Polanski's ‘Ghost Writer’ tops Europe film awards

French-Polish director Roman Polanski's political thriller "The Ghost Writer" swept the European Film Awards on Saturday, picking up six prizes including best movie, director, actor and screenplay.

The annual awards, held this year in the Estonian capital Tallinn, also honoured Israeli war drama "Lebanon", shot almost entirely from inside a tank. Lebanon won the coveted Golden Lion at the Venice film festival in 2009.

Polanski, who spent several months this year under house arrest in Switzerland but avoided extradition to the United States in connection with a 1977 sex crime, did not attend the prize ceremony but appeared via Skype from his Paris home.

Polanski was named best director, the movie -- with a lead role loosely based on former British prime minister Tony Blair -- was best European film, its star Ewan McGregor picked up the best actor award and Polanski and Robert Harris won the best script writer category.

Following is a list of the main winners:

Best film - The Ghost Writer
Best director - Roman Polanski/The Ghost Writer
Best actress - Sylvie Testud/Lourdes
Best actor - Ewan McGregor/The Ghost Writer
Best screenwriter - Robert Harris and Roman Polanski/The Ghost Writer
Best cinematographer - Giora Bejach/Lebanon
Best editor - Luc Barnier and Marion Monnier/Carlos
Best production designer - Albrecht Konrad/The Ghost Writer
Best composer - Alexandre Desplat/The Ghost Writer
European discovery - Lebanon
Best documentary - Nostalgia de la Luz
Best animated feature - The Illusionist
Best short film - Hanoi - Warszawa
Lifetime achievement award - Bruno Ganz, actor
Achievement in world cinema - Gabriel Yared, composer
People choice - Mr. Nobody.

Roman Polanski Free After Switzerland Denies Extradition

Getting quite the fortunate break, Roman Polanski is a free man after Switzerland refused extradition to the United States for sentencing on a child-sex charge.

The "Chinatown" director has been under house arrest at a luxury chalet in Gstaad since he was seized in Zurich in September 2009.

U.S. authorities demanded the filmmaker be returned to the States to face sentencing for having sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977 - as he pleaded guilty to the crime but fled to Europe in 1978 before facing a court.

Officials say that the extradition has now been turned down - because they cannot rule out the possibility that there is a "fault" in the request.

In a statement, a spokesman for the Swiss Justice Ministry says, "The reason for the decision lies in the fact that it was not possible to exclude with the necessary certainty a fault in the U.S. extraditionary request."