It was one of the highlights of the Recidivism Festival : the Jean Zay Prize has been delivered to Costa-Gavras Wednesday 10 November 2021 at 9 p.m. at the Scène nationale d’Orléans in Loiret.
An extraordinary honor
It is in front near 200 spectators and after a speech by the daughters of Jean Zay that the Franco-Greek filmmaker appeared on stage. He received long applause which moved him greatly. A few moments later, he confided in the importance of this award. “This Prize has an enormous weight because it associates the great name of Jean Zay with mine. It’s an extraordinary honor“before adding a word on the current situation in cinemas.”At the moment the rooms are not full and tonight the room was almost full, it is a great emotion to see these people here.“
An evening full of emotion
It was also a strong feeling for him to be at Orleans alongside the daughters of Jean Zay. “The greatest emotion is the speech of Hélène and Catherine Zay on me and my films. It was a rare and deeply moving welcome.“
The Franco-Greek filmmaker did not fail to highlight Jean Zay. “He is a very special character. He created the Cannes Film Festival. But he created it without seeing it unfortunately. So I also had a thought for these two young women, Hélène and Catherine, when they were younger and who had not seen their father, or very little. All of that made it a very special evening for me ”
– Julien frenoy
After the ceremony, the audience was able to observe the screening of “Adults in the room”, the latest achievement of Costa-Gavras. In his film, he denounces the refusal of theEuropean Union to reconsider the over-indebtedness of the Greece.