Weird But True
Festival says director Polanski detained
Director Roman Polanski has been taken into custody by Swiss police on a 31-year-old US arrest warrant, organizers of the Zurich Film Festival said on Sunday.
The organizers said in a statement that Polanski was detained by police Saturday in relation to a 1978 US request, without giving details. Zurich police couldn't immediately confirm the information. Polanski fled the United States in 1978, a year after pleading guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl. The 76-year-old director of such classic films as “Chinatown” and “Rosemary's Baby” recently sought dismissal of his case on grounds of misconduct by the now-deceased judge, who had arranged a plea bargain and then reneged on it. Polanski has lived for the past three decades in France, where his career has continued to flourish.

28.09.2009

AP  ZURICH