Thirty years ago, director Roman Polanski was famously and publicly accused of having sex with a 13-year old girl and vilified in the press. He later fled the country and has yet to return, despite continuing his film career and going on to win a Best Director Oscar in 2003 for The Pianist.

This year, documentary filmmaker Marina Zenovich debuted her much-buzzed about film, Polanski: Wanted and Desired.

Roman Polanski via FilmReference.com

MSNBC reports on the film:

Zenovich was drawn to Polanski’s story in 2003 when he was nominated for the Oscar, and speculation ran high about whether he might return to Los Angeles. Zenovich then saw an interview with the girl, now a woman, and her lawyer who suggested Polanski had been wronged by justice.

While Polanski admitted to unlawful conduct, psychiatric experts did not consider him a sexual predator and both the defense and prosecution believed probation would be sufficient punishment rather than jail.

Zenovich was determined to get to the truth and tracked down Polanski’s lawyer, the victim, her attorney, law enforcement officials, film industry colleagues and reporters who covered the case, among others.

They all revealed troubling behavior by the judge, now deceased, who was so driven by media coverage that he kept a scrapbook of clippings. Polanski presumably fled because he feared unfair treatment amid the media frenzy.

The film premiered on Friday Night, starting the first big bidding war, rumored to have been between Magnolia Films and HBO Docs. HBO came out on top with the domestic rights and The Weinstein Company will take the film internationally.

There’s a rumor that the film might not see a theatrical release because of the current documentary climate, but at the rate this one got sold, don’t count it out of the question.