Actors walk out after Roman Polanski wins best director at France's Oscars

The director, who has a history of accusations of sexual assault, won for the film 'J'accuse'

Roman Polanski, the film director who fled the United States in 1978 while awaiting sentencing for unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, was a big winner Friday night at the Césars, France’s equivalent of the Academy Awards, leading several actors to walk out of the ceremony in outrage.

He was named best director for “J’accuse” (The English title: “An Officer and a Spy”) about Alfred Dreyfus, the Jewish military officer wrongly convicted of treason in what remains France’s most notorious miscarriage of justice.

“Very few” people applauded Mr. Polanski’s best director award, said Le Monde, the French newspaper.

Adèle Haenel,