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Roman Polanski is making his return to the spotlight a year after his expulsion from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences over his controversial past.
TheChinatowndirector will be screening his new filmJ’Accuseat the 2019 Venice International Film Festival in late August, it was announced Thursday. The premiere will mark his first public appearance at a major film festival since losing his membership to the Academy in May 2018, despite his win for Best Director in 2003 forThe Pianist.
Polanski has been screening the film for potential buyers under the titleAn Officer and a Spy, according to multiple reports. The project is a dramatization of the Alfred Dreyfus scandal in 19th century France. Dreyfus was a French Jewish army captain who was falsely accused of spying for the Germans in 1894. He was convicted and imprisoned, and later exonerated in 1906.
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The 85-year-old filmmaker infamously pled guilty to engaging in unlawful sexual intercourse after 13-year-old Samantha Geimer accused him of getting her drunk and giving her part of a Quaalude at a California hotel.
He went on to serve 42 days in jail due to a plea bargain, however he fled to France when ordered to serve the remainder of his 90-day sentence.
The Venice Film Festival kicks off the fall festival season, where films vie for awards. The event is considered to be the first major kickoff to awards season. Oscar-winning films likeLa La Land,BirdmanandGravityhave all world premiered at the festival.
Also being screened at the festival are Todd Phillips’Joker, Noah Baumbach’sMarriage Storyand Steven Soderbergh’sThe Laundromat.
source: people.com
