Romain Gavras

Romain Gavras (born July 4, 1981, in Paris, France) is a French director celebrated for bold, high-impact filmmaking across music videos and feature cinema. Working at the intersection of pop culture and political charge, he has built a reputation for striking imagery and kinetic storytelling.

Gavras gained international attention through music videos that became cultural talking points, including M.I.A.’s “Bad Girls” and “Born Free”, Kanye West and Jay-Z’s “No Church in the Wild”, Jamie xx’s “Gosh”, and Justice’s “Stress”. His work in the format helped redefine the modern music video as a cinematic event.

In features, his second film, The World Is Yours, was selected for the Directors’ Fortnight at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. His third film, Athena (2022), premiered at the Venice International Film Festival, expanding his signature style into large-scale, urgent drama.

He is the son of Greek-French filmmaker Costa-Gavras and a member of the collective Kourtrajmé alongside Kim Chapiron, Ladj Ly, and Toumani Sangaré. In addition to directing, he has appeared on screen in credits such as Les Misérables and Making Athena.