BIOGRAPHY

Born in Athens, Greece in 1981, Romain grew up in Paris and began making his own films on Video8 at the age of 14. In 1995, he and fellow filmmaker Kim Chapiron founded Kourtrajmé, a collective of artists and filmmakers known for stylish, socially-conscious short films and documentaries. Working with limited resources, Romain produced and directed 15 films during this time, including award-winning shorts The Funk Hunt, and Megalopolis Stories. Since then, Kourtrajmé has grown to include 136 members, and the collective’s films and videos have been screened in festivals worldwide.
 


In addition to his work with Kourtrajmé, Romain has also created some of the most striking and unforgettable music videos of recent years including “Signatune” for DJ Mehdi remixed by Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk, “I Believe” for Simian Mobile Disco, and “The Age of the Understatement” for Last Shadow Puppets, which won Best Cinematography at the 2008 UK Music Video Awards. Perhaps best known to American audiences is his controversial video “Stress” for the band Justice, which won Best International Video at the 2008 UK Music Video Awards. Shot in a style that skates with a razorblade’s precision along the line between documentary and fiction, the video follows an anarchic gang of street thugs through the streets of Paris as they terrorize its citizens, vandalize and destroy property, and incite senseless mayhem. The video caused a great uproar as many audiences mistakenly believed the Romain had documented actual gang violence to use as a music video (which he did not). One could say that a gift for notoriety runs in his blood – Romain also happens to be the son of controversial director Costa-Gavras.
 


Romain is currently editing his first untitled feature film, produced by actor Vincent Cassel, and continues to push cultural boundaries with his co-conspirators in Kourtrajmé. His documentary film “A Cross The Universe,” which followed Justice on their world tour, was released last year.