WINNER: Documentary Film Editing Award, Sundance

"One of the best of the year—a superb picture, sharp, open-minded, wised-up and cinematically accomplished."—Michael Philips, Chicago Tribune.

ROMAN POLANSKI: WANTED AND DESIRED

VANCOUVER PREMIERE // VANCITY THEATRE EXCLUSIVE

Roman Polanski, the Polish-born director of such modern American classics as Rosemary's Baby and Chinatown , survived the Holocaust that killed most of his family, endured authoritarian Communist rule and faced the murder of his pregnant wife Sharon Tate. It was the American media (at its most reckless and sensationalistic) and a judicial nightmare worthy of Kafka that almost destroyed him.

Marina Zenovich's documentary on Polanski's indictment on six felony charges (including statutory rape) over his notorious "relationship" with 13-year-old Samantha Gailey doesn't flinch from Polanski's abhorrent actions. The excerpts of police interview transcripts with Polanski and Gailey are disturbing. But behind the headlines was a media-hog judge more interested in public relations than justice, one whose abuse of power appalled both the defense lawyer and the prosecuting attorney.

The film walks a fine line between contempt for Polanski's crimes and sympathy for his trials and his screwed-up psyche, and it manages both while showing us why he fled the U.S. rather than face the corrupted judicial circus.—Sean Axmaker, Seattle-Post Intelligencer .

Marina Zenovich is best known for the documentary Who Is Bernard Tapie?, a study of the former French politician/convicted criminal turned actor. Other films include Independent’s Day, a look at independent filmmaking, and Estonia Dreams of Eurovision!, about the wacky world of Tallin, Estonia, as it prepares to host the Eurovision Song Contest. All three films have aired on Sundance Channel and the BBC. Her other credits include Julian Schnabel in Naples, Robert Wilson: Video Portraits, and John Baldessari for Gallery HD's series Art in Progress.