Director Roman Polanski has taken a risky trip back to Poland to attend a film festival. There, he could be arrested and extradited back the U.S.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Polanski is attending the 38th Gdynia Film Festival for an invitation-only, high security screening of his new film, Venus in Fur. It is assumed that he arrived late Thursday and taught a class to film students at the seaside resort Friday. The film is being screened tonight, local time.
As Variety notes, the Chinatown director has been trying to avoid extradition since 1977, when he left the U.S. after pleading guilty to having sex with a 13-year-old. He currently lives in France and was infamously arrested when he left the country to go to the Zurich Film Festival in 2009. He was held under house arrest, but U.S. officials could not get him extradited and he was released.
Polanski was born in France, but his first films were made in Poland, where he attended the Lodz film school. He has continued to work with Hollywood’s biggest stars, who travel overseas to work with him. For example, he directed Kate Winslet and Jodie Foster in 2011’s Carnage.
image: Polanski with 'Venus in Fur' stars Emmanuelle Seigner and Mathieu Amalric/Photo by Ian Gavan/WireImage for Electrolux/image.net