Swiss court grants bail to Polanski (Variety)

A Swiss court has approved Roman Polanski's bail offer of $4.5 million to be released from prison and kept under house arrest and electronic monitoring at his Swiss chalet.

But the Swiss Justice Ministry says it will keep Polanski in jail until it decides whether to appeal his release to the country's supreme court.

Spokesman Folco Galli says the ministry will make its decision "quickly," even though it has 10 days to appeal.

The Swiss Criminal Court still considers Polanski a high flight risk. Its ruling Wednesday said the new bail offer was significant enough to offset those concerns.

The decision does not affect the Swiss government's ongoing assessment of whether it should extradite Polanski to the U.S. for having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl.

Programación del Festival de Zurich

Primero, una necesaria aclaración: yo trabajo para el Festival de Zurich como "asesor" en películas latinoamericanas. Se trata de un festival pequeño, en su cuarta edición, que todavía está lejos de poder competir con Locarno, pero que tiene competencias con importantes premios y algunos invitados y premieres interesantes.

Por mi parte, sólo decir que lograr meter en una competencia que tiene sólo ocho películas a "La sangre brota", de Pablo Fendrik, me pone más que contento. Lo mismo que el documental mexicano "Mi vida dentro", de Lucía Gaja.

Acá, la lista de títulos y otras yerbas.

COMPETITION FEATURE FILMS
“Dr. Aleman,” Tom Schreiber (Germany)
“Blood Appears,” Pablo Fendrik (Argentina/France/Germany)
“Jerusalema,” Ralph Ziman (South Africa)
“The Wackness,” Jonathan Levine (U.S.)
“Boogie,” Radu Muntean (Romania)
“Dunya & Desie,” Dana Nechushtan (Netherlands)
“A Thousans Oceans,” Luki Frieden (Switzerland/Luxembourg)
“The World Is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner,” Stephan Komandarev (Bulgaria/Germany/Hungary/Slovenia)

COMPETITION DEBUT FILMS
“Before the Fall,” F. Javier Gutierrez (Spain)
“Moscow, Belgium,” Christophe van Rompaey (Belgium)
“Ballast,” Lance Hammer (U.S.)
“Sell Out!” Yeo Joon Han (Malaysia)
“Boy of Pigs,” William Sten Olsson (U.S.)
“Tulpan,” Sergey Dvortsevoy (Germany/Switzerland/Kazakstan/Russia/Poland)
“The Man Who Loved Yngve,” Stian Kristiansen (Norway)
“For a Moment, Freedom,” Arash T. Riahi (Austria/France)

COMPETITION DOCUMENTARY
“Brides of Allah,” Natalie Assouline (Israel)
“My Life Inside,” Lucia Gaja (Mexico)
“The Flower Bridge,” Thomas Ciulei (Romania)
“Suddenly Last Winter,” Gustav Hofer/Luca Ragazzi (Italy)
“Blind Loves,” Juraj Lehotsky (Slovakia)
“The Art Star and the Sudanese Twins,” Pietra Brettkelly (New Zealand)
“Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired,” Marina Zenovich (U.S./U.K.)
“Mr. Rakowski,” Jan Diederen (Netherlands)

OUT OF COMPETITION PREMIERES
“Religulous,” Larry Charles (U.S.)
“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” Ang Lee (U.S.)
“Blindness,” Fernando Meirelles (Japan/Canada/Brazil)
“The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas,” Mark Herman (U.S./U.K.)
“Paris, Paris,” Christophe Barratier (France)
“Elegy,” Isabel Coixet (U.S.)
“Burn After Reading,” Joel Coen/Ethan Coen (U.S.)
“The Hurt Locker,” Kathryn Bigelow (U.S.)
“Nights in Rodanthe,” George C. Wolfe (U.S./Australia)
“Cloud 9,” Andreas Dresen (Germany)

El jurado lo presidirá Peter Fonda, quien será acompañado por el guionista de "Superman Returns”, Michael Dougherty, y la crítica de cine de "USA Today", Claudia Puig, entre otros.

Le darán un premio a la carrera a Costa-Gavras, otro a Sylvester Stallone (sí, y qué, me parece perfecto!) y habrá Masterclasses de Ken Loach, Tan Dun, Bent Hamer y Andreas Dresen. La apertura será con la esperada "The Baader Meinhof Komplex", de Uli Edel, y habrá una sección especial dedicada al cine israelí. El festival es del 25 de septiembre al 5 de octubre.