BERLIN – The new movie by French-Polish director Roman Polanski, currently under house arrest in Switzerland, will receive its world premiere at the Berlin film festival in February, organisers said on Tuesday.
US prosecutors have hunted Polanski, 76, since he fled the country in 1978 before he could be sentenced after admitting having unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl.
He is currently under house arrest in his Swiss chalet in Gstaad after being detained in September as he arrived in Switzerland to collect an award at the Zurich film festival.
The director, who has French nationality, is fighting his extradition to the United States, after being granted bail of 4.5 million dollars on condition that he surrenders his passport and wears an electronic bracelet.
Swiss authorities have warned Polanski, who spent weeks in jail, that he will forfeit his bail if he leaves his chalet, and Interpol has placed countries on alert in case he tries to flee.
Alongside Polanski’s “The Ghost Writer”, starring Ewan McGregor and Pierce Brosnan, “Shutter Island” by Martin Scorsese will also receive its world premiere at the 60th annual Berlin festival from February 11-21.
- AFP/sh
Channel News Asia