NO one expected Roman Polanski to turn up for his own movie.

“An Officer and a Spy,” the latest from the Oscar-winning and polemical director, premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival on Friday, but Polanski wasn’t there.

The 86-year-old filmmaker is still a fugitive from U.S. justice after he fled the country in 1977 amid a high-profile sexual assault case. He is unable to travel outside his home nation of France without risking arrest.

Venice’s decision to screen Polanski’s new film has been controversial. The festival has come under fire from those who see the move as celebrating a director who was arrested decades ago on suspicions of drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl. Polanski pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of unlawful sex with a minor but fled the U.S. before final sentencing.

Even Argentine director Lucrecia Martel, the president of this year’s Venice Film Festival jury, has said she did not want to be seen to “celebrate” Polanski, though she insisted she would judge his film on its own merits. (SD-Agencies)