Two years after being detained in Zurich on a US arrest warrant, Roman Polanski is set to return to collect a lifetime achievement award from the Zurich Film Festival. “We are especially proud to welcome Roman Polanski this year to receive his award,“ festival directors Karl Spoerri and Nadja Schildknecht said in a statement. “We have always been tremendous admirers of his work and we are delighted that we will soon be able to express this to him in person.”
Polanski's most recent film, Carnage, features Jodie Foster and Kate Winslet and recently premiered at the Venice Film Festival. He is much admired for works like Knife In The Water, Rosemary's Baby, Chinatown and The Pianist.
The Zurich festival directors have refused to comment on the controversy surrounding Polanski's indictment for sexual offences against a 13 year old child in 1977. Polanski fled the US the following year and in 2009 a warrant for his extradition was rejected.
