Polanski's 'The Ghost' wins best film at European Film Awards

(AFP/GETTY)

Roman Polanski's The Ghost – the story of a journalist hired to write the memoirs of a British prime minister – has won the prize for best film at the European Film Awards.

Polanski, who was awarded the Silver Bear for best director at the Berlin Film Festival, also took five other major prizes at the ceremony held in the Estonian capital, Tallinn, on Saturday night.

Nominated in seven categories, the movie won the best director prize, best actor for Ewan McGregor, and best screenwriter went jointly to Robert Harris and Polanski.

"You have awarded a truly European venture. This is too much ... thank you very much," Polanski, 77, said in an acceptance speech through a Skype connection from an unknown location.

As he was finishing the movie in September 2009, Polanski was taken into custody at Zurich airport by Swiss police at the request of US authorities to face prosecution in a 1977 child sex case. He had to finish editing the film while in a Swiss prison before being released on house arrest.

In July, Polanski was freed after the Swiss government declined to deport him to the United States. But he still faces an Interpol warrant in 188 countries. Most European nations, including Estonia, have an extradition treaty with the US.