Cannes' Fremaux on Polanski's "scandalous" arrest + petition for flmmaker's release makes intl rounds
By Nancy Tartaglione
A bevy of high-profile international filmmakers and industry players has joined in solidarity on behalf of Roman Polanski via a petition that started circulating on Sunday. Cannes Film Festival director Thierry Fremaux told Hollywood Wiretap that the petition, which demands the immediate release of the Oscar winner, came "not because he is a great filmmaker but because there are so many elements that make this (arrest) scandalous."
Among the signatories are Harvey Weinstein, Pedro Almodovar, Walter Salles, Wong Kar-wai, John Landis, Costa-Gavras, Wes Anderson, Darren Aronofsky, Monica Bellucci and Alexander Payne.
Citing Marina Zenovich's documentary "Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired," which was shown at the Cannes Festival in 2008, Fremaux said, "The victim forgave him and even asked that an end be put to this story. Polanski was also a victim of the judge and never denied anything."
"It’s not because he's a great filmmaker that he shouldn't go to prison but it is scandalous to put him in prison now that the facts are more complex," Fremaux continued.
The petition was put together by The Cinematheque Francaise, The Cannes Film Festival, the French writers’ guild (SACD) and the French writers-directors-producers association (ARP) along with the Groupe 25 Images which represents TV directors.
Upon learning of Polanski's arrest, Fremaux told Wireap, "At first we said we didn't want to do anything, but after we thought, symbolically, we needed to express our indignation: to be arrested in Switzerland at the request of the American authorities...and now he could stay in prison for 30 days waiting for extradition."
Fremaux also noted the strange coincidence that the arrest comes less than a week after the death of Susan Atkins, the woman who admitted stabbing Polanski's deceased wife, Sharon Tate, 16 times in 1969. This year also marks the 40th anniversary of the Manson murders in which Tate was killed.
Polanski's actions and state of mind in the 70s have sometimes been associated with lingering distress over the murder of Tate and the couple's unborn child which she was carrying at the time.
Fremaux noted that there is a sense Polanski's arrest on Saturday was motivated by "a sort of ruthlessness."
The petition follows:
Petition for Roman Polanski:
"We have learned the astonishing news of Roman Polanski's arrest by the Swiss police on September 26th, upon arrival in Zurich (Switzerland) while on his way to a film festival where he was due to receive an award for his career in filmmaking.
His arrest follows an American arrest warrant dating from 1978 against the filmmaker, in a case of morals.
Filmmakers in France, in Europe, in the United States and around the world are dismayed by this decision. It seems inadmissible to them that an international cultural event, paying homage to one of the greatest contemporary filmmakers, is used by the police to apprehend him.
By their extraterritorial nature, film festivals the world over have always permitted works to be shown and for filmmakers to present them freely and safely, even when certain States opposed this.
The arrest of Roman Polanski in a neutral country, where he assumed he could travel without hindrance, undermines this tradition: it opens the way for actions of which no-one can know the effects.
Roman Polanski is a French citizen, a renown and international artist now facing extradition. This extradition, if it takes place, will be heavy in consequences and will take away his freedom.
Filmmakers, actors, producers and technicians - everyone involved in international filmmaking - want him to know that he has their support and friendship.
On September 16th, 2009, Mr. Charles Rivkin, the US Ambassador to France, received French artists and intellectuals at the embassy. He presented to them the new Minister Counselor for Public Affairs at the embassy, Ms Judith Baroody. In perfect French she lauded the Franco-American friendship and recommended the development of cultural relations between our two countries.
If only in the name of this friendship between our two countries, we demand the immediate release of Roman Polanski."
