Roman Polanski will not preside over Cesar Awards in France after protests

Roman Polanski will no longer preside over the Cesar Awards in France following backlash from women's groups and protests. “In order not to disturb the César ceremony, which should be centered on cinema and not on whom it chose to preside over the ceremony, Roman Polanski has decided not to accept the invitation,” Hervé Temime, Polanski's lawyer, told the New York Times. The 83-year-old director fled the U.S. in 1978 after being convicted of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl during a photo shoot. Polanski was arrested in September 2009 in Switzerland, but authorities refused to extradite the director. Polanski's lawyer claimed the uproar from feminist groups was based on "false information."