Latest in An Officer And A Spy

Filmmaker Roman Polanski, whose An Officer And A Spy leads nominations for France’s César Awards, has said he will not attend the prize ceremony tomorrow night. In a statement to Agence France Presse, Polanski said, “For several days, people have been asking me if I will or won’t be coming to the ceremony. The…

The French Académie des Arts et Technique du Cinéma, the group that hands out the country’s César Awards, said Thursday that the board of directors at its parent the Association for the Promotion of Cinema will step down after this year’s ceremony, which is set for February 28 in Paris. The news comes amid backlash…

A group of nine feminist associations has called upon voting members of France's Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma not to mark their César Awards ballots for Roman Polanski's An Officer And A Spy. The Dreyfus Affair drama has a leading 12 nominations for the prizes which will be handed out on February 28 in…

France's Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma is facing strong backlash within its membership ranks, a little more than two weeks ahead of the César Awards, the local equivalent to the Oscars. Some 200 artists published an open letter in Le Monde on Monday, calling into question an "elitist and closed" Academy…

UPDATED: Nominations for the 45th César Awards were unveiled this morning in Paris, led by Roman Polanski’s Dreyfus Affair drama An Officer And A Spy with 12 including Best Film, Director and Actor (for Jean Dujardin). While Polanski remains a controversial figure owing to his 1977 child sex conviction and subsequent…

Roman Polanski has responded to recent allegations of rape against him by French photographer Valentine Monnier, saying, "I obviously have no recollection of what she is talking about because it is false. … I absolutely deny it." Monnier last month accused the Oscar-winning director of raping her at his Swiss chalet…

French actress Adele Haenel has taken her claims against filmmaker Christophe Ruggia, who she says sexually harassed her as a minor, to Paris police. According to AFP, Haenel's lawyers confirmed she went to a police station in the French capital’s suburb today (Tuesday November 26) to file a formal complaint. The move…

The board of the ARP, France's society of directors, writers and producers, has voted in favor of new rules that will see any of its members who are investigated by police for crimes relating to sexual violence suspended and, if prosecuted, expelled. The organization first proposed the legislation last week in a…

A group of about 40 protesters blocked the entrance to a premiere of Roman Polanski's An Officer And A Spy (J'Accuse) on Tuesday night in Paris, ultimately resulting in the screening's cancellation. France Info reports that the group, dressed all in black and equipped with red smoke-generating canisters and placards…

Colette director Wash Westmoreland will head this year's BFI London Film Festival (LFF) main jury. He will be joined by Game Of Thrones actress Lena Headey, Egyptian writer and producer Mohamed Hefzy, I, Daniel Blake actress Hayley Squires, director Sudabeh Mortezai (whose Joy won last year's LFF Competition) and…

UPDATE: The biggest talking point ahead of and into the early days of the Venice Film Festival, Roman Polanski’s An Officer And A Spy had its official competition world premiere this evening. Inside the Sala Grande, the film was well-received with a five-minute standing ovation. That’s not a Lido record in this year…

Here’s first footage of Jean Dujardin (The Artist) in Roman Polanski’s Venice Competition title An Officer And A Spy. The French-language film, which debuts on the Lido today, charts the story of the notorious, anti-semitic 1894 Dreyfus Affair in which a Jewish officer in France was wrongfully convicted of treason and…