgaria divided among his sons.[61]
	Emperor In Christ the Lord Faithful Emperor and Autocrat of all Bulgarians and Greeks[62]	Ivan Shishman	1371–1395	Fourth son of Ivan Alexander. Beheaded by the Ottomans on 3 June 1395. [63]
	Emperor Emperor of the Bulgarians[64]	Ivan Sratsimir	1356–1396	Third son of Ivan Alexander. Ruled in Vidin. Captured by the Ottomans in 1396 and imprisoned in Bursa where he was strangled.[65]
	Tsar (Emperor) of Bulgaria	Constantine II of Bulgaria	1397–1422	Son of Ivan Sratsimir (Ivan Sracimir) of Bulgaria by Anna, daughter of prince Nicolae Alexandru of Wallachia. He was crowned co-emperor by his father in or before 1395.
[edit] Principality of Bulgaria and Kingdom of Bulgaria (1878–1946)
House of Battenberg
100px	Prince	Alexander I	29 April 1879 – 7 September 1886	Resigned due to Russian pressure. Died on 23 October 1893 in Graz.
House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
	Prince/King (Tsar)	Ferdinand I	7 July 1887 – 3 October 1918	Became Tsar (internationally recognized as King) after the official proclamation of independence on 22 September 1908. Abdicated on 3 October 1918 after the defeat in World War I. Died on 10 September 1948 in Coburg.
	King (Tsar)	Boris III	3 October 1918 – 28 August 1943	Died on 28 August 1943 in unclear circumstances.
	King (Tsar)	Simeon II	28 August 1943 – 15 September 1946	Monarchy abolished by the Communists. He served as the 47th Prime Minister of Bulgaria between 24 July 2001 and 17 August 2005.

See also[link]

• List of Bulgarian consorts
• List of Prime Ministers of Bulgaria
• List of Presidents of Bulgaria
• Cuman people
• Cumania

References[link]

Notes[link]

^ a: In the Nominalia of the Bulgarian khans the title of Asparukh is the Slavic Knyaz (Prince). The title Khan is not used in the manuscript.^[66]
^ b: There are sources which suggest that Krum descended from those Bulgars who settled in Pannonia and lived under the rule the Avars. Some historians assume that Krum was from the Dulo dynasty and that with his ascension the old ruling dynasty was restored.^[67][68] According to Zlatarski, Krum was the founder of a new dynasty.^[69]
^ c: In the Ballshi Inscription, the title of Boris I is Archon of Bulgaria. The Byzantine title archon is usually translated with ruler. Contemporary Bulgarian sources used the title Knyaz, while during the Second Bulgarian Empire he was referred to as Tsar.^[70]
^ d: When Boris I was baptised he received the Christian name Michael, after his godfather, the Byzantine emperor Michael III. He is often called by the historians Boris-Michael.^[71]
^ e: During the negotiations with Pope Innocent III, Kaloyan insisted that the Pope should recognize him as Imperator, the title equal to Tsar and based his claims on the imperial recognition of the monarchs of the First Bulgarian Empire. He was only crowned as Rex (King) but in his later correspondence with Innocent III, Kaloyan sent him his gratitude for his recognition as Imperator and used that title.^[72]

Citations[link]

1. ^ Andreev, p. 19
2. ^ Andreev, p. 23
3. ^ Whittow, p. 273
4. ^ Andreev, p. 27
5. ^ Andreev, p. 29
6. ^ Andreev, p. 30
7. ^ Andreev, p. 32
8. ^ Andreev, p. 33
9. ^ Andreev, p. 35
10. ^ Andreev, p. 36
11. ^ Andreev, p. 38
12. ^ Andreev, p. 39
13. ^ Andreev, p. 40
14. ^ Andreev, p. 42
15. ^ Andreev, p. 44
16. ^ Andreev, pp. 53-54
17. ^ "Tarnovo Inscription of Khan Omurtag" (in Russian). http://www.history.kemsu.ru/oldversion/ISV/1bolg.htm. Retrieved 14 March 2011. 
18. ^ Andreev, p. 62
19. ^ Andreev, pp. 61-62
20. ^ Andreev, pp. 67-68
21. ^ Andreev, p. 70
22. ^ Whittow, p. 284
23. ^ Andreev, pp. 85-86
24. ^ Andreev, p. 89
25. ^ Stephenson, p. 23
26. ^ Stephenson, p. 22
27. ^ Andreev, pp. 103-104
28. ^ Whittow, p. 292
29. ^ Andreev, p. 112
30. ^ Andreev, p. 118
31. ^ Andreev, p. 121-122
32. ^ Whittow, p. 297
33. ^ Andreev, p. 127
34. ^ Andreev, pp. 129-130
35. ^ Andreev, p. 133
36. ^ Andreev, p. 136
37. ^ Andreev, p. 142-143
38. ^ ^{a b} Andreev, pp. 146-147
39. ^ Andreev, pp. 157-158
40. ^ Andreev, p. 173
41. ^ Andreev, p. 184
42. ^ Laskaris, p. 5
43. ^ Andreev, p. 193
44. ^ Andreev, p. 197
45. ^ Andreev, p. 205
46. ^ Andreev, p. 208
47. ^ Andreev, p. 211
48. ^ Ivanov, pp. 578-579
49. ^ Andreev, p. 229
50. ^ Andreev, p. 233
51. ^ Andreev, p. 136
52. ^ Andreev, p. 239
53. ^ Andreev, p. 240
54. ^ Andreev, p. 244
55. ^ Andreev, p. 251
56. ^ Andreev, p. 254
57. ^ Andreev, p. 263
58. ^ Andreev, p. 267
59. ^ Ivanov, p. 584
60. ^ Ivanov, pp. 590-591
61. ^ Andreev, p. 263
62. ^ Ivanov, pp. 602-608
63. ^ Andreev, p. 286
64. ^ Miletich, L.. "Daco-Romanians and their Slavic Literacy. Part II" (in Bulgarian). p. 47. http://www.promacedonia.org/lm/lm_6a.htm#g1. Retrieved 14 March 2011. 
65. ^ Andreev, p. 298
66. ^ "Nominalia of the Bulgarian Khans" (in Bulgarian). http://www.omda.bg/bulg/hystory/imennik.html. Retrieved 14 March 2011. 
67. ^ Andreev, p. 45
68. ^ Runciman, p. 51
69. ^ Zlatarski, pp. 321-322
70. ^ Bakalov, pp. 144, 146
71. ^ Andreev, pp. 71, 75
72. ^ Andreev, pp. 163-165

Sources[link]

• Andreev, Jordan; Milcho Lalkov (1996) (in Bulgarian). The Bulgarian Khans and Tsars. Veliko Tarnovo: Abagar. ISBN 954-427-216-X. 
• Bakalov, Georgi (1995) (in Bulgarian). The Medieval Bulgarian Ruler (Title and Insignia). Sofia. 
• Ivanov, Yordan (1970) (in Bulgarian). Bulgarian Antiquities from Macednia. Sofia: BAN. 
• Laskaris, M. (1930) (in Bulgarian). Bulgarian Antiquities (Book XI). The Vatopedi Charter of Emperor Ivan Asen II. Sofia: BAN, Darzhavna Pechatnitsa. http://ia700402.us.archive.org/7/items/bulgarskistarini11bulguoft/bulgarskistarini11bulguoft.pdf. 
• Runciman, Steven (1930). A History of the First Bulgarian Empire. London: George Bell & Sons. OCLC 832687. http://www.promacedonia.org/en/sr/index.html. 
• Stephenson, Paul (2004) (in English). Byzantium's Balkan Frontier. A Political Study of the Northern Balkans (900-1204). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-511-03402-4. 
• Whittow, Mark (1996) (in English). The Making of Byzantium (600-1025). Los Angeles: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-20497-2. 
• Zlatarski, Vasil (1971) [1927] (in Bulgarian). History of the Bulgarian state in the Middle Ages. Volume I. History of the First Bulgarian Empire. (2 ed.). Sofia: Nauka i izkustvo. OCLC 67080314. http://www.promacedonia.org/vz1a/index.html. 

External links[link]

• (English) Detailed list of Bulgarian rulers (PDF)

v t e Bulgarian monarchs First Empire (681–1018) Asparukh Tervel Kormesiy Sevar Kormisosh Vinekh Telets Sabin Umor Toktu Pagan Telerig Kardam Krum Omurtag Malamir Presian I Boris I Vladimir Simeon I Peter I Boris II Roman Samuil Gavril Radomir Ivan Vladislav Presian II Second Empire (1186–1396) Ivan Asen I Peter IV Ivanko Kaloyan Boril Ivan Asen II Kaliman I Asen Michael Asen I Kaliman II Asen Mitso Asen Constantine Tikh Ivailo Ivan Asen III George Terter I Smilets Chaka Theodore Svetoslav George Terter II Michael Shishman Ivan Stephen Ivan Alexander Ivan Shishman Ivan Sratsimir Principality (1878–1908) and Kingdom (1908–1946) Alexander I Ferdinand I Boris III Simeon II

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Nicolai Ghiaurov (or Nikolai Gjaurov, Nikolay Gyaurov, Bulgarian: Николай Гяуров) (September 13, 1929 – June 2, 2004) was a Bulgarian opera singer and one of the most famous basses of the postwar period. He was admired for his powerful, sumptuous voice, and was particularly associated with roles of Verdi. Ghiaurov married the Italian soprano Mirella Freni in 1978, and the two singers frequently performed together. They lived in Modena up until Ghiaurov's death in 2004 of a heart attack.

Biography[link]

Ghiaurov was born in the small mountain town of Velingrad in southern Bulgaria. As a child, he learned to play the violin, piano and clarinet. He began his musical studies at the Bulgarian State Conservatory in 1949 under Prof. Hristo Brambarov. From 1950 until 1955, he studied at the Moscow Conservatory.

Ghiaurov's career was launched in 1955, when he won the Grand Prix at the International Vocal Competition in Paris and the First Prize and a gold medal at the Fifth World Youth Festival in Prague. Ghiaurov made his operatic debut in 1955 as Don Basilio in Rossini's The Barber of Seville in Sofia. He made his Italian operatic debut in 1957 in Teatro Comunale Bologna, before starting an international career with his rendition of Varlaam in the opera Boris Godunov at La Scala in 1959. 1962 marked Ghiaurov's Covent Garden debut as Padre Guardiano in Verdi's "Forza del Destino" as well as his first appearance in Salzburg in Verdi's "Requiem," conducted by Herbert von Karajan.

Ghiaurov first shared a stage with Mirella Freni in 1961 in Genoa. She was Marguerite, he was the devil in "Faust." Married in 1978, they lived in her hometown, Modena. They sang together frequently.

He made his US debut in Gounod's Faust in 1963 at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and he went on to sing twelve roles with the company, including the title roles in Boris Godunov, Don Quichotte, and Mefistofele.

Ghiaurov made his Metropolitan Opera debut on 8 November 1965 as Mephistopheles. He sang a total of eighty-one performances in ten roles there, last appearing there on October 26, 1996, as Sparafucile in Rigoletto. During the course of his career, he also performed at Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre, the Vienna State Opera, Covent Garden, and Paris Opéra.

In the late 1970s Ghiaurov sang the title role in the first complete stereo recording of Jules Massenet's opera Don Quichotte (Don Quixote). He was recorded frequently, and his discography includes complete recording of many of his great stage roles, including Don Giovanni, Don Basilio, Ramfis, Colline, Banco, Gounod and Boito's Mephistos and Boris Godunov among many others.

"He commanded a remarkable vocal instrument, strikingly generous in size, warm in timbre, dark in color. He rolled out the resonant tone at his command with generosity, and with special ease at the burnished top." remarks Martin Bernheimer in Ghiaurov's obituary in Opera News.

Honour[link]

Ghiaurov Peak on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named after Nicolai Ghiaurov.

References[link]

• Bernheimer, Martin. "Obituaries: Nicolai Ghiaurov" Opera News 69:2 (August 2004) p. 74.

External links[link]

• Russian Opera from Bulgaria: Nicolai Ghiaurov
• Profile
• Interview with Ghiaurov from 1995 (in Bulgarian)

Costa-Gavras
2005 portrait
Born	Constantinos Gavras (1933-02-12) 12 February 1933 (age 79) Loutra Iraias, Greece
Occupation	film director and producer
Spouse	Michèle Ray-Gavras (?-?)

Costa-Gavras, (short for Constantinos Gavras or Κωνσταντίνος Γαβράς; born 12 February 1933) is a Greek filmmaker, who lives and works in France, best known for films with overt political themes, most famously the fast-paced thriller, Z (1969). Most of his movies were made in French; starting with Missing (1982), several were made in English.^[1]

Early life[link]

Gavras was born in Loutra Iraias (Λουτρά Ηραίας), Arcadia. His family spent the Second World War in a village in the Peloponnese, and moved to Athens after the war. His father had been a member of the left-wing EAM branch of the Greek Resistance, and was imprisoned after the war as a suspected communist. His father's record made it impossible for him to attend university or emigrate to the United States, so after high school Costa Gavras went to France, where he began his studies of law in 1951. His father's political blacklisting not only barred him from Greek university, but, in the McCarthyite 50s, denied Gavras a visa for US film school.^[2]

Work[link]

In 1956, he left his university studies to study film at the French national film school, IDHEC. After film school, he apprenticed under Yves Allégret, and became an assistant director for Jean Giono and René Clair. After several further positions as first assistant director, he directed his first feature film, Compartiment Tueurs, in 1965.^[3]

Costa Gavras was president of the Cinémathèque Française from 1982 to 1987, and again from 2007 to the present. He is a first cousin of recording artist Jimmie Spheeris, filmmaker Penelope Spheeris, and musician Chris Spheeris.^[4] His daughter Julie Gavras and his son Romain Gavras are also filmmakers.

Costa Gavras was interviewed extensively by The Times cultural correspondent Melinda Camber Porter and was featured prominently in her book, Through Parisian Eyes: Reflections on Contemporary French Arts and Culture (1993, Da Capo Press).

Selected films[link]

In Z (1969), an investigating judge, played by Jean-Louis Trintignant, tries to uncover the truth about the murder of a prominent leftist politician, played by Yves Montand, while government officials and the military attempt to cover up their roles. The film is a fictionalized account of the events surrounding the assassination of Greek politician Grigoris Lambrakis in 1963. It had additional resonance because, at the time of its release, Greece had been ruled for two years by the "Regime of the Colonels". Z won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.^[5]

Gavras and co-writer Jorge Semprún won an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Film Screenplay. L'Aveu (The Confession, direction, 1970) follows the path of Artur London, a Czechoslovakian communist minister falsely arrested and tried for treason and espionage in the Slánský 'show trial' in 1952.

State of Siege (1973) takes place in Uruguay under a conservative government in the early 1970s. In a plot loosely based on the case of US police official and alleged torture expert Dan Mitrione, an American embassy official (played by Yves Montand) is kidnapped by the Tupamaros, a radical leftist urban guerilla group, which interrogates him in order to reveal the details of secret American support for repressive regimes in Latin America.

Missing (1982) concerns an American journalist, Charles Horman, who disappeared in the bloody coup led by General Augusto Pinochet in Chile and backed by the United States in 1973. Horman's father, played by Jack Lemmon, and wife, played by Sissy Spacek, search in vain to determine his fate. Nathaniel Davis, US ambassador to Chile from 1971–1973, a version of whose character  had been portrayed in the movie (under a different name), filed a US$150 million libel suit, Davis v. Costa-Gavras, 619 F. Supp. 1372 (1985), against the studio and the director, which was eventually dismissed. The film won an Oscar for Best Screenplay Adaptation and the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

In Music Box (1989), a respected naturalized American citizen (played by Armin Mueller-Stahl) is accused of being a Nazi war criminal. The film is loosely based on the case of John Demjanjuk. The film won the Golden Bear at the 40th Berlin International Film Festival.^[6]

La Petite Apocalypse (1993) was entered into the 43rd Berlin International Film Festival.^[7]

Amen. (2003), was based in part on the highly controversial 1963 play, Der Stellvertreter. Ein christliches Trauerspiel (The Deputy, a Christian Tragedy), by Rolf Hochhuth. The movie alleges that Pope Pius XII was aware of the plight of the Jews in Nazi concentration camps during World War II, but failed to take public action to publicize or condemn the Holocaust. Apologists for the Vatican's role during WWII have cited Pope Pius XII's 1942 Christmas address as evidence that the Papacy and the Roman Catholic establishment did indeed condemn Nazi genocide but the relevant passage (a single short paragraph) in this address is so vague, obfuscated and un-specific as to offer little support for this claim. These issues continue to be disputed, with the Vatican thus far declining to open to historians all of its archives relating to the extent of the Pope's knowledge during World War II.^{[citation needed]}

Political-commercial film[link]

Costa Gavras is known for merging controversial political issues with the entertainment value of commercial cinema. Law and justice, oppression, legal/illegal violence, and torture are common subjects in his work, especially relevant to his earlier films. Costa Gavras is an expert of the “statement” picture. In most cases, the targets of Gavras's work have been right-of-center movements and regimes, including Greek conservatives in and out of the military in Z, and authoritarian governments that ruled much of Latin America during the height of the Cold War, as in State of Siege and Missing.

In a broader sense, this emphasis continues with Amen. given its focus on the conservative leadership of the Catholic Church during the 1940s. In this political context, L'Aveu (The Confession) provides the exception, dealing as it does with oppression on the part of a Communist regime during the Stalinist period.

Form and style[link]

Gavras has brought attention to international issues, some urgent, others merely problematic, and he has done this in the tradition of cinematic story-telling. Z (1969), easily his most famous work, is an account of the undermining in the 1960s of democratic government in Greece, his homeland and place of birth. The format, however, is a mystery-thriller combination that transforms an uncomfortable history into a riveting story. This is a clear example of how he pours politics into plot, bringing epic conflicts into the sort of personal conflicts we are accustomed to seeing on screen.^{[citation needed]}

His accounts of corruption propagated, in their essence, by European and American powers (Z, State of Siege and Missing) highlight problems buried deep in the structures of these societies, problems which not everyone is comfortable addressing. The approach he adopted in L'Aveu also subtly invited the audience to a critical look focused on structural issues, delving this time into the opposite Communist bloc.^{[citation needed]}

Filmography[link]

Costa-Gavras, April 2008, during filming Eden à l'Ouest

• The Sleeping Car Murders (Compartiment Tueurs) (1965)
• Shock Troops (Un homme de trop) (1967)
• Z (1969)
• L'Aveu (The Confession) (1970)
• State of Siege (Etat de Siege) (1972)
• Section spéciale (Special Section) (1975)
• Clair de femme (1979)
• Missing (1982)
• Hanna K. (1983)
• Betrayed (1988)
• Music Box (1989)
• La Petite Apocalypse (1993)
• Lumiere & Company (1995)
• Mad City (1997)
• Amen. (2003)
• Le Couperet (2005)
• Mon colonel (2006)
• Eyewitness (TBA)
• No Other Life (TBA)
• Eden in West (2009)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Costa-Gavras

• Costa-Gavras at the Internet Movie Database
• Costa-Gavras at AllRovi
• Yahoo Movies article.