Polanski wins 'French Oscar' for Venus in Fur
PR dla Zagranicy
Peter Gentle
01.03.2014 08:59
Franco-Polish director Roman Polanski has won the Best Director award for 'Venus in Fur' at the 39th annual Cesar Awards held at the Chatelet Theatre in Paris.
Polish-French director Roman Polanski receives the Best director award during the 39th annual Cesar Awards ceremony held at the Chatelet Theatre in Paris, France, 28 February: photo - EPA/ETIENNE LAURENT
“I really, really didn’t expect this,” the 71-year-old director said when collecting the prize on Friday evening at France's top movie award ceremony.
Polanski, who won an Oscar in 2003 for The Pianist, the story of Polish-Jewish composer Wladyslaw Szpilman, won his 'French Oscar' for Venus in Fur, based on the play of the same name by American playwright David Ives.
Born in Paris but surviving the Holocaust in Krakow, southern Poland, Polanski's next film is to be called 'D' and tells the tale of the infamous Dreyfus Affair from the late 19th century where a Jewish officer was convicted of selling military secrets to Germany.
The case exposed wide-spread anti-Semitism in France, as Dreyfus was sent to Devil’s Island on flimsy evidence that was eventually proved false. (pg)