Oscar-winning director Roman Polanski picked up an award in Zurich, Switzerland, last night two years after he was taken to prison in the same city.
Polanski returned to a very different reception in the city as he was applauded on picking up a cinematic award and releasing a “memoir” of his life.
The Polish-French director of Rosemary's Baby took the stage at the Zurich Film Festival to finally accept the lifetime achievement award that he was unable to pick up in 2009, after being arrested for a decades-old sex-crime case.
He had been arrested by Swiss police on arrival at the Zurich airport on a US warrant from 1978, then spent months in prison and later house arrest because of charges that he had sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977.
But he successfully avoided extradition to the United States after the Swiss government refused to deport him.
Now able to travel unhindered to Switzerland, Polanski (78) arrived at the festival hall as a spotlight followed him. Several hundred people stood to applaud him as he took his seat. He later strode to the stage amid nearly a minute’s sustained clapping.
“Friends, what can I can say? Better late than never,” he began, as the audience erupted in laughter.
“Two years, day for day. Certain parts of it I would rather forget. But I’m happy to be here, because I know that it was not only a blow to me, to my family, but also to the festival itself,” he said. “It’s a very moving moment for me.”
Polanski said little else on the issue, however, allowing the world premier of a full-length documentary - Roman Polanski: A Film Memoir - to largely speak for him.
“I would only like to take the opportunity of being here to thank all those who supported me during these difficult months. I would particularly like to say my thanks to the prison staff for trying to make my stay there as bearable as possible,” he added.
Polanski still faces an Interpol warrant in effect for 188 countries for extradition to the United States, but he moves freely between Switzerland and France - which has a blanket policy of not extraditing its citizens.
In July 2010, he made his first public appearance since being released from house arrest, attending the Montreux Jazz Festival to watch his wife, the actress and singer Emmanuelle Seigner, perform on stage.
This year, his new film, Carnage, had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival.
But his "other" new film the memoir was kept secret by Zurich's film organisers. The film recounts his Polish roots and includes footage of the second World War and the Nazi invasion of Poland interspersed with scenes from The Pianist.
The documentary by Laurent Bouzereau is based on interviews with Polanski during his house arrest two years ago, and begins with shots of the Swiss prison where Polanski was incarcerated, as well as photos of his chalet in the chic resort of Gstaad in the Swiss Alps.
Polanski recounts a kaleidoscope of memories, such as seeing a woman shot in the back by a Nazi, his running away from a Nazi soldier shooting at him, and being reunited with his father and seeing the wall in Warsaw first being built.
More than 45,000 visitors are expected to attend the seventh instalment of the film festival in Switzerland’s biggest city that includes 10 world premieres and runs until October 2nd.