Top directors help Polanski

2009-09-29 13:49

Paris - Top US directors Woody Allen, David Lynch and Martin Scorsese, on Tuesday signed a petition protesting the detention of Roman Polanski in Switzerland, a French film industry association, SACD, has said.

The petition in favour of fellow director Polanski, coordinated by the SACD which represents performance and visual artists, so far has been signed by about 110 industry figures.

Among them are Michael Mann, Wim Wenders and Pedro Almodovar, as well as Darren Aronofsky, Terry Gilliam and the Dardenne brothers.

"We demand the immediate release of Roman Polanski," it says.

The Oscar-winning director, who made Rosemary's Baby, Chinatown and The Pianist, was detained on Saturday as he arrived to receive a lifetime achievement award at the Zurich film festival.

'Astonishing news'

"Film-makers in France, in Europe, in the United States and around the world are dismayed by this decision," the petition added, saying the arrest came as "astonishing news" to the SACD.

"It seems inadmissible to them that an international cultural event, paying homage to one of the greatest contemporary film-makers, is used by police to apprehend him."

Names on the petition include directors Julian Schnabel, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Wong Kar Wai, Walter Salles, Ettore Scola, Jonathan Demme and actresses Tilda Swinton, Monica Bellucci and Asia Argento.

The director pleaded guilty three decades ago to having sex with a 13-year-old girl. His lawyer said Monday he had refused to be extradited from Switzerland to the United States.

The 76-year-old fled the US in 1978 before sentencing on a charge in the underage sex case. He has never returned, even missing the Oscar award for The Pianist in 2003.

- AFP