Talk about movies making a difference. MIchael Cieply reports that attorneys for filmmaker Roman Polanski, who has long lived in European exile rather than face prison time for ancient charges stemming from an incident involving a teenager, quaaludes and Jack Nicholson’s hot tub, have filed motions to have the case dismissed due to new evidence contained within Marina Zenovich’s documentary Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired.

The film, which I reviewed at Sundance, strenuously argues that Polanski was the victim of a corrupt justice system and an egomaniacal judge, and thus the director had no choice but to flee from an unjustly excessive sentence. I took issue with the film’s sub-theme that only silly, repressed Americans would so strictly punish Polanski for the collateral damage inflicted by his tortured genius, but the evidence presented regarding the capricious flaunting of procedure by the Los Angeles court system is convincing. We’ll see if a new judge agrees; a hearing is set for January 21.

Also, Jeff Wells is implying that there’s something fishy going on because Zenovich was apparently quoted in Cieply’s story initially, but now is not. For what that’s worth.