The director was not able to attend the festival's ceremony because of his house arrest in his Swiss Chalet. Producer Alain Sarde accepted the Prize on Polanski's behalf, and said Polanski had told him he wouldn't have come to the ceremony even if he were free, 'because the last time I went to pick up an award, I landed in jail''. 
Polanski was arrested when he arrived in Zurich on September 26. He was there to receive a lifetime achievement award from a film festival. It is possible that the Swiss will extradite him to the U.S..There he could face further sentencing in a 32-year-old sex case.  
The film 'The Ghost Writer' can be seen in cinemas this spring.